Winning over recipients' usual reactions to direct mail
There has been a lot of talk recently about the benefits of adopting a more integrated approach to direct marketing, specifically focusing on digital and mobile alternatives. However, as a recent nfpSynergy report demonstrated; many charities are finding it hard to let go of direct mail as a primary means of advertising and communication, spending around two thirds of their advertising budget on this one channel.
This will no doubt change – and given the recent Olive Cooke case, the change may come sooner than expected. But in the meantime, given that the charity sector is so committed to direct marketing as a channel, there is still plenty of opportunity to optimise its impact.
Of course, there has been plenty of debate around which type of message or format will generate the greatest return on investment. But what if we were to explore beyond specific campaigns and instead focus on donor behaviours in order to drive the effectiveness of your mail-outs?
Big efforts, small rewards
A lot of time, resource and precious finance can be poured in to producing a welcome letter, appeal for funds or newsletter, only for a large chunk of this content to end up in the recycling, unopened. A 2006 study for Nielsen Media Research on behalf of Marketing Magazine claimed that 30% of charity direct mailings were binned unopened. In 2015 this figure is unlikely to have changed much.
So how do you stop donors from throwing direct mail in the bin?
Most importantly, we need to understand more about how people behave in general which boils down to one basic principle: we are all inherently lazy. Like it or not, as human beings we are pre-programmed to expend as little effort as possible when faced with a task or decision. This applies to everything we do - even the simplest of tasks.
One of the most obvious ways that this "laziness" manifests itself is in our development of routines and habitual behaviour. Charles Duhigg, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and author of The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, explains that we form habits as a way of avoiding having to be on "full power" every time we repeat a familiar action.
We do this by detecting a "cue" or trigger associated with the familiar action, which then tells our brain to go into autopilot. The actual habit then ensues and is followed by some kind of "reward" - something we like - that reinforces this habitual behaviour.
This helps us to appreciate our challenge better in two ways. First, we need to reflect on what we are asking donors to do. Picking an envelope off a doormat, opening it up, reading the contents and, where relevant, doing something about it requires a lot more effort than chucking that same envelope into the recycling bin.
Also, it is highly likely that the behaviour of throwing direct mail away is a habitual one - heavily engrained and reinforced by the fact that it is much easier to bin than take the time and effort to open, read and act. People see the familiar cues: the well-known brand, the request for help, the urgent appeal: and their brain goes into autopilot – straight into the recycling without a second thought.
How to change this behaviour
The first thing is to consider how much you are reinforcing this behaviour. To what extent is your charity organisation relying on a tried and tested formula in terms of the format, design and content of your direct mail? The more that people recognise a "pattern", the easier it is for them to switch on their autopilot.
Conversely, if you can alter or remove these cues altogether, then you force people to engage with the material – to switch their brain onto "full power". And in doing so, give your materials a fighting chance to resonate and drive action.
So what is meant by "altering" or "removing" cues? Well, there’s not much you can do about changing the environment that donors receive their mail in – the time, place and method are all largely outside your control. But what you can change is the mail itself.
Making changes for change’s sake is not enough however; you need to ensure that you keep your audience at the heart of the design. After all, you can create something completely different that makes someone stop and think, but you still need to convince them that it’s worth making the effort to open, read and - possibly - act.
Once again, an understanding of human behaviour becomes invaluable here. When deciding whether or not to do something, we are influenced by a variety of "biases" that shape our behaviour. These enable us to act relatively quickly without having to fully think through our actions. The more that you can work with these biases (rather than against them), the more successful your mail outs are likely to be.
Glass half-empty?
One of the most common and powerful behavioural biases is the "affect" bias, which tells us that people respond emotionally rather than rationally to stimulus. As a sector that is highly emotional by nature, this won’t be new news to anyone. However, communications still tend to focus on more negative emotions, like sadness and pity.
Shifting towards more positive emotional territories that are request appropriate will help to challenge the old emotional paradigm. For example, setting a more fun or playful tone for fundraising requests or inserting more hopeful and uplifting messages in activity updates.
So why is it important to stay positive? Behavioural science tells us that if people like something, they are more likely to identify with it and support it. Campaigns such as St. Dunstan’s 2010 ‘Real Grit’ direct mail are good examples of this more positive framing. The messaging on the envelope was not a typical request for help, but something which sparked interest by telling recipients that there was "REAL GRIT inside this envelope".
The mailing then proceeded to use one ex-serviceman’s story to demonstrate how, with St. Dunstan’s assistance, he was able to adapt to and overcome life-changing injuries – a powerful and emotive story, with a very positive focus.
Other important biases to take into account are the "ego" and "incentive" biases. Essentially, we will respond to something more positively if it makes donors feel good about themselves or if they get something out of it. This can be in the form of a "quick fix", like the feeling we get from completing a good turn and being thanked for it.
Making a difference
But perhaps more powerfully, we feel better when we know our personal contribution has made a difference. So the greater the personal recognition you can offer in your mail-outs, the more you will be able to exploit this bias.
A nice example of the "ego" and "incentive" biases working together is from Australian charity Guide Dogs NSW/ACT. In 2011 it sent out bags of peppermint tea, which were clearly displayed on the front of the pack. The call to action was simple: it invited supporters to have "a cuppa on us" and whilst waiting for the kettle to boil, take part in a sensory experience which aimed to get donors closer to the deaf children they were supporting.
The tea bag not only served to deliver a personal thank you to donors and show how their support was helping individual children, but tactically, it indicated a very clear reward for opening the pack. Ultimately, when it comes to making donors feel good, it’s about telling them how important their contribution is to your organisation as an individual.
A final consideration is whether it is possible to make the actual task in hand less of an effort. Do all communications need to be opened and read? Think about what you are trying to do with each piece of direct mail and get to the point. If you just want to thank someone for signing up for a direct debit, do they really need a welcome pack that they have to trawl through? Or would something simple that just says "thanks" suffice?
Providing further information
If donors want further information, provide an option that asks for it. This would certainly have an impact on cost efficiencies – which are top of mind for donors. According to the REaD Group’s 2012 Consumer Trend Report: Direct Marketing From The Charity Sector, expenditure on marketing activities is one of the key reasons why someone might stop donating to a charity.
The NSPCC’s "thank you" DM campaign in 2014, which included a "little book of thank yous" is one successful example of providing donors with an option for more information. The purpose of the mailing – to thank most valued donors without a specific "ask" – got to the point on the envelope with a simple "thank you". And if recipients chose to make the effort to open it, they were rewarded with a highly engaging booklet of drawings, poems and stories from the children they had helped. Clear, impactful and - importantly - easily accessible evidence of the support that they gave.
Ultimately, the key is to keep things fresh and relevant to the donor. The more your charity slips into a cosy routine of tried and tested methods, the more it is opening itself up to the risk of direct mail being thrown away without a second look. So the next time I go to my doormat and pick up the post, please ensure it’s something that I, as a donor, want to take the time and effort to open and read.
