The acquisition model you rent names from is good at predicting response and lousy at growth.

Co-op models start with recorded giving and rank people for near-term response. That supplies a useful but small and shrinking responder pool.  And what about people with mission fit and no giving record?  Never seen and therefore, never served up to you. A reliable floor becomes a growth ceiling when you treat it as your entire market.

DonorVoice’s Acquisition 2.0 lets you make two connected moves: lower the cost of reaching today’s audience, then use those savings to test a larger one.

• First, license the core names for 5 cents each, with unlimited use for 12 months.
• Reach the same people across mail and digital without paying another data rental every time.
• Media, creative and postage still cost money but you get rid of the recurring bill for permission to repeatedly contact the name.
• Then expand beyond that core, selecting on mission and identity fit, geography and capacity.

The visual shows two additional audiences: people with giving history whom your current selections miss, and people with no giving record a co-op can see.

Those people may fit your mission beautifully and barely know your charity exists. One cold appeal tells you how they responded to one cold appeal but that’s a silly basis for deciding whether they can become profitable donors. So the question becomes: what combination of contact turns a new name into a donor worth acquiring?

Start with the same pool of new names. Randomly assign households to three paths:

A: Conversion ads alone.

B: The same conversion activity, with brand advertising ahead of the ask.

C: The same brand and conversion activity, plus mail.

B versus A tests what brand adds. C versus B tests what mail adds. C versus A tests the full combination against conversion alone. Compare donors acquired and their value against the full cost of each path, using subsequent giving in your CRM.

You now have a named audience you can keep working with, and evidence to guide the next round. Adjust the mix, timing and creative. One experiment won’t deliver a universal optimum, but it can tell you which direction deserves more investment.

Personality, channel preference and wealth scores come with the licensed file, giving you more ways to match the approach to the person.

We’ve spent years asking models to find the next person ready to give. Acquisition 2.0 gives us room to find out what makes the next person ready.

Kevin

P.S. Learn more here, https://thedonorvoice.com/products.html#acquisition-2