Are You Getting Ready?
In a recent blog post, marketing maven Seth Godin predicted that 90% of sales will come from word of mouth or digital promotion by 2011. He asked: "How do you change what you’re doing today to be ready for that?"
Think about it … can you imagine that 90% of your "sales" — i.e. donations, or maybe just new acquisitions — might come via referrals and online promotion?
Actually, we at The Agitator don’t expect direct mail to be displaced anywhere near that quickly, at least with respect to fundraising.
Still his question is provocative, as usual. Especially as it pertains to word of mouth (and much of which increasingly happens via digital media … think social nets).
Apart from the occasional "viral marketing" campaigns most nonprofits attempt to push out online these days (we think of most of them as "Hail Mary" passes), we don’t see much systematic effort on the part of nonprofits to identify, equip and motivate their "recruiters" — the members/donors inclined to play a missionary role for the organizations they care about most.
At The Agitator, we’re putting the finishing touches on the next in our series of white papers based upon our DonorTrends research. We find that 20% of donors consider themselves to be "recruiters" … and our next paper will look closely at this group.
Stay tuned.
Tom
One response to “Are You Getting Ready?”
Behavioral Science Q & A
Integrating an individual giving appeal with other communications from a charity can have both positive and negative effects, and the outcome largely depends on how it’s executed. Advantages of Integration Brand Consistency: Maintaining a consistent appearance and messaging across all communications can reinforce the org’s brand identity and strengthen brand recognition and trust among your […]
Read Full Answer
I’m not aware of any in-market tests specifically comparing recurring vs. gift frequency language. I suspect the answer might not be the same with all gift frequencies, nor with all people. It sounds like a great opportunity for you to test and find out what works for your audience. Based on the literature, here’s a couple […]
Read Full Answer
Based on what we know from existing data, those renewal notices can actually be pretty effective in getting people to donate. They tap into our psychology – creating a sense of urgency, reminding us of past support, and using personalization to make the message hit home. They’re playing on our natural tendencies to feel obligated […]
Read Full Answer
Interesting question. I had a quick look at the testing done on this topic. On the positive side, in all cases, over half of donors decide to cover the fee. In some cases, it goes as high as 65%. Not a negligible percentage at all. Here’s another test from iRaiser showing consistent results (see point […]
Read Full Answer
There’s just one thing to consider when designing a supporter journey: the supporter. More specifically, you need to take into account: Who the supporter is i.e. their identity, which is the reason they support this cause, and their personality, which describes the way they “see” and process the world. These will determine the kind of […]
Read Full Answer
I’m not an expert in this but a quick search surfaced this article on the effect of tax reforms on 2019’s charitable giving. The researchers didn’t find a reduction. Actually, they observed an “increase in charitable contributions in 2019, even with the lower tax rates and the dramatically smaller number of taxpayers who itemize their […]
Read Full Answer
90 percent is an awful lot. I do believe that a recommendation, or knowing a person that supports a cause or product, is the best marketing tool an organization has. I’m not confident that this will drive 90 percent of all transactions. Direct marketing still has a large role to play.
I would say that having a personal connection to an organization makes me much more likely to get involved!