Old School is New School

Last week, our accelerator members were treated to a blog post in which LUNA co-founder Cathy Allen shared her thoughts on the ideal direct mail solicitation letters. We crammed our annual giving section with even more content with the defense of direct mail.

I know what you’re thinking.

• “Nobody uses direct mail anymore.”
• “Email is better.”
• “Younger generations won’t ready snail mail.”

Until recently, I might have agreed with you, to a point. Now I disagree completely.

In 2017, Blackbaud shared data that reported that more than 85% of direct marketing came as a result of snail mail. They also noted that an increasing number of people responded by making their gifts online.

I assumed that we would see that number diminish over time as younger generations drive giving as the Boomers exit stage left.

But au contraire mon frère.

It is true that online giving is growing. It went from 8% in 2022 to 12% in 2023. That growth will continue to grow, because who writes checks anymore?

But the reports of the death of direct mail are highly exaggerated.

Consider this data from the US Postal Service:

• 55% of people “look forward” to seeing what’s in their mailbox
• 56% of people find print-based marketing to be the most trustworthy form of marketing (wait...you mean we can’t trust everything we find on the web?)
• 70% of people agree that direct mail feels more personal than digital messages

I know what you’re thinking again: “Yeah, that may be true older donors, but not but not for Millennials or Gen Z.”

Guess again.

Here's where it gets interesting. The RDK Group, a nonprofit marketing and fundraising company, studied the percentage of people in each of the dominant generations who like to read their email each day. Here’s what they said (hold on to your seats):

• Millennials: 79%
• Gen Z: 72%
• Gen X: 70%
• Baby Boomers: 70%

[MIC DROP]

So the message is clear: Email alone just isn’t going to cut it. You need direct mail in your mix.

Next/After, which studies this stuff, reports that nearly 55% of nonprofits are using both email and postal communications. There is compelling, bottom-line data that demonstrates why we need to use both.If you keep up with donor retention rates in the US, you know that they are in the low 40s.

But Next/After found that when you use a combination of print and email combination, that number goes up to 67%.

And remember that pesky retention rate for first time donors? Low 20s? The combination of mail and email brings first time donor retention rates up to 50% to 62%, depending on age range.

So what to do with this?

The summer months, when things are hopefully a bit quieter for you, are a great time for you to be planning your year-end campaigns. As you start your planning, create integrated campaigns that include direct mail and email, supported by social media and other channels you may have available to you.

Know an emerging or small nonprofit ready to grow? Tell them about LUNA (lunaexperience.org). This is the type of learning they will receive.