What's hiding behind your petition? Finding donors through advocacy

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What’s hiding behind
your petition?
Finding donors through advocacy
Presented by:
Mike Johnston, hjc
Sheetal Persaud, hjc

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© 2010 Convio, Inc.
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© 2010 Convio, Inc.
Overview
• What is the opportunity?
• How can you most effectively
convert advocates to donors?

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When people take an advocacy
action….
• They establish a relationship
• They renew interest
• They learn about your mission
• They get up to date
• They become informed
• They become empowered

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When a donor gives a gift to your
organisation...
• They establish a relationship
• They renew interest
• They learn about your mission
• They get up to date
• They become informed
• They become empowered

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Advocate to Donor > The
Opportunity
The opportunity

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Action Takers are Stronger
Prospects
Non-donors who’d taken action online were 2.3x more likely to donate
than non-donors in the email file who hadn’t

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Action Takers are Stronger Donors
Source: Charitable Memberships, Volunteering and Discounts: Evidence from a Large-Scale Online Field
Experiment. May 2009, National Bureau of Economic Research, A. Lange, A. Stocking.

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Barrier to success
Fundraising
Advocacy
Marketing

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Successful organisations…
Use this approach, with macro-level
integration
Fundraising
Marketing
Advocacy

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Case for support: the opportunity
works both ways
• 80 % of donors said they are willing to sign
an online petition or send an email about
an issue of concern.
• Younger donors are the most willing to
take advocacy action.
• Source: The Next Generation of Canadian Giving. October 2010, hjc, Stratcom,
Convio

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Taking the opportunity: 1
• Be able to explain the benefit –
organisation wide - for having a holistic
integrated communication plan for
advocates/donors/other constituencies

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Taking the opportunity: 2
• Grab a hammer and knock down some
silo’s

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Taking the opportunity: 3
• Understand techniques to solicit
advocates (that’s next)

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How to convert advocates to
donors
1.The immediate website ask
2.Email
3.Direct Mail
4.Social media/SMS
5.Phone

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The immediate website ask
• Why?
– Obvious
– Effective
– Cheap

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The immediate ask
• High Profile
• On the thank-you page EVEN if there are
subsequent asks
• In the thank-you email

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The immediate ask

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Case Study: Greenpeace
• In 2009 in the US - ran four online/offline
advocacy campaigns
• Began to create campaign specific
donation forms
• Redirect is immediately following action
taken

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Case Study: Greenpeace

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Case Study: Greenpeace
• The result
– No increased cost
– Increased donations by thousands

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Case study 2 – The immediate
ask
“When a man
knows he is to be
hanged in a
fortnight, it
concentrates his
mind wonderfully”
Samuel Johnson

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Advocacy Page.
Constituents simply
type in address; their
City Council Member
is located and a
template message is
generated

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Political Result
• Full restoration in City funding for the Library
so no layoffs and no reduced hours.
• Reports by many City Council Members on
volume of emails and letters received
concerning the campaign
• Media coverage of campaign online and
offline

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Result: The immediate ask
12% of total campaign
revenue!
1.85% conversion rate

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Email Stewardship
• Why?
– Very Low Investment
– Able To Re-use Previous Content
– Easy To Test

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Email – Plays well with others
• Email works really well to complement
other channels too

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Case Study: HSI EU Seal Ban
– Advocacy campaign with prospect recruitment
goal
• Google ad words / SEM
• Email opt in services (i.e. Care2)
• Email marketing (List Purchase/Rental)
• Display Advertising (CPC/CPA)
• Social network outreach

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Impact of Email on Phone
All calls
Email sent within one
day
No email sent
within one day
Contacts 1866 939 773
Success – new monthly donor 7.21% 8.18% 6.60%
Success – single gift 0.46% 0.20% 0.65%
Send Form – new monthly donor 3.08% 3.05% 2.91%
Send Form – single gift 0.31% 0.41% 0.22%
Average gift – monthly gift $41.10 £48.53 £36.46
Av gift Val Success – One time $1.32 £0.00 £2.50
Yr 1 ROI 0.86 1.03 0.75
YR 4 ROI 3.77 4.44 2.95

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Integrate with other channels
• An email was sent along with some of the
direct mail packages
• Average gift
• DM only = $49
• DM and email = $105

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Lessons for email
• Multi-part emails
– Direct Asks
– Theme and brand around advocacy if
possible
– THINK – what brought this person to you?
Beauty of email on a platform like Convio is
the ability to use conditional content.
– Integrate it with all your other channels

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Direct Mail
• Why?
– Predictable Returns
– Better Returns Than List Prospecting
– High Conversion Rates

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Case Study: Library
• One segment of advocates we’re mailed before
the end of the year to ask for a gift supporting
essential services at the Library.
• 3.24% direct mail response rate
• $59 direct mail average gift
• Average response on prospecting packages
0.30%

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Lessons for DM
•Integrate
with
advocacy
•Integrate
with email
•Include a
campaign
update

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Social Media
• Social media – us it as a
stewardship channel
• Get people onto your social media
channels after they have taken
advocacy action, update them on
the campaign status and keep your
organisation top of mind
• Think back to the HSI phone/email
example

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Phone
• Calling your online activists is the most
effective way to convert them to donors
• Using the phone can be low investment as
programs can be started and stopped at
any time
• Has a lower attrition/drop-off rate than
many other channels

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It was peaceful before the phone
started ringing....
• In 1998, Amnesty International Canada
launched a hugely successful 60-minute
television program that was attracting
hundreds of new monthly donors every
month.

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Integration in one-step monthly
acquisition
• Phone Print Online

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Competition
• But then along came the television universe …
and digital tv … multi-channel and web … and
social media. TV dried up
Costs per monthly donor:
1998 - $80 2008 - $300

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The problem of attrition
Contact = cancellation
No contact = no activism

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Ring … Ring

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email Blast to Acquisition list

47. Epetition
Phone number
Made sharable
on social media

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The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico: Peak public
interest

49. One or two days prior to the calling, an
email was sent out …

50. The call
Pre-call training
An Amnesty business &
human rights campaigner did a
training session by phone with
the callers.
The script
A hierarchy of asks
1. Monthly donation –
any amount (with
minimum of
$5.00/month accepted
2. Single donation
3. Send a pledge
package
4. Go online to learn
more (or make gift)

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Then the conversion call was
made…
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
18%
20%
18.50%
8%
9%
11%
Recent Lapsed Monthly
Donor
Online Petition Only
E-newsletter Subscriber
Long Lapsed Montlhly
Donor

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Cpmd $75.00
• 1000 phone calls – 74 monthly donors
giving $9.66 every month
Eactivists to Monthly Donors

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Case Study: Save the Children UK
• Text message petition emergency
campaign
• Text CEASEFIRE to 81819
• More than 183,000 people texted

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Case Study: Save the Children UK
• Full page newspaper ad
with clear call to action
• Called every contact
• The result: 4.7%
conversion rate to
monthly donor
• Exceeded all set targets
for campaign

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Broadcast Voice Message

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A checklist for online and phone
conversion initiative
1. Must ensure collecting phone
numbers, email and opt-ins
2. Collect address & postal code to
maximize data accuracy
3. Allow commenting on your form.
You can prioritize calling to those
who comment – refine the script
with those who are your best
prospect

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A checklist for online and phone
conversion initiative
1. Must capture e-activists with
phone numbers, prioritizing those
who allowed further contact and
included comments
2. Must be able to compare petition
signer data with donor records in
legacy donor base
3. Must be able to exclude current
monthlies, major donors, planned
givers if necessary

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A checklist for online and phone
conversion initiative
1. Send a day or two prior to calling
2. Include a fulfillment option

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Just remember…
• Sooner is better to launch your phone
conversion program – preferably within 3
months after the online action
• Convert direct to monthly giving, with fall-
back single gift option.
– Renewal rates  high
– Return on investment  high
– Long term value  high

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Conclusions
Cost per
contact
Response ROI Volume
Web $0.0-$0.01 0-3% Instant return Low
Email $0.25-$0.75 0.5-3% Instant return Low
Direct Mail $4-$8 2-7% 1 year +
breakeven
Med-High
Phone $7-$12 8-15% 1 year +
breakeven
Med-High

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Key Take Aways
• The immediate website ask
– On the thank you page even if their are other asks, in the thank you
email, high profile
• Email
– Direct Asks, Theme and brand around advocacy if possible, THINK –
what brought this person to you?, Integrate it with all your other
channels

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Key Take Aways
• Direct Mail
– Integrate with advocacy, integrate with email, include a campaign
update
• Social Media
– Not just for your marketing team, heavy messaging at the time of phone
and email campaigns
• Phone
– High volume conversion, use mobile, push for monthly giving, refine
your scripts with your best lists, call people as soon as possible after the
advocacy action

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Direct Mail
Email
Phone
Social Media

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© 2010 Convio, Inc.
Full Citizen™
To help your organization efficiently and cost-
effectively convert online activists to donors,
Full Citizen is ready to:
– Prepare and launch a conversion strategy that
engages online activists to make a donation
– Coordinate multiple channels where possible
(phone, mail, email) to find the most effective way
to convert the online activist to become a donor
– Use data analysis and screening over a period of
one year from activist acquisition to help test the
best approaches for conversion for your activists

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Timeline
Week 1
Discuss creative
approaches, look
at past results,
assess advocacy
schedule for the
year
Week 2
Technical Review
Finalise vendors,
EMS and ability to
track conversions
Week 3-5
Prepare
Campaign. Create
materials, technical
set-up, create
testing matrix
Week 6
Launch Campaign.
Execute, confirm
all channels are
working correctly.
Week 7 -52
Analyse, revise,
re-launch.
Populate testing
matrix, make
strategic revisions,
re-test revision and
re-launch.

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Questions?