Postalgia Blog
Write a Personal Donor Birthday Card in 7 Seconds
By: Ilan Mann
May 15, 2023INTRODUCTION Have you ever wanted to send a truly personal and handwritten birthday card to all of your donors, but found it to be too time-consuming and impractical? Well, imagine being able to accomplish this task in just 7 seconds using a nonprofit CRM! The Nonprofit Finance Fund’s State of the Nonprofit Sector survey found that in 2020, 52% of nonprofits reported an increase in demand for their services, while only 22% reported an increase in funding. This indicates that…
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How to Recession Proof Your Nonprofit
By: EmMa Matern
April 10, 2023INTRODUCTION With the looming thought of a recession, nonprofits are at high risk of financial struggles. Now is the time to prepare and organize a robust strategy to make it through this challenging time. As donations and funding from government sources may decline, there will be an increased demand for services. According to The Chronicle of Philanthropy: In the first half of 2022, donor numbers fell by 7% compared to the first half of 2021. This is because there…
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Nonprofit Stewardship: Why It’s Important
By: EmMa Matern
March 29, 2023INTRODUCTION Donor retention is an ongoing campaign, and stewardship is the most important tool to be successful. Major donors have a higher retention rate than small donors. According to FundraisingReportCard.com, donors who give less than $100 have a retention rate of 19.1% and donors who give $1000-$5000 have a retention rate of 31.46%. Many non profits mistakenly think that this is confirmation that they should focus their resources on stewardship of major donors. When in fact they have the cause…
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10 Pieces of Mail your Nonprofit should be Sending Each Year
By: EmMa Matern
March 16, 2023INTRODUCTION Get these 10 pieces of mail out per year, and your retention rates will rise! A significant benefit to direct mail is its customizability to creating authentic communication with members of your community. According to Nonprofitpro.com, email response rates are extremely low. So low that they don’t even reach 1%. On average the email response rate is 0.1%, online display marketing is 0.2%, and paid search is 0.6%. Direct mail has a higher response rate average of 5.3%. Direct…
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Prevent Lapsed Donors
By: EmMa Matern
March 3, 2023Article Highlights: Pay attention to you donor retention Invest in stewardship Implement a donor segmentation system Focus on your Annual Fund Strategy INTRODUCTION Those who work in the nonprofit sector know that donor retention is an ongoing obstacle. As retention rates continue to plummet, lapsed donor prevention efforts are a top priority. Referencing the 2022 Quarterly Fundraising Report, “Retention is expected to decrease by -3.1% year-over-year, following last year’s -7.4% decrease…Year-to-date retention of donors from last year stands at…
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How to Get Lapsed Donors to Give Again
By: EmMa Matern
February 15, 2023INTRODUCTION Lapsed donors should be a substantial focus for non profits in 2023. There have been troubling statistics that show that all retention rates are down. Organizations are losing donors and strong stewardship efforts are more important than ever. This article will provide some advice on how charities can reignite their relationship with lapsed donors. According to the Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP), the Q3 2022 (JAN 1, 2022 – SEP 30, 2022) reports that all types of donor retention…
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How to Gain New Donors
By: EmMa Matern
February 1, 2023According to the 2022 Third Quarter Fundraising Report (FEP), there has been an increase in donations by 4.7%, but a decrease in the number of donors by -7.1% a continuing trend. Nonprofits will have to rely on the bulk of their donations coming from fewer donors. Consistent and reliable incoming funding is at risk. Although charitable giving increased in 2022, the number of donors decreased. It’s important in 2023 to make an effort to keep up your organization’s…
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4 Tips to Increase Giving from Donors
By: EmMa Matern
January 16, 2023INTRODUCTION Those working in the nonprofit sector understand the never ending need to keep donations coming in. Not only do you want a consistent flow of contributions, but preferably an increase. The purpose of this article is to provide you with 4 tips to increase donations. We will touch on the importance of implementing a donor segmentation system, how to communicate often, disclosing the impact of donations, and the benefit of asking! There is statistical evidence that there…
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Donor Segmentation
By: EmMa Matern
November 15, 2022INTRODUCTION Want to increase donor retention? Donor segmentation is the key! In the first part of this article we will discuss donor segmentation and how it affects donor retention. Donor retention is key to a consistent incoming flow of donations. In the second part, we discuss collecting donor data and using a suitable CRM software to organize your donor database. DONOR SEGMENTATION Donor segmentation is an organizational system that groups your donors into categories based on their information. This will…
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Establishing your Nonprofit Brand: 3 Brand Design Fundamentals
By: EmMa Matern
September 12, 2022INTRODUCTION Establishing your nonprofit brand can be intimidating, but let’s start with some basics! This article discusses 3 vital design aspects to consider when designing your nonprofit brand. You will learn about important design fundamentals: logos, colours, and typography. Having a preliminary understanding of brand design, will help you and your designer use your brand assets and establish a distinct and cohesive nonprofit brand. Legitimizing the look and feel of your brand will inevitably bring recognition and success. LOGOS First…
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5 Reasons Why Handwritten Notes Are Powerful
By: EmMa Matern
July 31, 2022INTRODUCTION Technology has become ubiquitous in our daily lives, with people sending hundreds of instant messages and corporate emails per day. PostGrid wrote an article titled “Direct Mail Statistics You Need to Know” and stated that, direct mail is a marketing channel that many marketers were hesitant to invest in, as they believed it would not yield the desired response rate. However, according to a study published in DMA Response Rate 2018, household mail had a significantly higher response rate…
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How to Follow up with Volunteers
By: EmMa Matern
June 30, 2022INTRODUCTION Acknowledging your volunteers is just as important as acknowledging your donors, and you can do that by sending out a follow up! In this article we are going to be looking at why, how, and when to follow up with your volunteers. Volunteers are the powerhouse of the organization! Knowing how to send follow ups and how to make them effective is KEY. Sending out those follow ups as soon as you can will result in a good volunteer…
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Donor Retention: Structure Your Fundraising Operation for Success
By: Postalgia
June 15, 2022What requires more effort, acquiring new donors or retaining the existing ones? Most nonprofits are likely to answer that acquiring new donors requires significantly more work, but that doesn’t mean retaining donors is an easy task. Still, maintaining a high donor retention rate is absolutely crucial. Nonprofits with a high donor retention rate have long-term supporters who come back year after year. Nonprofits with a low rate need to continually acquire new donors, ultimately costing them more time, money, and…
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Authentic Communication with your Donors
By: EmMa Matern
June 8, 2022INTRODUCTION The nonprofit sector is in the business of people-helping-people. What better motivates people-helping-people than being authentic!? This blog contains vital information about maintaining authentic communication with your donors. The 3 main takeaways are: Be true and consistent, attend to your donors, and create personal experiences. Adding personalized and specific details to your communication methods will make all the difference. BE TRUE AND CONSISTENT All nonprofit organizations have a cause that they are passionate about. Before you communicate with…
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Tips for Effective Storytelling for Nonprofits
By: EmMa Matern
May 25, 2022INTRODUCTION Nonprofit storytelling is an essential skill to have to maintain a successful nonprofit organization. Storytelling informs your donors about how their donations are being spent and who their donations affect. This article provides 4 essential tips to effective storytelling. You will learn how and why it is important to be intentional, how to evoke emotion and empathy, how to initiate connections, and the importance of saying thank you to your donors through storytelling. 1. BE INTENTIONAL Organization is…
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9 Steps to Increase Your Average Donation Amount
By: Postalgia
May 15, 2022Fundraising is a year-round concern for nonprofit organizations that rely on donations and contributions to operate successfully. Those tasked with this challenge must focus on multiple levels, expanding their list of contributors, turning them into repeat contributors, and finding ways to enlarge the contribution sum. This article explores ten things nonprofits can do to increase donation amounts. Challenges with Donation Amounts Today Budgets indeed limit most donations, but there is always the possibility that you can increase donation amounts. While…
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Increase Donor Loyalty With Our Best Practices
By: Postalgia
April 18, 2022One of the advantages that nonprofit organizations have is that often donors are looking for authentic personal connections with the nonprofit. Donors want to feel connected, like they are a part of something bigger, and feel like they belong. As a nonprofit, one of the best ways to increase donor loyalty is by showing up. These days virtually can be almost as effective as in person. Donor loyalty is driven by human connection, which means personalizing your communications with them…
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Finding Your Next Major Donor is as Easy as 1,2,3…4,5,6
By: Postalgia
April 13, 2022Whether you’re running a venture-backed Startup company, a Fortune 500 telecom giant, or a mission-driven non-profit organization, you need more resources – usually cash – to build your team, grow your reach, and scale whatever it is that your organization does best. In the context of charities, foundations, and philanthropic organizations, if you were to ask anyone who works in a fundraising capacity what their top goals are for the month, the quarter, or the year, they might answer that…
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Top 6 Non Profit Marketing Ideas
By: Postalgia
March 9, 2022It is crucial for marketing and communications professionals to have a marketing plan, even if the budget is low. Marketing plans set goals, develop tools for communication, define the mission, and generate an effective strategy for approaching and engaging donors. Nonprofits often have limited marketing funds, but no matter the budget size, good and strategic marketing is the most effective way to increase awareness and raise funds. Challenges with Nonprofit Marketing Ideas Today The biggest hurdle for nonprofit marketing ideas…
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The Benefit of Thanking Your Customers
By: Ilan Mann
August 10, 2021Gratitude. It’s such a simple word to say. In reality, it has so much meaning. And it means different things to different people. It can even anchor your business strategy. One thing about gratitude, though, is that it takes practice. The more you practice offering thanks to those you interact with, the happier and better satisfied you (and the recipient) become. That’s good for your business – and you. Showing gratitude to others is one way you can make them…
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How to Make a Thank-You Note More Memorable
By: Ilan Mann
August 2, 2021Thank-you cards are a straightforward concept: they convey gratitude for a kind deed, statement, or gift. For the writer, the formality of a handwritten thank you might be overwhelming. Many individuals underestimate the impact of a handwritten thank-you note. With so many new forms of communication, it seems like a hassle to do anything more than send an email, text message or phone call. A handwritten thank you note, on the other hand, conveys far more. It says that you…
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6 Ways to Shake Up How You Say ‘Thank You!’
By: Ilan Mann
July 30, 2021It isn’t always what you say that matters nearly as much as how you say it. That is something businesses, charities, non-profits, and individuals need to understand when it comes to saying “thank you.” To give you some help, here are six methods that can completely transform the way you say thank you to others, setting the stage for more robust, more meaningful relationships. 1. Send Handwritten Thank-You Cards It’s just two little words. But saying “thank you” can shape…
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How to Win Donation Dollars
By: Ilan Mann
July 22, 2021Donations are the lifeblood for non-profits, charities and political parties. The relationships you build with your donors today make a world of difference for future donations. That’s why it is essential for you to focus on developing those essential relationships in order to keep funds flowing into your organization. In this post, we offer a few key steps you can take to build better, stronger relationships with donors so that they open their hearts and their wallets for your cause….
Read moreFanmail Friday: Getting Attention With Custom Letters
By: Ilan Mann
July 17, 2021Every day at Postalgia, we help clients engage their target audience by creating handwritten, personalized letters at scale. We have a fundamental belief that to stand out from the steady stream of impersonal digital correspondence, nothing beats a handwritten letter mailed in an envelope. But we also like to have fun. So when our rockstar social media manager EmMa came up with a brilliant idea to do both, we knew it was worth doing. Enter Fan Mail Fridays. The concept…
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5 Easy Ways To Market Your Small Business Using Handwritten Notes
By: Ilan Mann
July 13, 2021Handwritten notes are a tried-and-true method of communicating with new or prospective clients. Writing a customized handwritten message demonstrates there is a person behind the scenes at the heart of your business. Because personalized, handwritten messages are a forgotten craft, they are very effective. Consider: when was the last time you received a handwritten letter instead of an email or a Facebook message? Those posts may be highly efficient, but a handwritten card transcends the transitory nature of our digital…
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Four Handwritten Letters From History That Had A Big Impact
By: Ilan Mann
July 12, 2021Around these parts, we are big believers in the power of the written word. In fact, our whole business model centres on the belief that handwritten letters can change your business, non-profit or charity. Now, in the age of email, text messages and 140-character tweets, the idea of letters having a significant impact on issues of the day might seem quaint. But throughout history, correspondence has been a powerful means for shifting public opinion and influencing world events. From the…
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How To Reach Out To Inactive Donors
By: Ilan Mann
July 7, 2021Donors who are inactive or have lapsed may appear to be a lost cause. These contributors haven’t given to your nonprofit in a long time; why would you spend money attempting to entice them to do so again? The truth is that many inactive donors don’t see themselves as inactive or are even aware they are inactive. It is important not to assume that just because a donor hasn’t given in months or years, they are no longer interested or…
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7 Most Common Business Thank You Note Mistakes
By: Ilan Mann
July 2, 2021It’s common knowledge that a thank-you note is an essential part of business etiquette, but believe it or not, there are many ways to do it wrong. As we have written about here and here, there is nothing more effective than a handwritten thank you card when it comes to winning new clients and increasing sales in your business. And in today’s digital age, sending a printed note is even more important. However, many business owners don’t take advantage of…
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Delight Your Donors With A Handwritten Note
By: Ilan Mann
June 26, 2021When was the last time you received a personalized handwritten letter in the mail? According to recent statistics, it’s pretty rare. Based on data from the Postal Regulatory Commission, the average American receives only ten pieces of personal mail per year. We (the royal we) just don’t send mail that much anymore. So when anyone gets a handwritten note, it is by definition extraordinary. Why not take advantage of this fact to delight your target audience? Why send an email…
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9 Ways To Use Thank-You Cards as a Marketing Tool
By: Ilan Mann
June 12, 2021We all understand the importance of making a good first impression. But too often, we forget to create a clear and memorable conclusion at the end of an interaction with a customer. It’s important for small business owners to understand that a customer’s experience at the end of a transaction lingers in their mind for days or even weeks after the transaction is completed. To ensure a positive, memorable end to an interaction with your business, you want to end…
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How One Company Built A Business With Thank You Notes
By: Ilan Mann
June 4, 2021You know that feeling when you receive a handwritten thank you note in the mail? It’s like an instant boost of happiness and appreciation for someone who took their time to send you something. Well, one company has taken those feelings and turned them into a business model. Here at Postalgia, we just love case studies. They aren’t merely a theory on what will work; they are tangible and replicable. We know that handwritten notes work to build customer relationships:…
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6 Tips For Realtors On How To Craft The Perfect Prospecting Letter
By: Ilan Mann
May 12, 2021One of the most challenging parts of being a realtor – what separates the greats from those who are scraping by – is the ability to attract listings. If it seems like the top agents are the ones always getting the new listings, that’s because they probably are. Leads turn into clients, who in turn blossom into referrals. Every “For Sale” sign that turns into a “Sold” sign the best possible advertisement for your brand, seen by thousands of people…
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Are Handwritten Notes Dead?
By: Ilan Mann
May 6, 2021In an age where we have lost the art of human interaction and replaced it with a keyboard, few things are as important as sending a handwritten note or letter. Technology has made sending a “thank-you” easy as pie: all it takes is one click or swipe on our phone screens to send that message…but what does this say about human interaction? In today’s fast-paced world where technology provides us with everything we need at just the push of a…
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How You Can Make Small Donors Feel Important
By: Ilan Mann
April 20, 2021We understand that large donors are often the primary focus of non-profits, charities and other organizations that rely on donations. Given the potential amount large donors could contribute to meeting your fundraising goals, sometimes you might feel like the large donations are all that matter. However, you might be better off focusing your efforts on a broader spectrum of donors than the 15% that make over $100,000 per year (U.S. figures). Why? Because large donors are notoriously hard to convince….
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Handwritten Notes for Realtors: How To Maximize Client Touchpoints
By: Ilan Mann
April 16, 2021The real estate industry is a tough one, and the competition for clients can be fierce. But there are many ways to set yourself apart from competitors that don’t involve spending money on listings—and handwritten notes are a great way to do just that. Whether writing thank-you cards after an open house, after an initial meeting or a note after the house has been sold, adding a personal touch will help you stand out in a competitive market. This article…
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Six Things to Avoid in a Handwritten Thank You Note
By: Ilan Mann
April 4, 2021When you receive a handwritten thank-you note from someone, it’s one of the most thoughtful gestures that person could make. It shows that they took time out of their day to write something just for you. The same goes for your clients. Writing a handwritten thank-you note to clients is a great way to show them how much they mean to your business or organization while creating a deeper personal connection. Unfortunately, many small business owners often don’t write thank-you…
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4 ways to get referrals from handwritten letters
By: Ilan Mann
March 20, 2021The folks who say “the best things in life are free” have never been to Disneyland. But, they’re on to something when it comes to business. Entrepreneurs love nothing more than free advertising. No advertising works like a referral. Social Media Today drops some key stats that reveal why. 60% of marketers say that referral programs generate a high volume of leads. 54% say that referrals have a lower cost per lead than other methods. And marketers rate referrals as…
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Three ways to frame choices and get better answers with direct mail
By: Ilan Mann
March 12, 2021Every day, people make decisions. We make those decisions of our own free will. Or do we? Consider: you walk into a grocery store to buy a carton of eggs. We want to buy one thing: that carton of eggs. But then we pick up a loaf of bread, primed by a bright yellow “For Sale” tag that tells us the loaf is a steal. Then we notice a chocolate bar at eye level and grab that too. We’re home-free…
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Bring back pen pals!
By: Ilan Mann
March 12, 2021Imagine meeting your best friend for the first time, after sixty years. That’s the story of Canadian Dolores Baily and Australian Lyn Carpenter. They started corresponding at age ten through a school pen pals program. They haven’t stopped writing since. They bonded over their mad love for the Beatles. They sent photos and little gifts to each other. They got through the teen years together. They celebrated marriage, had kids—writing letters to each other all the time. And in 2019,…
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The Revenge of Analog
By: Ilan Mann
October 20, 2020Life is moving online—so why are so many of us going offline? The Revenge of Analog explains why. If you’re a literary junkie, you know there’s been a quiet civil war raging among the community of book-lovers. At the core of this conflict is a sacred question—would you ever peruse a book using an e-reader? Is a book really a book if it isn’t on paper? On one side are those who appreciate the practicality of their Kindles and Kobos….
Read moreHow writing letters can fight pandemic depression
By: Ilan Mann
October 14, 2020Life-giving responses to COVID-19 can include: Physical distancing; Mask-wearing in public spaces; Handwritten letters; or, All of the above. The answer is four. Yes, actually. Handwriting letters to loved ones can make a big impact in the era of COVID-19—especially in addressing the health crisis offshoot of the virus, the depressing effect of social isolation. We all know it first hand after too many draining Zoom calls: the threat of loneliness is very real. One study published in the academic…
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These six attributes explain the power of direct mail
By: Ilan Mann
October 12, 2020Is direct mail dead? It’s the question on marketers’ minds. At the very least, it’s the question they’re Googling: with 167 million results for the search “is direct mail dead?” So, is it? Let’s just say you shouldn’t wait around for the funeral procession. In 2018 alone, Canada Post delivered nearly 8 billion pieces of mail and parcels—almost 32 million items delivered daily. Direct mail isn’t going anywhere. Its place in the wider toolset of marketing and sales channels may…
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Turn e-commerce into an IRL relationship with handwritten letters
By: Ilan Mann
October 2, 2020E-commerce is everything for entrepreneurs in 2020. The NASDAQ estimates that by 2040, 95% of purchases will be facilitated by e-commerce. But we are already seeing that shift happening now. Consider: An Adobe report found that American consumers spent more than $50 billion on their smartphones during the 2019 holiday season—accounting for 84% of the holiday season’s spending growth that year. E-commerce represents an amazing growth opportunity while also being plain scary. Why? Two words: frictionless and spontaneity. E-commerce sales…
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12 Tactics for Using Handwritten Letters in Your Sales Funnel
By: Ilan Mann
September 24, 2020Sales funnels. If you’re an entrepreneur or salesperson, you’ve heard the term enough to make your ears bleed. Yes, those YouTube ads by teenage sales “gurus” are torturous. (“Here’s how my 15-year old daughter made six figures in two months as an Amazon reseller,” she says. Ok, Karen.) But they’re right about one thing—you need a sales funnel, and well-defined tactics for every stage of the funnel, to succeed in your business. But first, a quick refresher on sales funnels….
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Gratitude is a Business Strategy
By: Ilan Mann
September 18, 2020Gratitude: you might know it as a hashtag, or an Indigo mug, or a word your mom has crocheted on her wall. What you may not know is that gratitude is also a business strategy—because a grateful business is a business that customers return to again and again. Consider a 2017 research article entitled Undervaluing Gratitude: Expressers Misunderstand the Consequences of Showing Appreciation. In it, researchers Amit Kumar and Nicholas Epley demonstrated how we often assume expressing gratitude will be…
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Long Live the Concierge – Personalizing the E-Commerce Customer Experience
By: Ilan Mann
August 11, 2020The transition for the brick and mortar storefront has been hugely exciting for a whole host of reasons: The need to pay top dollar to rent space in a mall or heavy-traffic area, hire full-time staff, and catch window shopping customers eyes with immaculately curated glass displays presented an impossible barrier for most aspiring brands and entrepreneurs to overcome. The e-commerce revolution has democratized the economy in a way thought impossible 30 years ago, using technologies that were unthinkable…
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Should You Ask For Donations When Saying Thank You?
By: Ilan Mann
June 10, 2020“Dogs look up to you, cats look down on you. Give me a pig! He looks you in the eye and treats you as an equal.” – Sir Winston Churchill Recently a friend remarked that she doesn’t like cats, because they only show you affection when they want something – food, attention, etc… Dogs, on the other hand, may be driven by the same innate motivators, but they are less transparent in their self-interest, and so their affection seems credible,…
Read moreCall Me Maybe (But I’d Rather You Didn’t)
By: Ilan Mann
May 12, 2020If you were to ask Millennials or Gen Z (defined as those born between 1980 and the early 2010’s) how they feel about receiving phone calls, they would likely rank the experience as one of the biggest inconveniences you can thrust upon someone. It’s a notable difference between generations, one that I especially notice with my father, who calls me several times during the day with small pieces of information that could easily be delivered over text – and while…
Read moreLies, Damned Lies, Statistics, and Metrics
By: Ilan Mann
May 11, 2020Mark Twain popularized (and attributed erroneously, ironically, to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli) the adage that there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. This week, my brilliant friend Jason shared with me a piece in The Correspondent entitled The new dot com bubble is here: it’s called online advertising. He in turn got it from Dr. Michael Burry’s twitter feed (of Big Short fame). It’s important to me that everyone receive their due credit for bringing…
Read moreOpportunity Knocks… And then Mails
By: Ilan Mann
April 30, 2020Politics has changed drastically these last few decades in so many drastic ways, it’s tempting to pinpoint one or the other as the secret to a candidate’s success or failure: For Obama it was allegedly the use of social networks, for Trump it was supposed to have been his use of spectacle to dominate the media narrative, etc… One thing that is clear, going back to Teddy Roosevelt’s use of the whistle stop, FDR’s mastery of radio, Kennedy’s understanding of…
Read moreThe Illusion of Transparency
By: Ilan Mann
April 29, 2020The illusion of transparency is one of the most common causes of misunderstandings and missed opportunities between people, between companies and their customers, between nonprofits and their donors, etc… The illusion of transparency is on display any time you say or hear thing like “you know what I meant,” or “how could you not understand how I was feeling?” Here’s one of my favourite games to illustrate the illusion: Find a partner, and as obviously as you can, but without…
Read moreGetting Out The Vote with Handwritten Mail
By: Ilan Mann
April 28, 2020Suppose that you are running for class president, and there are 100 eligible voters. If all the voters have to vote, your job is to persuade 51 of them to vote for you. Suppose that your opponent is popular amongst 60 of the eligible voters, and you have the support of 40. You really have your work cut out for you! That is how we usually think of politics – in terms of persuasion. While that may be the…
Read more“The Things We Think and Do Not Say”
By: Ilan Mann
April 21, 2020At the beginning of the great sports movie Jerry Maguire, the eponymous sports agent, in the throes of a night of inspiration, writes a mission statement, called The Things We Think and Do Not Say, and distributes it to all of his colleagues. In it, he proposes a radical idea: actually caring about their clients. If for whatever reason, you haven’t seen the movie, do yourself a favour and remedy that. It will have you at “hello.” Most of the…
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The Nonprofit Stewardship Cycle
By: Ilan Mann
April 20, 2020Just as customer engagement is becoming an increasingly important metric for profit-driven businesses, donor stewardship is playing a larger role than ever in nonprofit management. The “why” of retention, loyalty, and donor engagement should be obvious to most, but in case anyone needs convincing, I’ve discussed some of the reasons here, here, and here. According to the Association of Fundraising Professionals report, the donor retention rate in the US was 45.1%. That means that in the US, at least, you…
Read morePart Five – Jumping Off A Bridge
By: Ilan Mann
April 18, 2020This is part five of an ongoing series about consumer behaviour. You are strongly encouraged to read at least part one here and part two here before reading this post. You can also read part three here and part four here. System one and system two evolved for reasons that may not appear obvious to us, but are apparently deeply rooted in what it took to survive for most of human history. System 2 can develop theories around the…
Read morePart Four – The Extra Large Medium
By: Ilan Mann
April 16, 2020This is part four of an ongoing series about consumer behaviour. You are strongly encouraged to read part one here, part two here, and part three here before reading this post. Thinking Fast and Slow, the seminal book by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman about his work with his late research partner, Amos Tversky, is full of mental tricks, riddles, illusions, and “ah-ha” moments designed to make you question whose side your brain is really on. In the first chapter, he…
Read morePart Three – The Availability Bias and Priming in your Mailbox
By: Ilan Mann
April 15, 2020This is part two of an ongoing series about consumer behaviour. You are strongly encouraged to read part one here and part two here before reading this post. Let’s recap a few insights: We don’t have the mental capacity/energy to focus on doing every task slowly and methodically. That’s why we evolved a system for quickly making everyday complicated calculations without overloading our brains. That system calculates things inaccurately, but usually within the ballpark. Those calculations usually manifest as feelings,…
Read morePart Two – The Irrational Consumer
By: Ilan Mann
April 14, 2020This is part two of an ongoing series about consumer behaviour. You are strongly encouraged to read part one here before reading this post. If all of your customers were perfectly rational, and could instantly calculate with a high degree of accuracy the trade-off between the value you are providing, and the price that you are asking in return, all of marketing would be as simple as the following: Find the people for whom the value is highest Communicate that…
Read morePart One – This is Your Brain on Loyalty
By: Ilan Mann
April 13, 2020This is part one of an ongoing series about consumer behaviour. What follows may seem like an esoteric or purely academic post in a blog that is normally about marketing, but nothing could be further from the truth. Traditional marketing focuses on the customer or client as a self-interested, rational consumer, and expresses value to them strictly in those terms: Goods and Services (Value) in exchange for Money (Price) Which is why most advertisements are expressed in one of the…
Read moreKeeping Your Friends Close: Retention, Retention, Retention
By: Ilan Mann
April 10, 2020Like most suburban kids, I never really understood the proverb, “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” Why is a bird in the bush worth anything? A bird in the hand sounds like a lot more trouble than it’s worth. Is the bird a pet? Is it a friendly bird? I was not envisioning a friendly bird. As unattractive a prospect as “a bird in the hand” sounds, the lesson that the proverb is trying to…
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5 Tips for Writing a Personal Letter
By: Ilan Mann
April 9, 2020A few years ago, a client of ours – a large charity – goofed up and sent a handwritten thank-you card to a donor, and another to her husband, for the same pledged donation. Instead of a negative response, they got a grateful phone call from the first-time donor, who told them how much they appreciated being thanked individually, but that the nonprofit organization should feel free to send one tax receipt and one copy of all future communications for…
Read moreThe Bus that Nearly Flattens You
By: Ilan Mann
April 8, 2020You’re jogging across an intersection when a city bus turns the corner a little too fast. You jump out of the way and narrowly avoid being run over. Okay – I’ll admit that it’s a morbid beginning for a blog post about marketing. But if it’s jarring, it only further illustrates my point. There is a pervasive fiction in the marketing world that marketing materials are subject to a law of increasing returns. This is sometimes represented as some variation…
Read moreHow to Catch the Attention of a Goldfish
By: Ilan Mann
April 7, 2020If commonly cited statistics are to be believed, it’s a miracle that you clicked on this article. If it took you more than 4 or 5 seconds to read that first sentence, I can’t be expected to hold your attention to the end of this one. If you’ve made it to this – the third sentence – it was nothing short of a herculean effort that got you here, because according to conventional wisdom, average human attention spans are…
Read moreTurning Donors and Customers into your Fundraisers and Salespeople
By: Ilan Mann
March 1, 2020Every fundraiser or salesperson knows that the easiest people to turn into donors and customers are already part of their network. A lot of the reasons why prospects are hesitant to buy or donare, or why they stop donating and buying, are mitigated by them knowing you personally. Your passion is contagious, they hear from you often, and they trust you – so they trust that their money is in good hands or that they’re getting a good product. But…
Read moreWhy Donors Stop Donating
By: Ilan Mann
February 16, 2020Donors are the lifeblood of any nonprofit organization, and their value cannot be overstated – but it can be calculated. Many fundraising and nonprofit professionals like to think that their job is different and distinct from that of people who work in sales and marketing – and in some ways it is – but the truth is that like any other business, your non-profit cannot survive without its customers: your donors. And just like any other business, your average donor’s…
Read moreWhy Thanking Your Donors is So Important
By: Ilan Mann
February 13, 2020I am always shocked to hear non-profit professionals tell me that they don’t thank their donors. The logic goes that people open their hearts and wallets to charities and non-profits because they want to help a good cause, and doing so is enough reward in and of itself. While it’s true that selflessness and a drive to better the world is the primary motivator of many gifts, fundraising professionals who take that approach will notice their donor base dwindling, and…
Read moreHow to be Great at Gratitude – 5 Tips for Brilliant Donor & Volunteer Thank-you Cards
By: Ilan Mann
February 10, 2020So you’ve decided to send thank you notes to your donors and volunteers. Good call! There are few combinations of words more powerful than “Thank You.” Letting someone know that their gifts or deeds not only contributed to a good cause but also inspired personal gratitude in the recipient is the simplest way to ensure that they feel unreservedly good about the time or hard-earned dollars that they’ve parted with. Now that you’ve decided to undertake this simple but important…
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