How to Convert Your Once-Only Direct Mail Donors into Repeat Givers

By Alan Sharpe (March 2009) E-book  $9.99

Proven direct mail fundraising techniques for renewing your new members and first-time donors—year after year.

Only 35 percent of new donors ever make a second gift. Which is to say, a whopping 65 percent of donors acquired by direct mail give once and never give again.

Confronting this sobering statistic takes courage but is worth the effort. Here’s why.

1. Donors acquired through direct mail usually generate net income only after making a second donation, because acquisition mailings usually lose money (you must lose money to gain a donor).
2. Re-soliciting existing donors is likely to perform five to eight times more profitably than acquiring the same number of equally generous first-time donors.
3. Today’s new donor is tomorrow’s major donor and legacy gift prospect.

What all of this means is that the most important gift in direct mail fundraising isn’t the first gift but the second one. What’s most important isn’t the first mailing that acquires the donor, although that’s vital, obviously, but the second mailing (or third or fourth) that keeps the donor.

So the place to concentrate your scarce financial resources is not more and more donor acquisition but better donor conversion.

Donor conversion is the process of turning a first-time donor into a repeat  donor. Some people call it donor renewal, which is also the act of persuading  donors and members to renew their support year after year.

How to Convert Your Once-Only Direct Mail Donors into Repeat Givers is the 17th  Handbook in the Hands-On Fundraising Series, published by Andrew Spencer Publishing. It teaches you  proven direct mail fundraising techniques for renewing your new members and first-time donors—year after year.

Avoid costly Mistakes

• avoid acquisition methods that tend to attract more once-only donors than you care to process
• learn why front-end premiums can attract new donors but still not deliver the results you need
• discover the long-term drawbacks of using emergency appeals to attract new donors

Master how to use thank-you letters as renewal devices

• when to mail them
• what to show your thanks for
• one alternative more powerful than the mail
• what to mention in particular to encourage a second gift
• how to sign the letter
• one thing you must never say in your thank-you letter (53 percent of donors dislike it, and 8% will never give you another donation if you make this blunder)
• what kind of envelope to use
• what kind of postage to use
• what never to do with the outside of the envelope

What you must do between the 1st ask and the 2nd ask to get the 2nd gift

• what donors expect from you after they’ve made their first gift
• why you cannot expect the second gift to come automatically
• 19 things you can mail to first-time donors before making the second ask, each of them likely to increase your chances of securing long-term donor loyalty
• why you should involve your donors before soliciting them again
• two things you must do to  transform once-only donors into long-term, loyal supporters
• nine things you can do to keep your new donors interested in your cause

Improve your renewal series, improve your renewal rates

• when should you start your renewal campaign?
• how many times, minimum, should you ask for a second gift?
• what should you do with donors who give once and never again?
• what’s so deadly about addressing your letter to “Dear Friend”?
• how much money should you ask for the second time around?
• what must you say in your appeal letter to increase your chances of securing a second gift?

Download this Handbook now. Start reading it—and profiting from its advice and examples—within minutes.

Product Details

Format: E-book in Adobe PDF format for immediate download
Pages: 10
Publisher: Andrew Spencer Publishing
Language: English
ISBN: 978-0-9784052-7-4
Dimensions: 8.5 x 11
SKU: sharpe022

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