Donor Stewardship: Thank You Testing

Context >Since the mid 2000s we have invested significantly in door-to-door fundraising to increase our regular giving file >Highest levels of attrition in first few months of giving >How to stem that flow and increase net income?

Selection design

>New door-to-door regular givers were sent ‘thank you’ direct mail pieces after their first and third payment >Data was split 50/50 between Test and Control groups - with this volume split between the test and control groups the results are extremely robust which means the results could be considered to be conclusive. >Weekly data files were sent to the printer to ensure the mail piece was sent as quickly as possible after the relevant payment – in reality this equated to weekly print runs of 1-2K >The key indicator for success was a reduction in attrition great enough to offset the costs of the pieces, and therefore net income raised from these donors within their first year of giving Testing

Creative

Initial Results

>In November 2010 we looked at initial results >After 14 payments, 56% of the control groups remained active vs. 58% of the test groups >The variance was even greater when it came to the value of those donors who remain active: 64% for the control groups vs. 67% for the test groups Initial impact

Key takeaways

>The testing saw a significant reduction in attrition >The testing broke even between 7 and 8 payments. >Looking forward, we predict, for every 1K donors who make a first payment in 2015, on average we will raise an additional £8K in net income over 3.5 years Final results

What next?

>Close, regular monitoring >Refining >Further testing >Channel mix 2015 Plans