One of the biggest challenges in direct mail is enhancing a successful control. Yet MarkeTeam was able to lift both response and average gift with a format update to a 5X Match Grant Follow-Up Renewal Appeal for UNICEF USA. The winning effort was recognized at the 2022 Bridge Conference with a Gold MAXI Award.
BACKGROUND:
UNICEF USA’s September Match Follow-up is a long-running control and one of the highest revenue-generating touches in the annual line-up. Because the appeal is already very successful, testing tends to be incremental. But with production prices rising dramatically in 2021, the team innovated successfully to test a less expensive alternative, without depressing response or gift amount.
STRATEGIC APPROACH:
Recognizing that the generous 5X match drives for donor response, 2021 testing focused on streamlined, more transactional messaging for a new, more scannable experience.
The control is a cost-efficient #10 mail package with a traditional 8.5 x 14 letter/reply and #9 RE. To drive down production costs, we tested a simple double-slip format, 7.5” x 7” folded in half, with much more offer-driven, action-oriented copy.
The package mailed to a group of Core renewal supporters as a follow up to a #10 appeal that announced the 5X Match Grant six weeks prior.
PROGRAM IMPACT:
Results were even stronger than we’d hoped, exceeding projections with a 13% lift in response as well as a 6% lift in average gift. Factoring in the lower production cost at roll-out, the net revenue per donor improved 16%.
- Clean OE with UNICEF’s signature brand blue resonates instantly with donor
- Copy recaps the generous 5X match and deadline
- Urgent, transactional copy stresses the deadline, reinforcing the perishability of the match offer to trigger the reader’s fear of missing out
- Half of package real estate is the remit, reinforcing need for immediate action
- Reply envelope marked with the deadline underscores the need to act quickly
- A live stamp adds extra urgency
