Week Three Successful Direct Mail Design on a Budget

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1 Week Three Successful Direct Mail Design on a Budget PamelaGrow.com

2 Introduction... 3 Components of a Direct Mail Appeal... 4 The Outer Envelope... 4 Postage... 5 Your Letter... 5 Reply Device... 6 Reply Envelope... 6 Premiums... 6 Brochures... 7 Other Enclosures... 7 In Closing... 8

3 Introduction Have you been paying attention to your own mail? Keeping an eye out for direct mail packages from other nonprofit organizations? Then you already know that a direct mail package can include any number of components. It can be the type of package that includes a three-page letter and plethora of inserts, from address labels to lift notes to coupons, or it can be a simple one-page letter and reply envelope. A major donor cultivation direct mail package might include many components, from a full color personalized report to a personalized lift note from a dignitary. If you get scared when you hear the words direct mail package imagining some slick, overproduced, full-color design piece that isn t in your budget, have no fear. The primary purpose of your direct mail package is to make it easy for your donors to give. In Lesson One I shared with you the story of my first direct mail package and how I increased individual giving by a whopping 25%, while reducing costs by 31%. I share that story with you, not to brag, but to show you that simplicity and having a solid understanding of your donors can trump the most expensive packaging. That organization had previously used the services of three separate mail houses over a period of five years. Each mail house had produced full-color, expensive packages...packages that not only did not speak to the organization s donor - they actively turned them off. The lesson to you: do not be intimidated by what you find in your own mailbox. I ve been keeping an eye on my mailbox to share examples with you.

4 Some pieces, like this one from one of the largest organizations in Philadelphia can serve as a warning of what not to do. It s slickly produced, but impersonal ( Dear Friend, despite the fact that they have my name in their database), all about them, lacking a story, and what little focus they do have on the donor is an afterthought. Click here to read. In short, it looks like an agency phoned it in. Your take-away here is Philabundance s excellent use of the P.S. Do you have a donor who might match gifts? While this piece, from Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, should inspire you. The story, about Samson, an older dog at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, is both heartfelt and fun. It s donorfocused It s people like you! It s almost three times the length of the Philabundance piece, yet the copy is a wholly enjoyable read. You can read the piece here and here. Remember, your understanding of your donor will guide you through every step of this process of creating your year-end appeal. Components of a Direct Mail Appeal THE OUTER ENVELOPE You can have the most heartfelt, compelling copy in the world, a beautiful reply device and accompanying materials and it won t make a bit of difference if you appeal is tossed into the trash, unopened. According to direct mail guru Mal Warwick, despite the efforts of graphic designers everywhere to design an envelope that everyone will open, his research shows that what everyone looks for first is how their own name is spelled!

5 An outer envelope can include something known as a teaser (Receive a Free Backpack When You Join Now, The Favor of a Reply is Requested are a few examples of teasers.) One never fail technique for getting your outer envelopes opened is to use hand-addressed envelopes. If you re mailing in-house, think about using either a plain white envelope, handaddressed, or your regular business envelopes, but hand-addressed. I ve insisted on handaddressed envelopes whenever possible and have mailed to databases as large as 5,000 using hand-addressed envelopes - and a lot of volunteers. You can also explore having your envelopes bear the look of being hand-addressed by using a mail house with the capacity to create a handwriting font. POSTAGE When you re struggling with limited resources, it s always tempting to go with the least expensive postage possible. Don t. In my first fundraising position, the year after my first appeal the board authorized me to rent a list to mail to our entire service area, close to 70,000 individuals. I interviewed three separate mail houses. That s when I learned that, depending on the post office it s mailed from, bulk mail is NOT created equal. In some post offices it can be weeks before your mail is sent. Because of cost factors, we used bulk mail for the acquisition package - but we stuck with first class mail for our house list. My advice to you: use first class postage. YOUR LETTER Anyone who has been in the field of nonprofit development for any length of time has gone to battle over the length of their direct mail appeal letter. And time and time again, testing and research shows that longer letters result in more donations. If you ll be creating your appeal in-house, don t be overly concerned about graphic enhancements. Sometimes the plainer the better. Remember the heart rules. Testing continues to show that what s important about your letter: 1 1. It establishes a one-on-one linkage or identification between the letter signer and the person to whom the letter is addressed. 1 Revolution in the Mailbox: Your Guide to Successful Direct Mail Fundraising. Mal Warwick.

6 2. It presents an offer of an opportunity to participate in your organization (as a subscriber or member, for example, or by supporting some particular program). 3. It makes a compelling case for the offer. 4. It establishes urgency. 5. It asks for a specific sum of money. REPLY DEVICE While a stand-alone reply device has been shown to be an indispensable component of a direct mail package, there is always a work-around if you are resource-strapped. A reply device gives your donor something to do (write a check, fill out their name/address) and can be an opportunity for additional involvement (Check out our new Facebook Page! Please take a minute to fill out our survey at url.) As you can see in the Best Friends example, the reply device was actually a component within a legal-sized letter. REPLY ENVELOPE Now it s time for a one-question quiz: what s the most important thing you can do for your donor? Answer: Make it easy to give! That s the purpose of your entire package, but most importantly it is the purpose of your reply envelope. You must include a business reply envelope. The question of whether the reply envelope is postage paid or already has a stamp affixed has been tested throughout the years with no definitive conclusion. You might chose to run your own test, but I do not believe a postage paid reply envelope is necessary. PREMIUMS I think it s a safe bet to say that the organizations participating in this course won t be sending out packets of address labels! If you ve always wondered about the purpose of all that crap

7 premiums, it s simple. Premiums, both front-end (with an acquisition letter) and back-end (as a thank-you), typically work. Freebies follow Robert Cialdini s rule of reciprocity, the idea that if you give someone something, they will give you something in return. While premiums have been shown to increase how many gifts an organization receives, they don t necessarily increase the amount of the gift. In some instances they appear to decrease the gift amount. Premiums can also increase involvement and visibility, such as car decals. Think about including a premium in your package or in your welcome kit. I have used inexpensive decals, refrigerator magnets and bookmarks in my own mailings. To this day, while I own a Kindle, I still read traditional books and save all bookmarks. Are your donors readers? Is your organization one serving children? What about a refrigerator magnet or bookmark featuring a photo of one of your kids? BROCHURES One word: don t. Organizations typically love to include their brochure within a direct mail package. Your appeal needs to be entirely focused on the donor and a brochure is typically a distraction. OTHER ENCLOSURES Something known as a lift note a short letter signed by a well-known supporter can increase response. If your organization has been featured positively in the press, a reproduction of the clipping might be included. Anything within reason that strengthens the case might be included. Tip: Query your database for a listing of your top donors. Send the names out to your board members; who knows who? Schedule appointments now for your board members to pen personal notes (preferably on over-sized Post-It notes for greatest impact). If your board members are at too great a distance to travel in to sign letters, you ve got enough advance notice to send a pad of notes and list of names for them to write notes. For more on this, read Post-it Donor-centered lift notes for the small shop

8 In Closing While you are developing your own direct mail package, imagine your own mail habits. Do you, like I do, sort your mail over the trash? A typical mailing for a small nonprofit organization will consist of a letter, the reply device and two envelopes, your outer and reply. Spend some time now envisioning what you would like your own package to look like when it arrives in your donor s mailbox. Sketch it out on a sheet of paper. It s not too early, either, to be thinking about your thank you letter and how it will tie to your overall theme. Think about whether you might want to include a small token of appreciation with your thank you letter, a bookmark, magnet, key chain, etc. I personally am not a fan of these extras and don t find them terribly donor-centric, but like everything it depends. While we haven t covered segmentation yet, you might want to give some thought to your most loyal donors - who are capable of giving more. One of the packages I judged at FRS was directly modeled after Mal Warwick s book, The Mercifully Brief, Real World Guide to Raising $1,000 Gifts By Mail. The package had been mailed to a small segment of the organization s database - and yielded tremendous results. I ve proposed the package to employers and clients alike and I m embarrassed to say I ve never had the opportunity to test it. But I know it works. If this is something that might work for your organization, now is the time to start thinking about it.