Assessing Your Audience for 2013
As you reflect on your ‘market’ for the coming year, perhaps you should be careful about overestimating.
I know your donors are attentive to the big picture, well-informed, and serious-minded.
But then there’s the real world, as suggested by the most common Celebrity and News searches (as indicated by the 100 million people who turned to Ask.com in 2012 to satisfy their quest for knowledge) …
Top Celebrity search questions:
- Will Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart get back together?
- Was Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise’s marriage fake?
- Does Gangnam Style mean?
- When is Snooki’s baby due?
- What will happen to Prince Harry because of the nude pictures?
- How big is Angelina’s engagement ring?
- What is the best Call Me Maybe parody?
- Are Justin and Jessica getting married?
- Did Miley Cyrus cut her hair?
- Does Ryan Lochte have a girlfriend?
Top News search questions (a bit better):
- How many medals did the US gymnastics team win?
- What is the damage from Hurricane Sandy?
- What happened at the Colorado shooting?
- What is Jerry Sandusky’s sentence?
- When will the iPhone 5 be released?
- When is the Facebook IPO?
- Did Lance Armstrong take drugs?
- How did Whitney Houston die?
- How did the Costa Concordia sink?
- Why was Trayvon Martin Shot?
And we wonder why America is falling off a cliff?!
Tom
2 responses to “Assessing Your Audience for 2013”
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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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Thanks Tom for stating what watching TV for a couple of hours most evenings will verify. What goes into the brain is what comes out . . .
Perhaps your post will cause many of us to connect with numerous good books in the coming months!
Jay
And is the fact that I have no idea who Snooki, Ryan Lochte or Trayvon Martin are a good or a bad sign? Thanks to your post I now feel quite old and out of touch.