June 8, 2009 Admin

That’s the question asked by Steve MacLaughlin, Director of Internet Solutions at Blackbaud, in a recent blog post.

He’s talking about the fact that, on average, online fundaising appeals get less than a 1% response rate … indeed, the average is less than 0.2%. Steve looked at data from the 2009 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study done by M+R Strategic Services and NTEN, as well as prior years.

Arguing why online response should be better than mail, Steve says:

"Email communication has more robust segmentation and personalization capabilities. It has faster response cycles, is more cost effective to test, and combined with higher average gifts it can have better ROI than traditional channels. Email isn’t perfect or the Holy Grail of marketing tools, but having success less than 1% of the time shouldn’t be acceptable."

Then he adds a point about the right approach to benchmarks:

"All statistical averages hide the reality that some organizations are well above the benchmark and others are way below it. Successful nonprofits have learned that better segmentation, message testing, and integrating their efforts with other channels yields the best results. These organizations also don’t push the send button without having a goal for the campaign, a targeted audience for the email, a clear purpose for the message, a measurable call to action, and a plan to monitor the results. 99% failure is not acceptable for these nonprofits."

Amen!

Tom