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| Jeff Ostiguy Vice President, Digital Marketing |
Multichannel... Omni-channel... Cross channel... Pan channel. So many buzzwords ... and I think I just made up that last one on the spot.
But... wait! Don’t go!
I know you don’t want another blog post about why these buzzwords matter, so I’m not going to write one. I’d rather talk about diversification.
For direct response fundraisers, this is the lens we should be looking through. Trying to be everywhere is great, but if we’re being honest, not always realistic from a budget perspective. So instead, how do we develop strategies that are not quite so channel dependent?
Let’s start with email.
If you’re like most NPOs, somewhere between 15 and 30% of your digital revenue is coming from email. If you’re on the higher end or above, it might look good on the bottom line, but it’s something that should concern you a little bit. No, email isn’t dead, but its role in the fundraising ecosystem is changing. Attrition and deliverability are real problems, and while the tools we have available are helping us be more responsive and strategic in our approaches, we know email still requires a great deal of care and feeding to keep it viable and productive.
Email needs help.
In the grand scheme of things, email is really just another targeted ad impression. Other than search, it remains the easiest to directly attribute revenue to but if you’re judging email on that basis alone you’re doing yourself a disservice. Also, when you factor in platform costs and all the care and feeding mentioned above, I think you’d discover that your real email CPM isn’t that different than other paid digital channels.
We have seen our clients’ email programs without exception benefit from support in display and social. Opens, revenue, etc. all improve with investment in other digital channels.
It’s not just about investing in those channels to support email however – it’s about lessening the revenue burden ON email.
Invest in targeted paid digital media.
Aim to build a program that strategically leverages targeted paid digital media – such as paid display, paid search and paid social – in combination with more rewards or incentive-based cost per acquisition donor programs. Once established, you’ll find these can each become their own revenue streams and pillar strategies.
But what about attribution?
I know this opens a bit of a Pandora’s Box... attribution. Don’t freak out.
If you’re newer to some of these channels, start by establishing some simple time-based attribution models, giving more credit to view-through conversions that happen within hours and less to those that happen within days. Learn and set expectations for the number of new donors acquired through different techniques and model the LTV of these donors against the investment.
With first party data targeting you can send less email and protect the integrity of your database knowing that you’re making your impression in other channels – mail included. The objective, ultimately is simple; increase overall digital revenue through increased visibility and discoverability.
Does it require investment? Yes.
Should you expect a net positive return immediately? No.
Can all this lower funnel spending be more efficient with support from the brand? Yes, but that’s for another post.
Far too often, lower funnel direct response tactics are being asked to do both and as such, expectations for revenue are inflated.
But I digress...
Set achievable goals
You can definitely set goals for your various tactics. A 2 to 4% conversion rate for search, 50 to 60% return on ad spend through paid display, etc.
Track the value of the new donors acquired and the incremental value from renewed and reactivated donors and measure your success against the growth in your site activity and overall revenue generated online.
Over time, you will grow your digital revenue stream and lessen your reliance on email to carry so much of the weight.
And now, a shameless plug.
If you’re going to be in Chicago for the DMA conference, and want to hear more about this, come check out our session ‘Making the Most of Your Digital Program’ at 2PM Central Time on August 29th. You can heckle me if I say omni-channel or multichannel.
