Key tips for successfully venturing into charity cold mail – getting your campaign ducks in a row

Direct mail provides the space to really tell a story, integrates well with other channels, and it’s also very measurable, making it great for getting attention – and response. In part two of her blog on how to successfully start using it, Suzanne Lewis shares her tips on how to ensure your campaign ducks are all in row.  

Check your privacy policy first of all and make sure it references direct mail. Your policy was probably created purely for the digital landscape if you’ve never done mail before, but it needs to be included. 

Undertake a data protection impact assessment. This helps you weigh up what the organisation will gain through contacting a consumer versus the impact of them receiving that mail piece. In making you highlight the risks and what you can do to mitigate them, it can also really help with the internal debates about using cold mail, giving you something to talk the board through if asked why you're doing it.  

Put data processing agreements in place with everyone who’ll touch the data. These are legally binding contracts between parties that set out the rights and obligations of each regarding the protection of personal data. It’s a very standardised process that must be done upfront and renewed once a year.  

Decide whether you want to tell the consumer upfront where you got their data from. This is down to you but must be considered at the outset because if you do, you’ll need to think about where to put this information – such as on the response mechanism or a footnote in the letter. With some data owners, it may also be a condition of usage to tell people upfront.  

Have a creative sample ready. This is important for helping your data broker understand who you’ll want to target, while data owners also need to see it to assess whether they’re happy to share their data with you or not. 

Don't assume anything. With data protection, never settle for something probably being fine: it’s not worth taking the risk. Seek guidance and check it out.  

But what about the data?  

– How much is out there? 

There’s a mailing volume of around 5 million people held in roughly 40 lists. Of course, not all of this will be right for you, and you will also need to do your due diligence to ensure any data you take is correctly permissioned. A broker like me will do a lot of this for you, but if you want to handle it, this includes requesting a Data Supplier Compliance Questionnaire, in situ samples of permission statements, and ensuring people have been told their data will be shared with charities. It’s no longer good enough to say it’s going to ‘a third party’. 

– How do we get it? 

There are three key ways: via data owners, data managers and data brokers. Data owners own the data, and their objective is to rent it out as much as possible. Data managers act on behalf of data owners so can only recommend the files they represent but hold a lot of useful information about them. Data brokers are independent. We aren't tied to any data set and just want what works for the clients because that’s how we make our money. 

– How much should I take and what will it cost? 

There’s a minimum order of at least 5,000 from any one source, with 10-15,000 often a really useful volume. While cost really varies, it’s likely to fall somewhere between £100-180 per 1,000. You'll also be billed on delivery, and on gross volume: not what you mail. Selections incur an additional cost.  

– How should I make selections? 

Start off by identifying your ideal target audience. Think about their demographics, where those people may be hanging out and what their activities might be. Consider too what you’ll be asking them to do. Is it a cash ask? A regular gift? Or a raffle or lottery? The more you can tell your broker, the better they’ll be able to help, and the more responsive the data selected will be.  

– Why do you want to know our campaign objectives & measurements of success? 

Why you’re doing a campaign has an impact on the data you need and will determine your measurements of success, for example: new donors, a specific response rate or average donation, return on investment or a specific cost per acquisition. And all of this information will help a data broker determine how much risk you might want to take in your data selections, how many mailings you might need to do and therefore how much data you might need. 

– When should we send our campaign out? 

It really depends on your audience, and your internal resources. Charities often don’t want to mail in August, because they think everyone's on holiday, but if you're looking to target an older audience with no children, they're more likely to avoid the main summer season. Charities also like to mail at Christmas, when everyone is more charity minded, but something to consider is whether you will already have warm campaigns going out because you'll need to ensure you have the staff available to manage responses.  

Cold direct mail can be very rewarding – and as this shows, it’s also very doable. If you’d like to understand more about the legal requirements for sending cold direct mail, read part one of Suzanne’s blog here. And, if you’d like to discuss any of this in more depth or have any other questions about using this channel for your charity, get in touch with Suzanne here.