The Alumni Association at Framingham State College sent out a fund raising letter this fall to 6,000 recent alums who had never donated before. They were trying to be funny and appeal to younger donors. Part of the letter is below:
“With the recent economic downturn and loan crisis, it has become even more important for Framingham State College to receive your support. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah," and continues "No matter the amount, every gift counts. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah …”
These types of letter have been used in the past by Georgetown and Lawrence University, so it is not entirely new. But the amount of backlash being felt by the university for this letter is definitely going to make organizations think twice before using this trick again.
What interests me is that news articles about this letter say that it was not a complete failure because it generated $2,000 in donations. They fail to point out that the postage to send this letter was over $2500. This obviously does not include the printing and other direct mail costs. It also does not include the time spent by the alumni association in developing this campaign.
The issue is that Framingham State College is using an old marketing vehicle to get donations from young alums. When the alums see the request they are much more likely to throw it out because there is no way to take action on the letter without picking up the phone. Young alums have grown up with eCommerce, they want to click and pay.
If we continue to look at ROI, 6000 emails would have cost around $60 to send. No additional costs for paper or printing and color is free! 6000 text messages would have cost $420 to send (assuming we have permission!). The low cost of the newer direct marketing vehicles and the greater appeal to younger people make them the sure fire winner for ROI.
Comments