Acquiring new donors by mail ... in 2023
File under: Acquisition appeals ~ What's the best page count?
1 page? 2 pages? 6?
"Tilt!" It has nothing to do with page count.
Let's go back in time ... recent times ... to Ireland, 2017.
Picture this: you have the chiefs of pretty much every top fundraising agency in the English-speaking world in one audience at one time (something I lucked into at the Ask Direct Summer School in Dublin, 2017). There are at least 6 high-performing agencies represented, from 3 continents.
You're in command. You're on stage with a microphone in your hand. And suddenly you realize, Maybe I could settle a long-standing debate right now? So you ask all these chiefs this festering question:
"Which will draw the best response: a 1-page donor-acquisition letter ... or a 4-page donor-acquisition letter?"
(And, dear reader, if you're brand-new to direct mail lingo, an "acquisition" letter is simply an appeal sent to someone who has not YET given but MIGHT be willing to help. If you're an arts venue, for instance, you send your appeal to known arts lovers. If you're an animal shelter, you send your appeal to those who cherish their furballs. If you're a faith-based charity, you send your appeal to others who share your values. If you're a local charity, you send to all the mailboxes in your own backyard.)
What would YOUR answer be?
Please guess right now. 1 page? Or 4 pages?
Despite hemming and hawing and asterisks and footnotes (these chiefs were, after all, devotedly dutiful data geeks), the answers in 2017 were remarkably consistent: 19 times out of 20 (one Australian test was an outlier), professionally-written 4-page acquisition letters harvested the best response ... by far.
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End of story? Not even close.
Here's your "take this with a grain of salt" moment.
Bottom line....
Did you miss the bit about "professionally written"?
Maybe you shrugged off the adjective "acquisition"? Not a minor detail: Acquisition appeals haul in far LOWER response rates than appeals sent to "current" donors (those who've given recently ... within, say, 3 months to a year).
For acquisition, your appeal's page count has ZERO to do with response ... UNLESS (this is the biggie) you employ well-trained, innovating, fabulous, soulful writers who know exactly what they're doing in every word, sentence, underline, indent and paragraph.
If that's NOT the person writing your appeal letter, then your page-count is just a number.
And most likely? Shorter is safer. Two-page acquisition appeals ... printed both sides on one sheet of paper ... are the workhorse.
To repeat: it's not the number of pages you send to strangers. It's what's written on those pages that matters....
You've heard about 2017. Now let's go back even further in time, to 2010. (Promise: At the end of this e-news, we'll come back to 2023-2024.)
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You CAN write a one-page appeal letter that succeeds magnificently. I've seen it happen. (Well, OK, seen it once; still ...)
2010.
These were the most uncertain economic times since 1929, when a stock market collapse launched the planetary Great Depression, which led to the swift, opportunistic rise of the Nazi party.
Fast forward: 2010? The year has already acquired a troubling label: the Great Recession.
The 2010 year-end appeal for this local library in New England was in the hands of a volunteer board member (Jen Wastrom). To prepare, she'd sought out a few hours of training from a nearby nonprofit-assistance center, to learn the basics of direct-mail appeals.
And then ... facing a severe economic downturn, threatened by global collapse ... Jen Wastrom, volunteer first-time appeal writer, raised more than US$55,000 from households in a small Connecticut town ... within weeks ... with nothing more than a one-page "Dear Resident" letter.
It wasn't an accident. (I.e., you can do it, too.)
What mattered was NOT the appeal's page count. What mattered WAS the undeniable "case for support" that Jen laid out in her sizzling one-page appeal ... which went to every mailbox in a town of 8,700 residents (2020 Census) ...
EVERYTHING IN RED (underlines, comments)
are my notes on Jen's masterpiece, as I try to teach others her brilliance....
WHY US ?
(Why are we unique and worthy?)
WHY NOW?
(What's the big hurry?)
WHY YOU, the donor?
(Why you're desperately needed?)
Setting your DM response expectations for 2023-2024:
Here are some rough benchmarks uttered by recognized expert Jeff Brooks, on September 14, 2023 ... during an exhausting all-you-can-eat Q&A (subscribe here to get advance notice of these quarterly remarkable fundraising mind-meld get-togethers):
Mailing to existing donors? An 8% response to your year-end appeal is REALLY, REALLY good. A 5% response is fine; be proud.
Mailing an acquisition appeal? If you get a 1% response? HOLD A PARTY!!!
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Dear Reader: This is an excerpt from Tom Ahern’s e-newsletter. Did you miss crucial back issues of this how-to e-news? Immediately available! Just GO here. (And scroll down just a bit to sign up for Tom’s revenue-boosting tips and insights. In your inbox regularly. It’s free.)