• The “internet people” are trying to eliminate mail!
  This fabulous fact was shared with me in the lunch line, it was served with a side of “chip on the shoulder.” In reality, anybody who has tested it knows that multi-channel marketing increases response rate – across all channels. Every donor has a preference for communicating. If mail is getting a 5% response rate, what do the other 95% of donors want? What if just 1% more gave through web or because of a companion email? Our best successes are with clients who bring mail, web and phone together to cooperate.
  
  
• Email addresses change so often, it’s impossible to keep a list current.
  The only data I could find was from 2002. That report stated that 31% of emails are changed each year. Other relevant factors include:
  • As of Pew’s March 2006 data, 42% of interent users had transitioned to broadband, eliminating dial-up provider-hopping.
  • People are using more than one email account, deciding which to use based on the level of personal relationship.
  • Spam filters are making it easier for emailers to stay with the same account over time.

Here’s our truth – emailing is cheap. If your list isn’t totally clean, there is not nearly the level of lost revenue for a bad email address as for returned or undelivered postal mail. Hygene is no reason to not email! Further, appending email addresses is cheap and studies have found that a quarterly append more than doubles the success rate of the process. In fact, our own research shows that the response lift in one direct mail package will more than pay for the cost of an initial append. (We wrote a whole report on this subject.)

• Most donors are old and not online.
  It’s true that, today, only 33% of those 65 and older are online. HOWEVER, as of December 2006, 70% of Americans age 50-64 are online. Forget about the Gen Xers or Next Gen. All things being equal, your next 5 years of new donors are online! Even if you believe that they are not giving, they are visiting your web site. In reality, 18% of Americans have given to a charity online. If 18% of the American public has, then 18% of your donor population has given to some charity – maybe just not to you!
  
  
• The internet is the wave of the future
  Today, 70% of American adults use the internet. That currently represents about 141 million people. According to Pew’s September 2005 survey, 18% of Americans have given to a charity via the web. Assuming, the percentage has not increased in the 15 months between Sept 05 and now, what is 18% of your database? I’d say that the internet is the wave of now!
  
  
• If your website is terrible, you should just ignore it because everyone else does.
  There is no data for this one, per se. Here’s what we do know:
  1. There are 141 million Americans online, 70% of the population
  2. 77% have researched a product, service, hobby or interest
  3. 54% use the web to look up an address or phone number
  4. 50% do reasearch for their job
  5. 38% pay bills online
  6. 18% make a donation

So, just to play it safe, you should assume that 77% of potential donors are researching your charity online before sending a check, 54% of your active donor base that calls are looking up contact information on your site, 50% of potential funders are evaluating your grant proposal using the web, and 18% of donors want to make a donation online.

How ‘bout them facts?

Data from:
Pew Internet and American Life Project
Hitwise
Fresh Address
Destination CRM

March 2007