Best Use of Direct Marketing
2015 Nomination FormNominations should be in respect of activity completed during the organisation’s 2014 financial year.
This award will recognise the campaign that demonstrates the best use of direct marketing in fundraising for campaigns created in-house or in partnership with an agency.
A direct marketing campaign is defined as the use of multi-channel tools to communicate and raise funds from potential donors including Direct Mail, SMS, Inserts, DRTV, Telemarketing.
Criteria:
The judges will award marks for:
Innovation and creativity.
Effectiveness in terms of financial and non-financial results.
Nominator’s Details (every line in this section is compulsory): Name:(must be a
member of Fundraising Ireland)
Barry McCann
Job Title: Fundraising Manager
Organisation: Croí, the West of Ireland Cardiac Foundation Address: Croí House, Moyola Lane, Newcastle, Galway E-mail: barry@croi.ie
Telephone: 091 544331
Nominee’s Details (only if different from the above): Main Contact in
the nominated organisation: Job Title: Organisation: Address: Email: Telephone:
CHY: CHY 7500
Please complete the following sections in full:
Name of Campaign Nominated:
Croí Golden Ticket Draw
Objectives:
List the key objectives of the campaign and how it was carried out including the name of any agency that may have been used? (Max 250 words)
The 2014 Croí Golden Ticket Draw focused on raising funds to support our Family Accommodation Service (known as the Croí Courtyard Apartments) at the Croí Heart & Stroke Centre, Galway. These self-catering apartments are offered free of charge to family members of heart and stroke patients undergoing treatment in Hospital, enabling them to be within walking distance to their loved ones at a very traumatic time.
The Golden Ticket Draw was now in its fourth year making it easier to create realistic and measurable key objectives for the campaign based on previous data. The key objectives were;
Raise awareness of our Courtyard Apartments.
Use a real life experience from our apartment guests to create an emotive appeal.
Raise €55,000 to support our Family Support & Accommodation Fund.
Maintain 50% Return Rate of our 2013 Golden Ticket Supporters. To help achieve this objective, a friendly follow up phone was made within 1 week of past supporters receiving the mailing.
Secure a sponsor to cover the prize fund.
Create a greater bond with our donors and stakeholders.
Learn more about our donors.
Continue to clean up our database on Raisers Edge.
Forecasting:
How did you intend to measure success? Please list the key performance indicators for this campaign. (Max 250 words)
KPI’s:
1. Revenue: Our target was to raise €55,000 through the mail.
2. Return Rate: Our target was to achieve an overall 10% Return Rate from the Mailing.
3. Gift Amount: Our aim was to increase the Average Gift by 2% per response. 4. Costs: Our aim was to decrease the Cost per Gift by 3%.
5. Brand Awareness: This would be measured by increasing the amount of people reached through the Appeal.
6. Sponsors: Get the prize fund of €5,000 fully sponsored.
7. Donor Acknowledgment: Our objective was to acknowledge all gifts within 24 hrs.
8. Database: Through ongoing data updates, we wanted to reduce the returned post due to invalid address by 65%.
Rationale:
Why was the direct marketing approach deemed to be the best approach? (Max 250 words)
Direct Mail Marketing was the best approach because it enabled us to deliver our Raffle books in a timely, systematic manner into the homes of over 9,000 contacts from our Raisers Edge Database.
As this was the 4th year of the campaign, we also knew that it was a proven method
of generating funds.
We used Doggett Printers as our partner for Printing/Fulfilling/Posting the campaign and worked closely with them to ensure strict timelines were adhered to.
3 months in advance of this campaign, we also mailed a copy of our Annual Report to all previous supporters of the Golden Ticket Draw, referencing their support of this campaign and the difference their help makes. This was our version of a ‘save
the date’ mail and helped to maintain a high return from past supporters.
Segmentation:
To what extent, if any, did you segment the mailing into different groups and if so, why? If segmentation was used was it successful and why? (Max 250 words)
Due to previous experience, we knew the complications that over-segmentation can bring to a campaign and for this reason we segmented the mailing into only two categories; Previous Donors and New Contacts. Both segments were tailored to reflect the level of relationship with the individual.
This minimal yet vital segmentation enabled us to track and assess all of the data to meet our KPI requirements.
Reach:
How many people did this campaign reach?
The Campaign was mailed to 9,896 individuals, all of whom had some previous contact or association with our charity.
However, our branding had a far greater reach as these individuals were asked to sell raffle tickets on our behalf. Approximately 19,000 tickets were sold and each ticket carried our branding, mission and values.
Creativity:
How did you ensure that your creative stood out? Please attach a soft copy of any printed materials. (Max 250 words)
Because the entire Golden Ticket Mailing list was relatively warm (in the sense that they had previous contact with us) we wanted them to instantly know that it was Croí who was mailing them. We personalised our envelopes with our logo and a short snippet of a powerful line from the story inside. We outsourced the Copy Writing to an external professional (Lisa Pember) in order to get a fresh feel to our message.
Our letter which accompanied the Raffle Tickets told the story of a young Donegal family who unexpectedly needed our help at Christmas time. This real-life story was emotive, local, informative and empowering. There was a definite call to action and a tangible ripple effect if they took action.
The design of our raffle book took a similar look and feel to previous years in order to continue to build on existing brand recognition.
Innovation:
There were a few key innovative factors that assisted with the success of our campaign:
1. The Innovative Personalisation – Each book of raffle tickets was personalised with the recipient’s full contact details which created a sense of ownership for the individual. It looked as if we created each book of tickets for that individual donor.
2. The Innovative Copy Writing – We researched various copy writers and ensured that we were going to have a fresh look and feel to our appeal letter.
3. The Innovative Timing – Knowing that all of our mail boxes are jam packed with appeal letters at Christmas time, we brought the mailing date forward to hit on 1st November.
4. The Innovative Incentive to Sell Tickets – We incentivised the selling of tickets by including all sellers into a separate draw to win one of three €500 Fuel Vouchers for themselves.
Integration:
Please explain how you integrated the various channels (e.g direct mail, DRTV, DR Radio, direct recruitment, telemarketing, and other channels) (Max 200 words)
The Golden Ticket Draw was integrated through a number of other supporting channels:
Online: The campaign was promoted through our website and social media enabling people to purchase tickets for the draw online.
Telemarketing: Various segments of the mailing list were contacted by phone from a member of our staff (not outsourced) to ensure they received the mailing and to thank them in advance for their support. The people that were contacted had a higher return rate in the campaign.
Regional Media and PR: the Campaign was supported and promoted through local photo and press releases with sponsors.
Longevity:
Would you run a similar campaign again? Please explain why.(Max 100 words)
This campaign has proven over the past four years that it is a viable fundraising venture for Croí. Each year we are amending our database to ensure that only the most relevant target market will receive the appeal.
We are streamlining the process each year and we believe that we can constantly make improvements to the success of this new form of income for the charity.
What were the actualfinancial results and how did these compare to your original forecasts? (Please include net and gross income and ROI % figures) (Max 250 words)
Gross Income: €79,082 Expenditure: €21,176 Net Income: €57,906
ROI = 3.7:1 (It cost us 27c for every €1 raised.)
RESULTS v KPI’s:
Revenue: Actual Net Income of €57,906 verses target of €55,000. Response Rate: Actual Response Rate of 11.5% versus target of 10%. Gift Amount: Average gift increased by 2.7% versus 2% target.
Costs: Cost per Gift decreased by 4.4% versus target of 3%.
Sponsors: We partnered with Stewart Contractors who sponsored the entire Prize fund of €5,000. Corrib Oil also sponsored €1,500 worth of Fuel Vouchers to be raffled amongst the Ticket sellers.
Brand Awareness: 9,896 people were solicited and our branded raffle tickets reached approximately 19,000 homes.
Donor Acknowledgment: An acknowledgment letter with amount donated was posted to all donors within the target time of 24 hours of receiving the gift.
Other Outcomes:
Please provide any other relevant information such as: the number of people directly helped by your initiative and the changes or outcomes they experienced. Did it help to create a stronger link between the donor and your organisation? E.g. did many offer to volunteer for your organisation etc?(Max 300 words)
The reason we have continued with this campaign for 4 years is that it has deepened our relationships with our supporter base in a number of ways.
Every person on our Golden Ticket Mailing List have some form of connection with our organisation (Health programmes participants, past fundraising event participants, donors etc). This means that they all have a base knowledge of our work and each time we contact them it is to update them of new initiatives and further developments. We acknowledge these individuals as the lifeblood of our organisation and we absolutely value their support.
The people that support this Golden Ticket Draw are not just comfortable in making a donation to our cause, but they are willing to go the extra mile and ask others to contribute also. We are building a team of ambassadors who, through more regular contact from our organisation, are more informed about the work we do and are able to build further links in the community on our behalf.
In addition to an increased donor database, we are finding that many of our Golden Ticket Supporters are also coming on board with us to organise their own
community fundraising event.
Authenticity Guarantee:
I confirm that to the best of my knowledge, the nomination is legal, decent, honest and truthful.*
* Entries must be submitted by a charity and not an agency, consultant or other commercial supplier.
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