Can providing special content to new donors build loyalty in later years?

Actually, it can. But wait, there’s more . . .

We are wrapping up a 2-year study of Salvation Army donors where we tracked two groups that were acquired in FY08.

The control group was new donors who were simply placed in the regular mail stream without any special recognition.

The test group was new donors who were placed in a special mail track – something we call the Donor Loyalty Series – that acknowledged that they were a new donor and educated them on the work and mission of the Salvation Army.

Here are the results:

• Retention for the Donor Loyalty Series test group was 14% higher!
• The Donor Loyalty Series test group gave 9% more gifts!
• Each donor in the Loyalty Series test group gave on average $36 more than the control group over the 2-year study!

Welcoming new donors with special content does help to retain them in the long run. But that’s not all; it also encourages more frequent giving – and these two factors work together to lift donor value higher.

If you aren’t doing this, you should consider it today.

As always, please subscribe to our blog, tweet us, or simply say hi on Facebook and give us your thoughts. And, please share this with your friends.

Tags: donor loyalty, Lifetime value, Salvation Army