The main reason response rates in direct mail fundraising are relatively low (and falling) are that most pieces never really get noticed.
Here’s one relatively easy way to be noticed in the mailbox:
Weird stock. That’s right, envelopes that are something other than normal white paper.
Like this credit card offer I got the other day:
Forget the fact for a moment that it’s a terrible offer that I already know I don’t want. It stands out. It got about three seconds more consideration than it would have otherwise.
And that can be the difference between response and nothingness.
The cost for weird paper is higher. But often well worth it.
Jeff Brooks has been serving the nonprofit community for more than 35 years and blogging about it since 2005. He considers fundraising the most noble of pursuits and hopes you’ll join him in that opinion. You can reach him at jeff [at] jeff-brooks [dot] com.
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