I’ll never forget one session I attended when Steve Froelich, ASPCA Director of Analytics, likened a donor’s first gift experience to a one-night stand … “excited, but uncertain if it was a one-time thing … remorse … used or cast aside … uncertain about the future.”
Without pushing the metaphor too far, he pointed out that “it’s not a relationship unless it happens a second time.”
His recommendations for getting that critical second gift are sound:
– Say thank you quickly
– Use a donor invitation phone call within the first 3-4 months
– Suppress the donor’s name from list exchange for the first few months.
Great, but not enough. The most powerful and cost-efficient way to gain the second gift is a survey in the welcome kit.
Most organizations can attribute most of the mailing to education, quite rightly. But a survey asking new donors to rank priorities is a proven way to engage and get a quick second gift.
Save the Children adapted this proven technique to the web. A web donor gets a friendly Thank You email that includes a link to a survey, which also offers the donor an opportunity to give again.
Yet another tactic is a stream of mailings that are sent instead of the current appeal kits … each a proven package.
Many groups have “evergreen” appeals … packages that work so well you can pretty much remail them without change every year. Try making one of these the NEXT appeal a new donor receives, no matter when they join relative to the mail stream.
Some organizations have four such mailings … a series of contacts that are each proven evergreen response drivers.
A petition. And urgentgram. Another survey. Rapid Response. Whatever works for you.
Get ‘em while they’re hot, with a second-gift CAMPAIGN.