Charities risk ditching direct mail at their peril, according to a new study, which claims twice as many people donate online after receiving a mailshot than an email appeal.
The survey, for Dunham & Company in the US, shows 14 per cent said a direct mail letter prompted them to give online compared with only 6 per cent who said an email prompted their online gift.
Further underlining the importance of direct mail to motivate online giving, 1 in 3 donors (37 per cent) who give online say that when they receive a direct mail appeal from a charity they use the charity’s website to give their donation.
The younger the donor, the more likely they are to use a charity’s website to respond to a direct mail appeal. Half of all under 30s donors say they give online in response to a direct mail appeal with 1 in 4 (26 per cent) of over 50s turning to online giving when they want to give, as a result of receiving a direct mail appeal.
Only 14 per cent of those over 65 will do the same, as three out of four of this demographic prefer to give by mail.
In addition, the study found that the higher the household income, the more likely the direct mail recipient was to donate online. Nearly half (46 per cent) of households earning $75,000 said they would donate online compared to 37 per cent of households earning $25,000 to $74,000 and about one-third (32 per cent) of households which make less than $25,000.
One other important finding from the study showed the power of personal-to-person fundraising through social media is also increasing, as 15 per cent of respondents said their online gift was prompted by being asked to give by someone through a social media site, such as Facebook or Twitter.
