Direct Mail ?? Facebook Advertising

Most fundraisers think of donors in channels.

You’ve got online donors. And you’ve got offline donors.

And that is essentially how fundraising budgets get broken down. I can spend money on online fundraising, and I can spend money on direct mail. And rarely do fundraisers measure how one influences the other.

But, you know what they say — teamwork makes the dream work.

And in a recent test with one of our clients, we’ve seen another example of how using Facebook ads alongside your direct mail campaigns can increase direct mail response??

Hypothesis

Showing Facebook ads for direct mail acquisition prospects will achieve an increase in conversion rate because it will increase brand awareness and familiarity across multiple channels during the ‘ask period’.

Why might this work?

The Facebook ads act as a primer for prospects, providing them with information about the direct mail pieces they’ll be receiving rather than sending a cold appeal. Following the delivery of their direct mail appeal, the ads keep the ask top of mind.

Control

Treatment

Results

By adding Facebook ads alongside their direct mail acquisition efforts, this organization saw an 11.9% increase in donations when they ran brand ads 10 days before and 10 days after sending out direct mail pieces.

Some tips for testing this and other ideas

1. Use imagery in your ads that directly corresponds with the direct mail piece to create congruity.
2. Test the timing of the ads — is a longer or shorter run time more effective?
3. Test optimizing these ads for “Reach” instead of “Purchases (i.e. donations)” since your ‘purchase’ is coming from an offline source.
4. Use this same approach for your other marketing channels — creating a cohesive, multi-touchpoint donor acquisition strategy can help boost your results.

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