Analytics And Suppression

Who says there’s no such thing as a free lunch?

Problem / Opportunity:
Masterworks had the opportunity to test a more selective summer mailing strategy for a major West Coast rescue mission. We wanted to see what impact — in cost savings, short-term income and long-term value — the suppression of certain donors would have at a time of year when many are unlikely to respond.

Successful Strategy:
We analyzed over a five-year period the behavior of donors who had received summer impacts but never responded. We then carefully set up control and test groups to see how removing the non-responders from the summer mailing schedule affected not only short-term results but, more importantly, their lifetime value to the organization.

Results:
After one summer, we had saved the mission more than $12,000 in production/postage expenses. Even more significant, those donors who had been suppressed gave more generously between fall and Thanksgiving than they had previously at that time of year. After several years of implementing this strategy, the suppressed donors have a slightly higher lifetime value to the organization than those in the control group (who also fit the criteria for summer suppression but were mailed anyway).

The revelations from this test and others like it drove a shift in Masterworks’ strategy. If we . . .

• Narrow the mailing list to donors who have a high propensity to respond,
• Use appeal topics and offers that donors are most responsive to,
• Connect with donors at a time of year when they’re most likely to respond,

. . . then donor communication becomes much more relevant and meaningful. The end result is greater donor satisfaction, increased net income and hundreds of thousands of otherwise wasted mailing dollars that can be used for ministry and Kingdom growth. To us, it’s a matter of stewardship!