Are we meeting our donors where they are? Are we stewarding them enough? Are we thanking them enough? How many touchpoints should they receive? Advancement teams across all organizations are wrestling with these questions during the donor journey. It’s a daunting task determining when, where and how to communicate with your donors. Too often, the solution for a personalized, timely response tends to be a manual internal process involving team members stamping and stuffing envelopes at their desks.
Emerson Cazzani, Assistant Director, Annual Giving at Boston University found herself in that very position – until she found Pledgemine. Now, she lets Pledgemine handle her acknowledgment process, making it possible to achieve more than she ever could before.
The Elusive Donor Journey
Ensuring all donors are acknowledged is a daunting and complex task. Portions of the donor pyramid often overlooked, and our data shows that first-time donors can often wait up to six months before hearing from the development team, which is often via mail. This delay is a key contributing factor to our industry average first-time donor retention rate of only 20%.
Boston University receives about 10,000 gifts each April. How was Emerson supposed to acknowledge each one? Before working with Pledgemine, it could take weeks for Emerson and her student workers to create, stuff, and stamp those letters. With Pledgemine for On-Demand mailings, she can now send warm and personalized acknowledgments in a matter of minutes, ensuring that every donor and gift is graciously and promptly acknowledged.
Using On-Demand, Emerson set up responsive and relevant mail packets that can be released as often as necessary. By leveraging this cadence-based mail, she is able to connect with her donors in the manner and timing that works best for them.
In the direct mail space, responding almost immediately is critical to engaging active donors. Using Pledgemine On-Demand, Boston University has been able to open more opportunities to connect with donors than ever before.
Meet Them Where They Are
Pledgemine is also collaborating with Boston University on its loyalty program. For this project, Emerson relies on targeted segments, adding more personalization such as giving history. Completing this project manually opens the door for human error and requires significant staff time to carefully proofread to ensure that donors receive the right pieces.
With Pledgemine, that segmentation is automated. A single spreadsheet is all that is necessary to achieve highly personalized mailings. This allows the donor to receive a postcard that is not only timely, but personalized in a way that shows how much their generosity means to the organization. “To my surprise, Pledgemine makes it incredibly easy to upload data,” Emerson said.
Final Thoughts
Timely, personalized communication is critical in planning a donor’s journey at any organization. A guiding principle to all donor journeys should be several touchpoints between when a gift is made and the next ask. Touchpoints can come as ThankViews, phone calls, text messages, and of course mail. Pledgemine gives every organization the ability to create personalized and responsive mail at any desired cadence, saving them hours of time and stress while delighting their donors as well.