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The Anatomy of a Successful Call

Have you ever had a conversation with the other person dominating the talk time? How about one where the other person didn’t ask you any questions? Contrast that with a balanced conversation, one where you and the other person talked about equally and the talk sequence was you, other person, you, other person, etc.. This […]

Learn More June 24, 2024

Unlearn What You Have Learned, You Must

Syntax is the way we place words in a sentence. The simplest, clearest formulation is Subject-Verb-Object (SVO), “The dog chased the cat”. Yoda uses a very complicated, awkward syntax called an anastrophe, placing the object and the verb before the subject. Simple is better, right? Use active voice, not passive, right? Every rule ever written […]

Learn More June 21, 2024

Beyond One Size Fits All For the Win, Again…

Our choices are expressions and reflections of who we are. I won’t pay as much attention to your fundraising message if it doesn’t reflect who I am. And since people are different, your fundraising needs tailoring to match those varied reflections. Most readers will probably agree with this statement and yet, the infinity problem stands […]

Learn More June 19, 2024

2 Years After Dobbs: The Landscape of Support for Both Sides

In 1973 Craver, Mathews, Smith & Co. launched the first direct response campaign for the National Rights Action League (NARL,) now named Reproductive Freedom for All . That was the year Roe v. Wade was decided. That was also the time 51 years ago when women could not […]

Learn More June 17, 2024

Grade Level Belongs In School, Not Copywriting

Writing should reject all amplifications, digressions, and swellings of style: to return back to the primitive purity, and shortness, when men delivered so many things, almost in an equal number of words . . .a close, naked, natural way of speaking; positive expressions; clear senses; a native easiness: bringing all things as near the plainness, […]

Learn More June 14, 2024

Definitely Bold and Underline…or Not

It seems an article of faith that adding bold or underline in direct mail is best practice. Google it and some version of these points will surface many times over in the first few search result links. Bolding or underlining signals that a sentence is important. But underlining also serves a second, more important purpose. The […]

Learn More June 12, 2024

Transaction Costs Are A Killer

Not your transaction costs, the donor’s. Why does a mailing to a well curated list of folks garner such a low response rate? It’s only one of two reasons, A bunch of people on the mail list shouldn’t be – i.e. the list sucks reason The cost in time, convenience to give your mailing attention […]

Learn More June 10, 2024

2,000 Birds or a Flock?

Humans often find it hard to appreciate the size of the problem and therefore, are often unwilling to donate more if there are 2,000 birds or humans vs. only 20. And we’re all familiar by now with the identifiable victim effect that can spike giving when sharing the story of a single person or bird, […]

Learn More June 5, 2024

Zero Party Is Still A Good Party

Zero-party data is voluntarily, willingly shared by constituents. First-party data is passively collected, it’s the footprint left from the interaction with your brand – website tracking data, open/click email data, donation data. First-party is more abundant but requires inference and assumption, zero-party is a much greater degree of knowing and understanding. There are three types […]

Learn More June 3, 2024

Throw the Direct Mail Down The Stairs

My father was a professor and would stay up all night (and sleep all day…) to grade tests. I often joked he should adopt the throw em’ down the stairs approach, higher grades to those that travel further. Many fundraising tests have pitted longer vs. shorter with the former winning. But “always” and “never” are […]

Learn More May 31, 2024

Ask A Behavioral Scientist

Behavioral Science Q & A

Q: Do you have any insight on whether integrating an individual giving appeal with other comms from the charity in both appearance and messaging can uplift results? Or does the actual appeal become ‘lost’ for lack of stand-out?

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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Q: Is there any research on response rate impact in direct mail when referring to a sustainer gift as ongoing or recurring (catching all frequencies) v. monthly or annual?

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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Q: A major conservation nonprofit sends me lots of mail, many of which have on the envelope “time to renew” or “2nd notice.” I find this practice deceptive, especially as I haven’t given to said organization since 1997. It must be effective or they wouldn’t do it. But is it ethical?

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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Q: I find it irritating when some nonprofits accept my “gift” and then ask me to cover their credit card fees separately. It feels like a practice that does nothing to help win donors and runs the risk of turning others off. Is there any data on this either way?

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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Q: What are the three most important things to consider when designing a brilliant supporter journey?

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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Q: Is there any evidence that changes to the tax laws in the USA changed end of year giving behaviors? Previously, ~30% of US taxpayers filed itemized tax returns allowing them to receive a deduction for charitable giving. Tax law changed in 2017 so that now only ~10% itemize. This should mean tax year-end giving should not matter to millions of people for whom it used to matter. Is there any data evidence to support this?

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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Uncategorized

The Anatomy of a Successful Call

Unlearn What You Have Learned, You Must

Beyond One Size Fits All For the Win, Again…

2 Years After Dobbs: The Landscape of Support for Both Sides

Grade Level Belongs In School, Not Copywriting

Definitely Bold and Underline…or Not

Transaction Costs Are A Killer

2,000 Birds or a Flock?

Zero Party Is Still A Good Party

Throw the Direct Mail Down The Stairs

Ask A Behavioral Scientist

Behavioral Science Q & A

Q: Do you have any insight on whether integrating an individual giving appeal with other comms from the charity in both appearance and messaging can uplift results? Or does the actual appeal become ‘lost’ for lack of stand-out?

Q: Is there any research on response rate impact in direct mail when referring to a sustainer gift as ongoing or recurring (catching all frequencies) v. monthly or annual?

Q: A major conservation nonprofit sends me lots of mail, many of which have on the envelope “time to renew” or “2nd notice.” I find this practice deceptive, especially as I haven’t given to said organization since 1997. It must be effective or they wouldn’t do it. But is it ethical?

Q: I find it irritating when some nonprofits accept my “gift” and then ask me to cover their credit card fees separately. It feels like a practice that does nothing to help win donors and runs the risk of turning others off. Is there any data on this either way?

Q: What are the three most important things to consider when designing a brilliant supporter journey?

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