Charity DM prompts response, survey says
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Britain is a nation of givers that actively react to direct mail appeals from charities, according to a study.
A third (33%) of people who make a donation are prompted to make that contribution by mail received from a charity in the post, according to a study by TNT Post.
The survey also found that direct mail is one of the most consistent channels for donation response rates with almost a fifth (17%) of people who have received an unaddressed direct mailer responding to the sender.
Over half (57%) of those who chose to respond to mail appeals have responded via post to make their donation.
The survey also found that almost half (47%) of Britons regularly contribute to a specific charitable cause and a quarter (25%) make a charitable donation on an adhoc basis each month.
The online survey polled 2,000 British adults. It was conducted for TNT Post by Vision Critical between the 7th and 9th of July this year.
Readers' comments (2)
Sarah Engerran | Mon, 6 Sep 2010 2:00 pm
Direct mail is may be widely loathed. However, when used by charities, people see a genuine need to communicate a message and to garner a response.
British people are exceedingly generous when it comes to charities - see our response to the Pakistan flood crisis in comparison to other countries. It is therefore no surprise to find that charitable direct mail speaks to them on a very personal level.
One charity for the blind which used Little Book as part of a direct mail appeal received a £10,000 donation from one recipient. That's a charitable DM success if ever there was one.
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Elly Woolston, MD, DMS | Fri, 10 Sep 2010 4:28 pm
The news that a third of donors give after receiving a mailing, left me with mixed emotions. It's fantastic to hear that so many people respond to direct mail despite the increase in social media and digital in this arena, but we must be careful that this figure is not taken for granted by assuming that all mail is successful.
All too often charities rely on the same old tried and tested mailing creative, which ultimately ends up cannibalising their cause as donors become immune. Two reports commissioned by us show that people are more likely to donate if the charity can convey the difference its work makes, rather than making demands on people’s consciousness, which is often the common denominator. In our experience donors want to know that they can make a real difference, not just be another statistic. So while the direct approach is often greatly undervalued, we should not underestimate the importance of creative content that delivers the appropriate messages to amplify response rates.
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