Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Pioneering Champion Of Good Is Dead

Tom Collins, a pioneer of using database-driven technique to personally connect advertiser and customer, mentor, and well, an angel for all things good, is dead. The co-founder of the iconic direct response agency Rapp/Collins (now part of the Omnicom Group ) more than anyone else is responsible for the 1-to-1 marketing revolution. Stan Rapp, his […]

Learn More March 7, 2013

Declining Email Read Rates

Here’s another troublesome trend line to add to falling retention and acquisition rates — falling email read rates. A worldwide study by email services provider Return Path looked at 400,000 email campaigns conducted in the 4th Qtr of 2012 and compared them to the prior year. Some data points: Across all sectors, only 17% of […]

Learn More March 6, 2013

Boost Retention and Lifetime Value Big Time

Committed or loyal donors are made, not born. And since Tom and I have been banging away on the subject of retention, we thought it high time to offer up some specific, empirically proven practices and techniques for improvement. ‘Retention’ and ‘Lifetime Value’ are the fundamental vital signs for virtually every organization that relies on […]

Learn More March 5, 2013

Infographics Produce Fundraising Results

Here’s a tiny bit of fundraising performance data on the use of infographics, from Production Solutions. [Click here to enlarge] Serious lift for mail prospecting and reinstatements, as well as email campaigns. Just enough data to whet the appetite. Agitator readers with more response experience, please share. Tom P.S. Some additional resources on infographics recommended […]

Learn More March 4, 2013

6 Ways To Get Dumped

By your donors, that is. A very good compilation of advice on donor retention put together by Joanne Fritz at About.com. Nicely complements Roger’s Wednesday post, Why Donors Drop Out. Joanne’s 6 ways to get dumped are (each nicely illustrated with supporting links): Ignore Attrition Under Communicate Over Ask Give Crappy Customer Service (don’t get […]

Learn More March 1, 2013

Thundering Silence From Caucasians

On Monday, Roger posted regarding fundraisers’ neglect of the non-white market in the US. After commenting specifically on the Hispanic market, he observed: “It should come as no shock that in today’s direct response fundraising “Caucasians” are currently and overwhelmingly the target audience. List brokers and telemarketers — urged on by their clients of course […]

Learn More February 28, 2013