Charities should monitor the effect of campaign elements
It’s interesting to hear that more charities are coming round to the realisation that they must demonstrate a return on investment (MW 11 February), but the charity sector needs to target the types of activity they use more tightly to maximise donations.
The first step, as the charities in the article discuss, is changing and tailoring the message. I would however suggest that this alone is not enough. Charities need to employ more sophisticated tools to maximise their donor potential.
They have to be able to measure the impact of each activity and focus on those areas which bring most success. Only by doing this will they deliver increased revenue on a more sustainable basis.
In today’s climate we would go much further and recommend that each activity in the channel mix is tested for overall efficacy and use a multivariate testing system on a rolling basis to refine and redeploy the campaign.
This type of activity-based testing will help them to target donors in a more systematic manner, allowing for the removal of expensive activities that don’t fully deliver the desired return on investment.
Milan Panchmatia, director, Marketing Factory Limited
