A Case Study in Marketing Personalization

Lately, I have been getting calls from clients complaining that their marketing isn’t working. They aren’t getting as many leads as they had expected, they can’t get appointments, or it’s costing them more to get the same results they were getting just a few years ago.  Then I get the question, “What new marketing techniques can I try?”  Like many things in life, instead of looking for the solution “outside,” it’s been my experience that the solution is internal.  

The technique that has had the largest impact on marketing effectiveness is personalization.  I know you have heard this message many times, but it’s worth repeating since many organizations still don’t do it.  And there’s a good reason; it takes a little more work.  This is why most organizations continue to mass market. By contrast, personalized marketing “leaves you feeling like your interests and preferences were actually being taken into account.¹”  So, when you can personalize your message to the donor who is poised to listen, a beautiful thing happens; your relationship with the donor deepens, visits occur, proposals get created, and gifts close.  

Several organizations that I have been working with have been actively promoting their gift annuity program, but their early results have been disappointing.  Instead of continuing the mass mailings they had been using, we decided to take a different approach – one that required more work on their end.

We targeted two groups, one made up of donors who have funded a gift annuity and one made up of donors who haven’t.  For the donors who have a current gift annuity, the message included the following:

1. Why this year’s rate is lower than their existing gift
2. Why this is still a good gift for both them and the institution
3. What their existing gift has done to further the organization’s cause
4. A sample proposal showing what numbers for a new gift annuity would look like

The second group was made up of the usual suspects:

• Loyal donors or donors who have a strong affiliation with the organization
• Donors age 70+  only (the rates for people younger than 70 are not as attractive)

The message was similar to the one for the first group:

1. Why this is a good gift for both them and the institution
2. What their gift could do to further the organization’s mission
3. An illustration showing what numbers for a gift annuity would look like

It has come as no surprise that the response rate from the existing gift annuity donors has been better than the response rate from the donors who have not made a planned gift.  What did surprise the organizations was that a simple letter had a better response than the elaborate mailings they had sent out previously.  What surprised me was not the improved success with one charity, but with all of them.  In all cases, one or more recipients made gifts. 

This is just one small example of the many things gift officers can do to personalize their marketing, but to do so requires time, as well as an understanding of who is in your database.   If you make the investment up front, you will reap the rewards in the long run.    

¹ Source: Hubspot Blog