Direct Mail answers for PR & Marketing Professionals, Nonprofits, and Small Business

Nonprofits, Use Emotion in your Spring Appeal!

Guest blog by Connie Oswald Stofko

It’s time to send out your Spring appeal. In your draft, you’ve told your readers what percentage of the American population is affected by the disease you’re trying to cure, or how many tons of groceries your food bank distributes each year. That’s the basis of a strong letter, right? 
Wrong!
If all you’ve done is presented facts and figures, you’ve forgotten the most important part of your appeal letter: the emotion. 
People reach out to help others because it makes them feel good, so you must reach them on an emotional level. 
In an interesting paper called “The Way We Write is All Wrong,” Frank C. Dickerson, Ph.D., found that while fundraising executives acknowledged  it was important to have emotional storytelling in their appeals, an analysis of the appeal letters they produced showed they didn’t actually do it.
 “The root of the disparity is that we all tend to take writing for granted,” Dickerson wrote. “We all can write. And we all think we can write well. Yet the evidence of linguistics analysis refutes this assumption.”
Are you using emotion in your appeal letters? Look at this example we did for the Ronald McDonald House of Buffalo: 
‘If Alyssa didn’t get the surgery, she could die,’  said her mother, Crystal Arnold. ‘If the Ronald McDonald House wasn’t here, we couldn’t afford to come to Buffalo.’”
The letter continues to tell in detail how the Ronald McDonald House of Buffalo helped the out-of-town family during their visits to Buffalo to get treatment for their little girl’s medical condition.  
Here’s another example we did for the Friends of Night People:
“Lynn came to us on a Sunday evening. She had no food or money, just one bag of clothing. She had no place to stay. Lynn was depressed after having spent the previous night in what she described as ‘terrible conditions.’
“She felt alone. 
“The first thing we did was feed her and let her know we care. Then we found Lynn a safe place to stay until Monday morning. On Monday other human service agencies would be open and we could put her in touch with people who could also help her. We did not leave that evening until we were assured she would be able to begin her tomorrow with strength and hope.”
There are a couple of things to notice here:
1. We tell a personal story.
We didn’t say, “Many people come to Friends of Night People because they are poor and hungry.” We told the story of Lynn and put a face on the problem. 
2. We explain the solution.
 For the family with the little girl who needed medical treatment, the solution was staying at the Ronald McDonald House. While we do mention the girl’s health problems, that’s not the focus of the story. The focus of the story is how the Ronald McDonald House helped the family. 
To tell a good story, make sure you “put a face on the problem.” Then tell your audience how their donation will help the person in your story (or people like that person). 
If you’re having difficulty writing a compelling, emotional story, it may be cost effective to hire a fundraising writer to help you.

About the Author: Connie Oswald Stofko, an award-winner writer and editor, is a partner at Fundraising Assets. Sign up for her free fundraising blog, or contact her for help with your next writing project.

Why the Best Mailing List for You may be Free: List Partnering

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There are multitudes of targeted mailing lists available for purchase, particularly for organizations that have a targeted vertical market, yet some of the absolutely best producing lists can be gotten for free via list partnering.  What is List Partnering?  Here’s an example that will illustrate how it works.

What's an example of List Partnering? I've got a client who sells hearing aids and has an established relationship with a medical doctor whose specialty involves working predominantly with senior citizens.  While senior citizens are not the exclusive users of hearing aids, they represent the vast majority of people who purchase hearing aids.  The hearing aid specialist has a degree in her field and has been working in the field for the last 8 years.  This specialist has a long-term established relationship with the doctor.   Many of the doctor's patients have purchased hearing aids from the specialist and reported back to the doctor with first-hand testimonials & positive feedback regarding their experience working with the hearing aide specialist.  The doctor agrees to do a list partnering with the hearing aide specialist, where the hearing aid specialist bears the cost of the mailing campaign, and the medical doctor provides the list.  To protect the integrity of the list, the doctor actually sends the mail piece; for privacy reasons, the list cannot just be "given" to a 3rd party.  The mailing is mutually beneficial because it allows the doctor to communicate with his clients thus generating referrals and repeat business, and it allows the hearing aid specialist to introduce her product to a new audience in the right age demographic.  As in this example, list partnering should be mutually beneficial.

What are prerequisites before approaching a list partner?
1) There needs to be an established relationship of trust between the 2 partners.
2) To maintain trust in the relationship, the person asking for access to the list needs to make sure that it's okay for the person they're asking to say "no."  Decisions regarding list partnering should never be rushed, and should never be high pressure.  Nothing is more important than maintaining the integrity of the relationship between the two parties involved.
3) The person requesting access to the list needs to make sure that the product or service being offered is relevant to the targeted audience.

What are Red Flags?
1) Be suspicious of anyone who asks to participate in list partnering without an established relationship.
2) Be cautious of establishing a list partnering relationship with a newly established organization that has no track record.

Who should pay for the cost of the mailing?  Typically, the organization that's given free access to the list should bear all or most of the cost of the mailing project.  There are no rules set in stone regarding this, however, and in some cases, the organization providing the list may actually bear the cost of the mailing; this is particularly true when a for-profit business is partnering with a nonprofit organization and organizing some sort of fundraiser.

Note of caution for nonprofits, please see my blog post about Restrictions to Mailing at the Nonprofit Rate before pursuing this.

How can I take advantage of this?  Anyone pursuing this should look at who they have a relationship with that has an audience of customers or donors who would be interested in their product, service or cause?  Few people will make a purchase or donation without established trust.  List partnering offers instant credibility and trust and this is why these types of lists are so powerful.  Partnering can work business to business, business to nonprofit, nonprofit to business or nonprofit to nonprofit.  Pick up the phone today, and ask a trusted friend about list partnering!

Thank you for sharing list partnering feedback in the comments section below.

Use PURLs (Personalized URLs) to Improve the Response of your next Direct Mail Campaign

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Recent marketing studies point to the growing importance of interactive communication.  The key to interactive communication is to engage an audience, not just talk at them.   Engagement is 2-way and necessitates listening.  PURLs (Personalized URLs) connect a static form of communication, direct mail, with an interactive form of communication via the internet.  This increases the power of direct mail exponentially because it makes it both interactive and personal.

What is a PURL?  A PURL (Personalized URL) is a custom micro website created with just 1 person in mind, the recipient of a specific direct mail piece.  In a campaign where 10,000 pieces are mailed, there will be 10,000 different personalized websites generated.  The unique websites are printed on the mail pieces as they are addressed.  Not only does each website have a unique URL, but the PURL landing page typically greets the recipient by name.  Because each website is unique, it’s very easy for the sender to determine which recipients responded to the mailing. 

Can you give me an example of campaign using PURLs?  A local college sends out a targeted direct mail campaign to attract rising high school seniors to apply.  Interested students enter their personal URL from the mail piece, and are welcomed by name to their custom landing page.  A very brief survey that's on the landing page asks the students to select from a list of possible degrees or majors, and then asks for their preferred method of contact while collecting this additional contact info (cell phone @, e-mail address, etc.).

What are the benefits to using a PURL?

• Improved Response: Because of their interactive nature, research consistently shows that campaigns utilizing PURLs generate substantially higher response rates.  Testing also shows that the personalization alone improves response rate, so when this is combined with a PURL, it makes the response rate even higher.
• Ability to track a response & capture more info: PURLs allow the sender to continue the conversation by generating an online response from the recipient.  In the example provided above, the college is able to determine not only which prospects filled out the survey, or clicked on another area of the page, but they can also determine which prospects opened their PURL and did not even click.  This information creates a feedback loop that can be used to determine which students should receive future mail communications, and other forms of contact from the college recruiters.  
• Cost-effective: PURLs are in essence screening an audience of prospects in an automated fashion; compare this to how expensive it would be to pay someone to call every direct mail prospect as follow up (assuming phone numbers were even available).  The more expensive human interaction can be devoted to the recipients who pre-qualify themselves, and provide their preferred method of contact.

Who should consider using a PURL?  Successful applications for PURLs can be found across nonprofit, for-profit businesses and even government.  PURLs have been used effectively with existing customers & donors, and with new prospects.  Really any organization that wants to start a conversation with an audience, or prequalify a group of prospects should consider using PURLs.

PURLs represent the future of direct mail marketing.  For those already using direct mail successfully, PURLs are very likely increase the response rate.  For anyone who's avoided direct mail because of the difficulty in measuring response rate, then PURLs are the ideal way to leverage direct mail and have an accurate understanding of response.

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In the comments section below, please share your experience or your clients experience using PURLs.  Your feedback will only make this post more valuable for other readers.  Thank you for sharing!

Why does it take so long to get approved to mail at the Nonprofit Rate?

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Shhhh!  This is top-secret info that you will not find published in any USPS manual, but it will help you to get your application expedited to mail at the nonprofit rate.  Yes, it’s legal, but I only found out about this info as I watched 2 nonprofits struggle through the review & approval process.

How long does it take to get contacted by the USPS?  Within the last 5 months, I submitted paperwork on behalf of 2 nonprofit clients who did not received any contact about their application for 6 weeks (ouch!).  This is not approval in 6 weeks-this is initial contact from the USPS.

The fact that the USPS is under a great deal of financial pressure has been well-publicized recently.  Let’s taking high road and assume that delays are the result of staff reductions, and the potential increase in application volume from nonprofits looking to save every penny possible with the dramatic drop off in donations last year.

Who ultimately approves the Application to Mail at Nonprofit Standard Mail Rate?
The PCSC (Pricing and Classification Service Center) in New York City reviews applications for approval. 

What are the steps in the review process?
If an e-mail address is provided on the application, then the PCSC will contact the nonprofit via e-mail and provide a 7-digit application number that simply confirms receipt of the application.  Again, in my recent experience, this took about 6 weeks.

If the PCSC has any questions about the application, then they will typically call the nonprofit that is applying.  In my experience, this took an additional 2-3 weeks following the confirmation e-mail.

Finally, once approved, the nonprofit is issued a 6-digit authorization number which confirms the nonprofit’s ability to mail at discounted nonprofit rate.  When nonprofits are not approved, they receive a rejection letter that explains the reason or reasons that the application was denied.  My recent experience has the entire process lasting about 4 months.

How can I contact the PCSC if I want a status, or have a question?
You can’t!  Only postal employees can contact the PCSC  directly.  To get status updates on behalf of my clients, I contact my local BMU (Business Mail Unit), and ask them to contact the PCSC on behalf of the nonprofit seeking approval.  It’s best to wait until the 7-digit application # has been received before attempting any follow up with the PCSC

What steps should I take BEFORE turning in the Application to Mail at Nonprofit Standard Mail Rates?
• As ridiculous as it sounds, check with your local BMU to make sure that your nonprofit is not already set up to mail at the nonprofit rate.  Staff turnover results in many nonprofits being unaware that they are already approved.
• If your organization is already approved, but you are changing your legal name, you DO NOT need to fill out another application.  Instead, simply fill out form PS6015 (Nonprofit Database Change Request) ,  to update the name of your organization.
• Maintain photocopies of any of the documentation that you submit to the USPS.  Keep a date log of activity, including the date that paperwork was initially submitted.
• Your request will be denied if you do not submit all of the requested documentation.

If you are not yet approved to mail at the nonprofit rate, you probably want to take a look at my earlier post, Help, I’m a Nonprofit and Need to Get Set Up to Mail at a Nonprofit Rate!  After reading this post, there should be no reason to procrastinate any longer.

I would love to see comments below from nonprofits that recently submitted their Application to Mail at Nonprofit Standard Mail Rates, and had a quicker turnaround or a different experience.