5 Reasons Why Direct Mail Appeals Are Overrated
Often, when I start working with organizations that are more than a decade old, I notice a familiar trend: the reliance on direct mailed appeals for fundraising.
“While direct mail isn’t all bad, it’s often an old-fashioned and EXPENSIVE way of fundraising.”
This trend is akin to for-profit brands that still pay tens (and hundreds) of thousands of dollars on print ads instead of moving to digital.
There are very few instances where you'll hear me recommending spending 10k to secure a 1/2 page ad in a monthly publication. It's often a terrible ROI.
On top of that more and more, people want LESS paper, not more.
So, let's dive in to the Top 5 Reasons Why Direct Mail is Totally Overrated:
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It's a Barrier to a Nurturing a Younger Demographic: Younger audiences do NOT have checkbooks or stamps on hand. You want them to mail you a check... say what? You've put such a huge obstacle in front of them right out of the gate.
It's Expensive: In order to do direct mail right, you need to send out more than one or two pieces a year. Direct mail still requires storytelling and a distinct frequency to remain top-of-mind to your target donors. Increase mailings = increased $$ and that seriously impacts revenue.
It Takes Too Long: How many times have you gone back-and-forth with your printer, designer, and team members with edits, typos, delays... and so on?! So much time is lost in the printing, stamping, and mailing process! You could be DONE with the entire appeal if it had been digital-only.
It's Targeting and Stewarding ONE Donor Base: This is a big one. Is your donor base a little top-heavy? Meaning, it's mainly one core audience? If you're not cultivating a new demographic now, you are setting your nonprofit up for a major revenue problem down the road.
There's No Easy Follow-up: I talk a lot about EASE. Ease is a key factor in converting someone from just consuming your appeal and actually taking ACTION (ahem, making a gift). Now more than ever we need to cut through distraction by following up MORE frequently. You can do this easily by mail. You can totally do this easily online. 😉
You don’t need to quit direct mail altogether, but it’s time to think of your fundraising and marketing strategy more holistically. If you want to scale your organization and do it without overworking and the feast-or-famine fundraising cycle, it's time to devote time online, too!