“The catalyst came after investing $1.8M annually in direct mail campaigns, resulting in less than 1% response rate on acquisition.” - says a local Humane Society in Phoenix, AZ that has been in business for over 60 years.
Spending on direct mail campaigns year after year had left them with declining revenue and an uncertain future. Establishing a reliable revenue stream and increasing their new donor database were crucial goals for them, which seemed unattainable until they partnered with us. We helped this organization execute its first-ever face-to-face marketing campaign.
When we listened and looked at their historical results, we quickly understood why they weren’t seeing the results they were expecting. Between direct mail becoming more expensive, coupled with a decreased return rate and a new donor acquisition rate decreasing, they were fighting a losing battle.
Increasing Donor Database
As a nonprofit, you know the importance of increasing your donor database. A big part of your job is maintaining relationships with existing donors and engaging with the local community to raise awareness for your cause.
For this nonprofit, it was imperative to move fast, and that’s what we did. By acquiring sustainers face-to-face at kiosk set-up at malls and local retailers, we were able to engage with a diverse audience that resulted in 7,382 new donors in less than two years. This journey led us to report our largest increase in database donor records for a local NPO in our US market and has maintained momentum with consistent month-over-month growth since inception.
Reliable Revenue Stream
Growth scaled as fundraisers became more tenured quarter over quarter. This encouraged the local Human Society to go all in, increasing its face-to-face marketing budget by 82% allowing more client representatives to participate in the campaign which propelled even more growth.
Conclusion
Strategies like direct mail can be perceived as spammy, redundant, non-eco-friendly, or totally unnoticed in a digital era- it was no surprise that this client was not seeing positive results. This case study is one of many that prove that no piece of mail, tweet, IG story, or online chat can ever replace a real, human interaction.
Regardless of the industry, creating genuine connections and progressing towards goals can be difficult, especially when the pressure is high and deadlines are tight. The key for successful nonprofits and businesses, in general, is to understand your audience send out a convincing message, provide value, and build authentic relationships. All these can be accomplished by executing a face-to-face marketing campaign.
Overall, our fundraisers have engaged with an estimated 5 million prospective donors for this NPO and the results continue to outperform those of TV, digital, and direct mail campaigns. If you want to learn more about our face-to-face marketing services, contact us.
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