It’s Never Too Late to Integrate
Posted on Tue, Sep 27, 2011
By Amy Morrison, Senior Strategist, Interactive Department
Chapman Cubine Adams + Hussey
Today we live in a world of seemingly limitless communication choices.
Facebook, Twitter, text messaging, gchat, email, voicemail, or handwritten letters—the choices to get connected seem endless. Yet no matter how many options are available, people will choose whatever is easiest for them.
In the fundraising world, donors are no different. When ready to give money, donors want the option easiest to them.
This leaves many marketers toiling for countless hours, testing font sizes in our direct mail packages, revising scripting in our telemarketing calls, choosing images in our e-solicitations, and so on.
And it is paying off.
In fact, Target Analytics recently reported that 16% of new donors acquired by non-profit organizations are generated online. Considering this has nearly doubled since 2007 (9%), you can only imagine the potential ahead.
Even more interesting is that 41% of these new online donors renew through other mediums—primarily through direct mail (32%).
Given that only 6 out of the 28 organizations included in this study use other channels like telemarketing and mobile, the potential to increase cross-channel giving (and retention) lies in these under-utilized channels.
No doubt, successful multi-channel integration is easier said than done, but here are three straightforward ideas to get you started.
1. Telemarketing Conversion of Online Activists
Current events are powerful catalysts for driving email sign-ups. Consider the impact of the Haiti earthquake for international humanitarian aid groups, or Election Day 2010 for political advocacy campaigns. Online marketing was able to reach potential donors immediately. But those that didn’t make a gift online may not have seen a direct mail solicitation for months. By this time, the issue that sparked signups may be old news.
To better take advantage of these timely events, consider launching a telemarketing acquisition campaign. These can begin within a matter of days and the scripted conversation can specifically reference the current event and what exactly the organization is doing to respond. This opens an opportunity to interact person-to-person with the organization and deepen their commitment to the cause.
2. Use Email in your Telemarketing Campaigns
First, make sure callers are capturing a donor’s email address as they close each conversation. After all, why pay for an email address if they will give it to you for free. Email is also a great way to reach all of those folks screening their calls. This presents a prime opportunity for an e-mail appeal – presuming you have their emails.
3. Capture cell phone numbers during e-mail sign-up
Email sign-ups are essential to online list growth and new donor acquisition. Most organizations have made it easy to sign-up right on the homepage. Yet, why not double the value of critical homepage real estate by asking for cell phone numbers as well? As fewer and fewer households have land lines, cell phones will be critical info to have for your donors.
With all the ways to cultivate donors, multi-channel integration is not only a donor engagement best practice—it is a fundraising best practice.
