Failing to include automated mailing campaigns in your attempts to increase donations for your non-profit organization is a huge mistake. The impact of a well-timed, beautifully-designed postcard can go a long way. If you don’t know where to start when it comes to automating mailing campaigns, or if you’re unsure of how implementing these campaigns can benefit you, you’re in the right place! Continue reading below for all the insights you need.

Set the Stage for Increased Activity During the New Year

Getting your base of donors and volunteers excited about your upcoming events and donation drives is a must during the holidays. Doing so enables your audience to properly plan to participate. Additionally, getting our audience excited about your upcoming events could be a great way to drum up holiday donations. Giving your audience an idea of where their donation funds are going is essential for exceeding your donation goals. After all, for most people seeing is believing. 

So consider including photos of how your nonprofit organization improves lives, combined with details about upcoming ways to contribute to these causes during the new year. Let’s say for instance that one day you receive a postcard from a non-profit that only contains a link to a page where you can provide a donation to a local children’s hospital. But then a week passes by and you receive another postcard from a foundation that helps at risk-youth involved with sports, containing photos and details about upcoming tournaments that volunteers are needed for. In this case, your limited donation funds are probably more likely to go to the organization that sent the latter postcard. 

Get Creative With Your Usage of First-Party Data

Your first-party data is another vitally important resource when it comes to non-profit mailing campaigns. Your first-party data is information from customers that is provided to you voluntarily from members of your audience. Here are a few ways you can creatively leverage this data within your automated mailing campaigns:

• Upcoming Events or Donation Drives:

Let’s pretend that your calendar at the beginning of the year is loaded with events. In this case, reaching out to people that attended these events in years past could be a great way to boost attendance. And you can take your event mailers to the next level by addressing recipients by name or by referencing where the event takes place.

• Donation Amounts Previously Given:

Imagine that you’ve got a donation drive planned for February of the upcoming year. And you’ve generally conducted donation drives around the same time of year in the past. In this case, sending postcards encouraging recipients to repeat their previous donation amounts could accomplish multiple goals. First is simply reminding your loyal audience that the time of year when their giving is requested and appreciated has arrived. The other goal it accomplishes is allowing recipients to choose between donating at a level they’re comfortable with or increasing their commitment if they’d like.

• Personally Thank Your Audience For Contributions:

Following up a generous donation with a postcard is a great way to build a lasting relationship with your audience. After all, it’s rude to reach out for the sole purpose of asking for donations or volunteers. By automatically sending your donors or volunteers a personalized thank you postcard, you can rest assured that your gratitude won’t go unnoticed by your audience.

Use Zapier to Automate Campaigns Based on Donor Behavior

Perhaps there are volunteers or donors in your database that you haven’t seen in a while. And there are numerous reasons why that might be the case. The key to finding out why you haven’t seen certain donors and volunteers is simply reaching out to them. But if you’ve got a sizable audience of delinquent donors and volunteers, conducting that outreach could seem nearly impossible. That’s where automation enters the picture. 

Suppose you haven’t heard from once-loyal donors all year long. In situations like these, you can use Zapier to connect relationship management tools like Zoho with Direct Mail Manager to automatically send postcards to this audience once they’ve gone 12 months between activities. This process can be completed within the matter of minutes, too! This enables you to maintain a strong rapport with your audience without having to take too much time away from other responsibilities you have.

Track The Results of Your Non-Profit Holiday Mailing Campaigns

The last element to an effective non-profit holiday mailing campaign is tracking. Failure to measure the results of your mailing campaign means you won’t be able to properly assess its impact. A few of the ways you can track the results of your campaign include:

• QR Codes:

Including a QR code onto your postcard enables recipients to quickly sign up to volunteer or donate, whenever they’re ready. And once your campaign concludes, you’ll receive a report letting you know how many recipients scanned it.

• Tracking Phone Number:

Another way you can simplify the donation process while tracking the results of your campaign is to include a unique phone number on your postcard. Setting up a line specifically for donation and volunteer purposes also allows you to keep your main line free for more pressing matters.

• Unique URL:

Including a specific URL where recipients can easily donate or sign up to volunteer could potentially get more members of your audience to give. And once your campaign ends, you’ll receive a report letting you know how much traffic that URL received. 

Begin Automating Your Non-Profit Holiday Mailing Campaigns With GrowMail Today!

If you’re on the search for a proven solution to begin using for your non-profit holiday mailing campaigns, look no further than Direct Mail Manager. Getting started is easier than you might think, too. One of our friendly, knowledgeable mailing specialists is ready to answer any questions you might have at your earliest convenience. Non-profit organizations of all kinds are seeing big success when it comes to their automated mailing campaigns. Yours can be next by signing up for a Free or Pro Direct Mail Manager account today.