For most organizations, it’s difficult to understand channel crossover when it comes to your donor’s experience. I imagine this becomes doubly difficult when your organization has a fundraising team of only one or two people.
One of the first questions I ask when starting to work with a charity’s donor file is ‘how many online donors do you have?’ Second, ‘do you know where they came from?’
The second question is really what speaks to crossover. Consider a donor that receives a direct mail piece only but decides to go online to make their gift. Or a donor that receives both a direct mail piece and email and decides to make their gift online. Maybe a donor that only receives email. How about a donor that didn’t receive anything?
This list is only a small subset of possibilities regardless of how extensive your donor communications are. There are an endless number of influences on a donor’s decision to give – some you control, many you don’t. This is often where marketing and fundraising collide – and that’s a good thing for a better donor experience.
The point is: do you know the answer to where your online donors are coming from? My hope is that they are coming from a combination of integrated marketing and fundraising efforts coupled with smart data collection and analysis.
If that’s not the case or lack of resources is preventing you from getting there – consider these 3 actions to build a basic integrated program.
Actions to integration
1. Email follow-up
Assuming you have the email addresses of the donors and non-donors you plan on soliciting. If you don’t, think about ways of collecting email addresses through your website and reply coupon.
For those that you do have email addresses for, send an email to follow-up your direct mail piece. The email is not just a reminder, it’s a reinforcement of the ask; including the most compelling components from the mail.
Don’t forget that an investment in online today is also an investment in mobile – if you’re sending out emails, make sure they’re mobile responsive (read: compatible and easy to use on mobile devices). Why? More than half of all emails opened today are opened on mobile devices.
2. Campaign-specific donation pages
We want and need to give our donors a thoughtful and seamless experience – integration between mail and email means thinking critically about your online donation process.
Does your online fundraising provider allow you to setup campaign-specific donation pages that can be branded in look, feel and messaging to match the current campaign? There’s only one right answer! (Remember the importance of being mobile friendly)
The donation page can be easily overlooked, especially since our sector is used to third-party providers that give us the benefit of an out-of-the-box solution. However, this page quickly becomes the most crucial piece of the puzzle. This is where your donor will process their gift or leave you empty-handed. A page that connects directly with your campaign, reinforces its message and purpose, and makes it easy and painless to make a gift is a must!
3. Mail and online appeal codes
In order to make the most of integration across direct mail and email, think upfront about data tracking and analysis.
Each piece of mail is usually assigned an appeal code so that all donation data is accurate and trackable by campaign. The same rigour needs to exist online.
Assign appeal codes to your email campaigns along with your mail so you know who has received what and which channel they’ve responded with or if they haven’t responded at all is essential.
Integration can seem daunting. It also tends to mean different things to different people and departments. For you smaller organizations or those just dipping their toe in the integration pond take note of the steps above and test in what you ways you can positively impact and track the response of your file.
Simren Deogun is the Director, Digital Innovation at Stephen Thomas and helps ST’s clients exceed their marketing and fundraising objectives through strategic thought leadership. She has a proven track record of attracting new donors and supporters to her clients’ cause while making sure existing donors feel even closer to the organizations they’re supporting. From developing strategic campaign plans and leading website builds to launching online and email fundraising and marketing programs, Simren leads the agency’s digital and integrated efforts for all of ST’s clients.
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