The value of integrating activism and fundraising messages - presentation from Shehtal Persaud and Deanna Bickford of Full Citizen.

1. What’s hiding behind
your petition?
The hidden value of taking action
al e

2. As campaigners you’re lucky
...
• You establish relationships
• You find supporters
• You renew interest
• You communicate your mission
• You keep people up t date
Y k l to d t
• You inform
• You
Y empower

3. And in doing this...
You find extremely valuable prospects for fundraising
And that can have a very real ROI
If you can tap into it

4. Successful campaigning orgs…
Operate internally like this:
Communications
Campaigns
Fundraising

5. They also…
Employ multi-channel integration to engage
supporters from the very first contact and at
contact…
meaningful points along the way.

6. The Opportunity
“There is a huge opportunity to expand
There
cross-pollination between advocacy and
fundraising.
fundraising ”
-- Online Marketing Benchmark Index Study, Convio, 2009

7. The Opportunity

8. The Opportunity
• After today you’ll have solid figures to justify
today, you ll
engagement and conversion strategies
• C
Conversion b k through the “ h
i breaks h h h “show me the money”
h ”
factor with social media marketing…
• Return on Investment will be greater the sooner you
develop a comprehensive strategy for conversion and
act on it
t

9. Start simple…
• Be sure to capture email addresses, street addresses,
post code - and include phone
• Get permission to contact them in future
• Follow up to online actions with thank-you page, and
thank-you email with an ask option (can also add direct
mail or voice mail)
• Continue to engage supporters via various channels
• Phone through the entire list to convert your online
activists into donors

10. 5 takeaways
1. The immediate website ask your no-brainer friend
2. Email your cheap and easy-going friend
3. Direct Mail your oldest friend
4. Social media and SMS your new friends
5. Phone your best friend
y

11. The immediate website ask: Your no-brainer
friend
Why?
OBVIOUS, EFFECTIVE, CHEAP.

12. The immediate ask
1) High Profile
2) On the thank-you page EVEN if there are subsequent asks
3) In the thank-you email

13. Case study 1 – The immediate ask
“When a man knows
he is to be hanged in Cultural/education
a fortnight, it organisation created a
concentrates his campaign to get citizens to
mind wonderfully”
write to their City Council
Samuel Johnson Member to prevent budget
p g
cuts to that organisation

14. Advocacy Page.
Constituents
simply type in
address; their City
Council Member
is located and a
i l t d d
template message
is generated

15. Results
• 10974 emails sent to City C
il t t Cit Council M b
il Members
• Over 20,000 written letters sent
• Gross revenue $50 058 68
$50,058.68
• 1000 donors
• 584 new donors

16. Political Result
• Full restoration in C ty funding for t e o ga sat o so
u esto at o City u d g o the organisation
no layoffs and no reduced hours.
• Reports by many City Council Members on volume
of emails and letters received concerning the
campaign
• “The main reason we stopped the cuts was this
pp
online campaign. I would be the first to say otherwise,
but it's true”. VP for government affairs

17. Result: The immediate ask
$6,415 came from the
thank you page and
email
12% of total campaign
p g
revenue!
1.85% conversion rate
$30.99 average gift (ask
was $25)

18. Email Stewardship:
Your easy going friend
easy-going
Why?
VERY LOW INVESTMENT, ABLE TO RE-USE PREVIOUS CONTENT,
EASY TO TEST

19. Ongoing stewardship
Another crisis – another fundraising appeal.
There was a small budget cut later that same
year.
The advocates were contacted
with a fundraising appeal asking
them to help.

20. Ongoing stewardship
Results:
R lt
0.80% conversion rate
$
$66 average g
g gift
Strong buzz around this
campaign on Twitter and Facebook

21. Email – Plays well with others
Email works really well to complement other channels too

22. Case study 2: HSI EU Seal Ban

24. Case study
Email sent within one No email sent
All calls day within one day
Contacts 1866 939 773
Success – new monthly donor 7.21% 8.18% 6.60%
Success – single gift 0.46% 0.20% 0.65%
Send Form – new monthly donor 3.08% 3.05% 2.91%
Send Form – single gift 0.31% 0.41% 0.22%
Average gift – monthly gift
A ift thl ift $41.10
$41 10 £48.53
£48 53 £36.46
£36 46
Av gift Val Success – One time $1.32 £0.00 £2.50
Yr 1 ROI 0.86 1.03 0.75
YR 4 ROI 3.77 4.44 2.95

25. Lessons for email
Multi-part emails
Direct Asks
Di t A k
Theme and brand around advocacy if possible
THINK – what brought this person to y
g you?
Integrate it with all your other channels

26. Direct Mail: Your oldest friend
Why?
PREDICTABLE RETURNS, BETTER RETURNS THAN LIST
PROSPECTING,
PROSPECTING HIGH CONVERSION RATES

27. Case study
One segment of advocates we’re mailed before the end
of the year to ask for a gift supporting essential services
f th t kf ift ti ti l i
at a cultural organisation.
3.24% direct mail response rate
$59 direct mail average g
g gift
Average response on prospecting packages 0.30%

28. Integrate with other channels
An email was sent along with
some of the direct mail
packages
Average g
g gift
• DM only = $49
• DM and email = $105
$

29. Lessons for DM
Integrate with
teg ate t
advocacy
Integrate with
email
Include a
campaign update
p g p

30. Social Media and SMS: your new friends
SOCIAL MEDIA as a stewardship channel
Get people onto your social media channels
after they have taken advocacy action,
update them on the campaign status and
then direct message them.
Or send them a video thank you with a
direct relation to the advocacy campaign.

31. Some points to remember
Social Media is unlikely to lead to direct conversions.
But it keeps y
p your organisation top of mind and heart.
g p
It remains to be proved – but this could help boost results
p p
from other channels. Think about the HSI phone/email example…
It’s all about the pan-organisation communication.
Social media isn’t just for your marketing team.

32. SMS
Collect mobile phone numbers during the
advocacy action and instead of emailing the
thank you text them a thank you.
Then send them a text to give ask or call that
mobile number.

33. Case Study: Greenpeace Argentina
One million text “votes” in 51 days.

34. Case Study
When Greenpeace finished the mobile text campaign they had
800,000
800 000 new contacts.They called those individuals…
contacts They individuals
170,658 called 9.65% conversion Average gift 3.28 7.6 million
on their mobile to monthly giving: dollars/month dollars LTV
phones 15,388
(over 5 years)

35. Phone: your best friend
y
Calling your online activists is the most
effective way to convert them to
donors.

36. Comparison – DM vs Phone
PHONE
DIRECT MAIL
CONVERSION
# Contacts 10,000 10,000
Conversion % 1- 5% 8-15%
New D
N Donors 100-
100-500 800-
800-1500
Net
$20-
$20-$50 $3-
$3-$20
cost/donor

37. Other benefits
It’s a great way to update
and engage online
activists – has the
informality of email but
the personal touch of
p
face-to-face

38. Other benefits …
 Using the phone is a low investment risk, because
programs can be started and stopped at any time
 Cleans up your list so that you have the most up to date
up-to-date
contact info about your supporters
 Has a lower attrition/drop-off rate than many other
channels

39. Case study – Advocacy Org
Advocacy Stats
Post-campaign conversion phone appeal:
New advocates who took action on a
series of campaigns to support public
broadcasting were called 6-12 months
after registering their contact info.

40. Case study – Advocacy org
Advocacy y
Stats y g
Post-campaign conversion phone appeal:
Advocates who took action on a series of
campaigns to support public broadcasting
were called 6-12 months after registering
their contact info.

41. Case study – Advocacy org
Advocacy Stats
Primary ask  Single gift
Number contacted = 5527
New donors gained: 857
Conversion rate:
Con ersion rate 15.5%
15 5%
(incl.1.3%
monthly)
Average gift: $43.01
$9.05 monthly
Year 1 ROI: .8

42. Case study – Advocacy org
Advocacy Stats
Net cost to acquire
q
a new donor = $11
LTV = $165

43. Case study – Environmental org
Advocacy Stats
Post-campaign conversion phone appeal:
Online d
O li advocates who t k part in a Call t
t h took ti C ll to
Action were called within 12 months after they
signed up
up.
They were also sent a voice message to
y g
tell them of the upcoming call one week prior.

44. Case study – Environmental org
Advocacy Stats
Primary ask  Monthly gift
Number contacted = 4180
New donors gained: 484
Conversion rate: 11.6%
11 6%
(9.2% monthly!)
Ave. gift:
A e gift $11.26 monthly
$11 26 monthl
$42.46 single
Year 1 ROI: .98

45. Case study – Environmental org
Advocacy Stats
Net cost to acquire
q
a new donor = $3
LTV = $430

46. In summary…
Convert direct to monthly giving,
with fall-back single gift option
option.
Renewal
Rene al rates  high
Return on investment  high
Long term value  high

47. Just remember…
• Sooner is better to launch your phone conversion
program – preferably within 3 months after the online
action
• Larger lists are more cost-effective best if 8000 +
cost effective,
• Be sure to do phone number verification and look-up
for those records without phone #s

48. Giving thanks
g
Hi this is Bob Penner
calling for
for…
I just wanted to thank
you f your recent
for t
action…
Thanks to you, we’ve
been able to…

49. 5 takeaways
1. The immediate website ask – your no-brainer friend
On the thank you page even if there are other asks, in the thank you email,
high profile
2. Email – your easygoing friend
Direct Asks, theme and brand around advocacy if possible, THINK – what
brought this person to you? Integrate it with all your other channels
3. Direct Mail – your oldest friend
y
Integrate with advocacy, integrate with email, include a campaign update
4. Social media and SMS – your new friends
Not just f your marketing team, heavy messaging at the time of phone and
for f
email campaigns, text to give and mobile calling for conversion
5.
5 Phone – your best friend
Used for conversions, the phone will help you keep supporters informed,
and find many new donors for your work

50. Conclusions
Cost per Response ROI Volume of
contact donor
recruitment
ec u t e t
Web $0.25-$0.50 1-3% Instant return Low
Email
E il $0.25-$0.75
$0 25 $0 75 0.5-3%
0 5 3% Instant t
I t t return Low
L
Direct Mail $1.50-$5 2-7% 1 year + Med-High
breakeven
Phone $7-$12 8-15% 1 year + High
breakeven

51. Full Citizen™
To help your organization efficiently and cost-
effectively convert online activists to donors,
Full Citizen is ready to:
– Prepare and launch a conversion strategy that
engages online activists to make a donation
– Coordinate multiple channels where possible (phone,
mail, email) to find the most effective way to convert
the online activist to become a donor
– Use data analysis and screening over a period of one
year from activist acquisition to help test the best
approaches for conversion for your activists

52. Timeline
Week 7 -52
Week 1 Analyse, revise,
Discuss creative Week 3-5 re-launch.
approaches, look Prepare Populate testing
at past results, Campaign. Create matrix, make
assess advocacy
d materials, t h i l
t i l technical strategic revisions,
t t i i i
schedule for the set-up, crate re-test revision and
year testing matrix re-launch.
Week 2 Week 6
Technical Review Launch Campaign.
Finalise vendors, Execute, confirm
EMS and ability to all channels are
track conversions working correctly.

53. How do we test? Sample testing matrix

54. Questions?
sheetal.persaud@fullcitizen.com
deanna.bickford@fullcitizen.com