The robots have not yet conquered the world. From email to social media to texting, fundraising can work in a faster, more automated way than ever before. However, some excellent fundraising techniques still exist that don’t rely heavily on technology.

One such fundraising method is direct mail. 

Direct mail is a great way to get in touch with donors who don’t respond to email or who prefer more tangible materials.

There truly is still a market for direct mail. While you may think that direct mail is more for older donors, studies show that young adults (24 or younger) are some of the most responsive people to direct mail.

Why might this be?

70% of Americans believe that physical mail is more personal than the Internet. Personalization of direct mail matters. Donors want to feel like you care, and that the communication is just for them.

Individualized communications can help to acquire new donors, as well as to convince people to give repeat gifts, volunteer, or attend your nonprofit’s events.

COMMON DIRECT MAIL CONCERNS

Direct mail is:

• Too slow
• Too expensive
• Unreliable
• Time consuming

One of the biggest concerns with direct mail is keeping donor information organized. Nonprofits need to keep track of addresses, donations, communication histories, and more to ensure a smooth, efficient fundraising process.

A nonprofit CRM is an excellent way to solve many fundamental direct mail challenges.

DIRECT MAIL BEST PRACTICES

Overcoming the difficulties of direct mail requires dedication. There’s no one easy fix that will make your direct mail a success. Rather, you need to employ many best practices in order to raise as much money as possible.

HAVE A MEANINGFUL CAUSE

It’s so simple that it sounds a bit silly to point out, but your nonprofit needs to be fundraising for a cause that thousands of people will care about. Of course, your nonprofit was founded to solve a big problem, but many fundraising campaigns are for events, equipment, or other ventures that are more specific than needing money for your general fund.

Of course, your nonprofit was founded to solve a big problem, but many fundraising campaigns are for events, equipment, or other ventures that are more specific than needing money for your general fund.

When you want to send direct mail requesting donations for a certain campaign, ask yourself:

• How many donors will care about this specific campaign?
• Will people feel inclined to give large donations for this cause or mostly smaller gifts?
• Do I need to mail to everyone on my list?
• Is direct mail the best way to seek funds for this particular venture?

It’s one thing to want money, and another thing to want money for a cause that people will actually want to give to. Donors might be more inclined to donate for a special event than to help you repaint your walls. Think about what your donors care about and if direct mail is the best way to reach out to fundraise for that cause.

FOCUS ON THE FORM OF THE LETTER

Letters include headers, body text, and other parts. All of these parts combine to deliver a compelling message.

What many people don’t think about is that most donors will read your letter’s P.S. before reading anything else. This means that your P.S. needs to have arguably your most compelling piece of content, such as a testimonial or something that asserts that the letter is worth your donors’ time.

Once you’ve convinced donors to read your letter, it’s all up to the body text or any pictures and other materials that you include to carry the day. You want to stay focused on whatever message you’re sending.

If the direct mail piece is advertising an event, then keep all of your text focused on the event. If you’re trying to raise money through the letter, then don’t beat around the bush. Make it clear what you want and what donors have to do. If you mix and match too many calls to action, then your donors may end up taking no action.

It’s also important to do your writing justice. Avoid typos and silly grammatical mistakes. Make your letter as easy to read and understandable as possible. Readers of varying backgrounds and education levels will be reading essentially the same letters, so do your best to avoid both big and jargon words.

INCLUDE A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE (SASE)

So, you’ve hooked your donors into reading, and you’ve even convinced them to reply to your message. But, um, wait… How is your donor supposed to reply?

Make responding easy and obvious. For direct mail, a best practice is to include a SASE. All donors have to do is add postage and they can mail in their responses. If you’re worried that donors might not want to pay for postage, then talk to your post office about obtaining a permit to offer postage-paid return envelopes.

Alternatives to a SASE include response cards or directing donors to your website.

BUDGET FOR POSTAGE

I mentioned that you can obtain a permit to offer postage-paid return envelopes, and that’s just one of many budgetary options to consider with direct mail.

You have to print lots of letters, so ink, paper, and envelope prices all factor into the equation. Also, you may need to pay for postage both to send letters and for donors to send them back. Bulk postage rates can help, but that’s still a lot more money than you’d put out for an email campaign.

This is why planning matters for direct mail. You don’t, and shouldn’t, send to every donor. Also, you’ll want to figure out the best times to send to donors. Direct mail can get expensive fast, and you want to make sure that you’re getting a good return on your investment. A calendar can help.

Also, you’ll want to figure out the best times to send to donors. Direct mail can get expensive fast, and you want to make sure that you’re getting a good return on your investment. A calendar can help.

MAINTAIN A GOOD MAILING LIST

One of the best ways to ensure a good ROI from direct mail is to maintain an exemplary mailing list.

Your mailing list should include:

• Reliable donors
• High-quality prospects
• Updated information

Mail to people who regularly respond to direct mail. Mail to people who demonstrate signs of being someone who will reply to direct mail. Don’t mail to anyone and everyone just because you have extra stamps lying around.

It’s also important to keep contact information up to date. If you’re mailing to the wrong locations or addressing envelopes to last names that have changed, then you will likely struggle to retain donors. As part of an exemplary donor stewardship program, you need keep your donors’ records up to date.

RIGHT NUMBER OF TOUCHES

Even when you have a mailing list with a good response rate, you don’t want to overwhelm donors with too many communications.

Talk to your donors. Ask them how often they’d like to receive information in the mail. Not only will they appreciate your concern, but they’ll receive an appealing frequency of communications.

Nonprofits struggle to retain donors as is. Don’t chase more donors away by being overzealous with your direct mail campaigns. That said, do mail as often as donor tendencies allow. If they forget about you, then they really won’t donate.

GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT

Most people won’t want to receive only fundraising appeals through direct mail. People need to feel like you appreciate them for more than their wallets.

Talk to your donors and pay attention to how they interact with your nonprofit. Send volunteers letters informing them of upcoming volunteer opportunities. Tell dedicated donors about events they can attend. Share important updates on your programs and initiatives. Keeping people invested and interested in your nonprofit can eventually pay off in the donations you want.

Giving donors what they want is all about listening to the types of communications they desire, the frequency at which they wish to receive mail, and if they’ll respond to direct mail to begin with.

TEST AND MEASURE

Life is all about learning and growing from the knowledge you’ve obtained. If you’re sending out direct mail pieces without tracking your results, then you’ll likely fail to capitalize on the opportunity.

You’re sending mail to hundreds, maybe thousands of donors. If you have any problems, such as typos in your message or numerous wrong addresses, then you’re throwing money out the window.

You should track:

• What percentage of people respond
• How many letters are returned to sender
• Donation amounts (if a fundraising appeal)
• Types of responses (such as yes or no to an event or positive versus negative replies)
• How much a batch of letters cost to send versus how much money you earn from those donors (if a fundraising appeal)

It can be hard to manage data on a bulk of donors. Good donor segmentation methods can help your staff to organize donors into manageable groups that can be tackled one by one. Segmentation can also help you to test different types of letters on different types of donors.

Even in this digital age, direct mail matters. So, stretch those fingers, dip those pens in ink, and get to writing. A lucrative fundraising boost awaits.