{"id":127788,"date":"2025-05-23T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloomerang2dev.wpengine.com\/?p=127788"},"modified":"2025-10-01T16:55:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T20:55:20","slug":"ask-an-expert-should-i-still-use-direct-mail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloomerang.com\/blog\/ask-an-expert-should-i-still-use-direct-mail\/","title":{"rendered":"[ASK AN EXPERT] Should I Still Use Direct Mail?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Our\u00a0<a href=\"\/blog\/category\/ask-an-expert\/\">Ask An Expert<\/a>\u00a0series features real questions answered by\u00a0<a href=\"\/blog\/claire-axelrad-jd-cfre-joins-the-bloomerang-team-as-fundraising-coach\/\">Claire Axelrad, J.D., CFRE<\/a>, also known as Charity Clairity.\u00a0<\/strong><b>Today\u2019s question comes from a nonprofit employee who wants advice on how to use direct mail and make it perform better:\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>Dear Charity Clairity,<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>My boss thinks direct mail is dead, plus that it\u2019s too expensive and we should switch to all email. From what I\u2019ve read, snail mail still performs better than digital. What do you think? Are there parts of the list we should send to, and others we should not? Also, what are some tips to make direct mail perform better?<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&#8212; I\u2019ve Got Questions<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><i>Dear I\u2019ve Got Questions,<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>First, you\u2019re correct; direct mail is not dead.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meyerpartners.com\/fundraising-blog\/direct-mail-fundraising\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Donors like receiving mail<\/a>, especially from someone they like. In fact, research reveals direct mail has an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shawmutdelivers.com\/blog\/how-to-optimize-direct-mail-with-digital-data-for-fundraising-success\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">average 5.3% response rate<\/a> \u2013 outperforming other channels (e.g., email, 0.1%; paid search, 0.6%; online display marketing, 0.2%). Plus, 70% of people report <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nerdwallet.com\/article\/small-business\/direct-mail-statistics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">direct mail feels more personal<\/a> than digital approaches.<\/p>\n<p><b>Second, you don\u2019t have to limit yourself to one channel.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>There are many ways to reach potential donors today, including direct mail, email, social media, phone calls, texts, ads and more. You never know where someone may see your message, so it makes sense to <a href=\"https:\/\/clairification.com\/2017\/09\/12\/arent-online-fundraising\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">take a multi-channel approach<\/a>. Just take care to make the giving experience seamless \u2013 with easy back and forth, from one media to another &#8212; or you\u2019ll fail to empower folks to give when they\u2019re feeling the most inspired. This means proactively connecting and collaborating with marketing and IT staff to assure all preconditions are in place to strike while the iron is hot! For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Include QR codes<\/b> in your direct mail to take donors directly to your website donation page.<\/li>\n<li><b>Offer as many giving options as possible<\/b>, not just credit cards and checks (e.g., PayPal, Venmo, ApplePay, Zelle, ACH electronic funds transfer, <a href=\"https:\/\/clairification.com\/2025\/04\/28\/if-youre-not-promoting-donor-advised-funds-youre-leaving-major-gifts-on-the-table\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Donor Advised Funds<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/clairification.com\/2022\/05\/02\/so-your-nonprofit-donor-wants-to-give-cryptocurrency\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cryptocurrency<\/a>, etc.).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Third, your house file will be your performance leader.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>This list (or compilation of multiple lists) includes all current donors, past donors, volunteers and people affiliated with you in other ways (e.g., members, service users, alumni, grateful patients, campers, event attendees, etc.). As compared with a rented or exchanged prospect list of people who\u2019ve never engaged with you, the house file is \u201cwarm.\u201d Definitely mail to these folks to assure you keep them close and, hopefully, <a href=\"\/blog\/top-2021-fundraising-strategies-increase-your-donor-lifetime-value\/\">increase the lifetime value<\/a> of their giving. A \u201cbest practice\u201d is to avoid bulk mail for this group so you can take advantage of personalization. Yes, it\u2019s more expensive up front, but the ROI makes it a worthwhile investment. Every piece in a bulk mailing must be alike; a bit of differentiation makes all the difference. When people feel acknowledged as individuals, they\u2019re more likely to feel a sense of responsibility to respond. Here\u2019s what I suggest:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Use the person\u2019s first name.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Reference a past gift <\/b>if they made one.<\/li>\n<li><b>Reference affiliations <\/b>(e.g., \u201cAs a board member, you understand better than most\u2026\u201d \u201cThank you for being a volunteer;\u201d \u201cThanks for attending our Gala;\u201d \u201cThank you for being a peer-to-peer influencer,\u201d etc.). You don\u2019t have to list every connection to you. It\u2019s best to create a hierarchy, beginning with what you think people most closely identify with.<\/li>\n<li><b>Write a personal note on the appeal, or add a sticky note.<\/b> While you may not be able to do this with every letter, pick some subsets of your list where it makes sense. For example, you can have board members write to other donors, volunteers write to other volunteers, and event chairs write to event attendees. Try especially to get notes on appeals to donors who made above-average size gifts last year. Even something like \u201cyour ongoing support means so much!\u201d makes a difference.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Final thoughts: Unlike other channels, direct mail has lasting value. <\/b>It often hangs around serving as a tangible reminder of your cause (e.g., on a desk, table, countertop, or refrigerator). Unlike email, which either is deleted immediately or buried at the bottom of an overfull inbox, direct mail offers a chance your busy donor will put it aside for later &#8212; when they have more time or are in a better mood. Plus, direct mail gives you more space to make your case for support. Make sure your appeal includes a <a href=\"\/blog\/ask-an-expert-how-to-tell-a-compelling-fundraising-story\/\">compelling story<\/a>, an emotionally moving <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meyerpartners.com\/fundraising-blog\/2018\/4\/19\/pictures-that-are-as-good-as-gold\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">photo<\/a> and <a href=\"\/blog\/secret-to-upgrading-nonprofit-donors-personal-not-personalized\/\">personal<\/a> touches. <a href=\"https:\/\/clairification.com\/2024\/10\/07\/23-secrets-instantly-improve-annual-fundraising-appeal-3\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">All these things<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Hopefully this answers your questions!<\/p>\n<p><i>\u2014 Charity Clairity (<em>Please use a pseudonym if you prefer to be anonymous when you\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bloomerang.formstack.com\/forms\/ask_an_expert\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">submit your own question<\/a>, like &#8220;I&#8217;ve Got Questions&#8221; did.)<\/em><\/i><\/p>\n<p><em>Does your organization use direct mail? Let us know in the comments.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our\u00a0Ask An Expert\u00a0series features real questions answered by\u00a0Claire Axelrad, J.D., CFRE, also known as Charity Clairity.\u00a0Today\u2019s question comes from a nonprofit employee who wants advice on how to use direct mail and make it perform better:\u00a0\u00a0 Dear Charity Clairity, My boss thinks direct mail is dead, plus that it\u2019s too expensive and we should switch [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":141685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"cause":[],"article_author":[],"webinar_host":[],"topic":[393,80],"class_list":["post-127788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","topic-ask-an-expert","topic-direct-mail"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.5 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>[ASK AN EXPERT] Should I Still Use Direct Mail? 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Bloomerang synchronizes donor data across these nonprofit tools and empowers fundraisers to raise more.\",\"email\":\"info@bloomerang.com\",\"telephone\":\"1-866-332-2999\",\"numberOfEmployees\":{\"@type\":\"QuantitativeValue\",\"minValue\":\"501\",\"maxValue\":\"1000\"},\"address\":{\"@type\":\"PostalAddress\",\"streetAddress\":\"9120 Otis Avenue\",\"addressLocality\":\"Indianapolis\",\"addressRegion\":\"IN\",\"postalCode\":\"46216\",\"addressCountry\":\"US\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bloomerang.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ab1b773459a2a4d53264fc80f7df61cf\",\"name\":\"Claire Axelrad\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bloomerang.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/Claire-Axelrad_avatar_1517952685-96x96.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bloomerang.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/Claire-Axelrad_avatar_1517952685-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bloomerang.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/02\\\/Claire-Axelrad_avatar_1517952685-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Claire Axelrad\"},\"description\":\"Claire Axelrad, J.D., CFRE, will inspire you through her philosophy of philanthropy, not fundraising. 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