If you are a regular follower of our blogs or bitesize videos, you’ll know that we’ve been talking quite regularly (and enthusiastically!) about the huge success of the admin reactivation campaign.
And the popularity of this type of campaign shows no sign of slowing right now – so we thought readers might find it useful to receive an update on how and why they are working so well.
So a quick recap – what’s the difference between a reactivation call and an admin reactivation call?
A standard reactivation call is a follow up call to a supporter or donor who has withdrawn their paid membership, regular donation or lottery play – and this type of call has traditionally been made as a marketing call. An opportunity to actively promote your charity, while encouraging the supporter or donor to financially re-engage.
An admin reactivation call is a short, simple and completely non-promotional call to a supporter or donor to check that they were aware their support has lapsed – either as a result of a cancelled bank payment (with no reason provided) or a no-show payment. In either case the supporter has not informed you that they are withdrawing their support. No TPS is required for this type of call, it is a simple reactivation request and therefore an admin call.
For more info, have a quick listen to this, which was recorded back in September:
Why is timing of this type of call crucial?
Unlike a marketing call which might be utilising data which goes back many, many months – the success of this type of call relies on using the data of those supporters and donors who have cancelled in the last two to four weeks, perhaps after a BACS run; and therefore most of our clients are running this as a monthly rolling campaign.
Are there extra benefits of an admin reactivation call?
Implementing a prompt follow-up call after cancellation reflects good customer service – it shows that you are a charity that really cares about the support previously provided, and that it is highly valued. And not only is it a chance to reactivate a donation, but some clients are including a Gift Aid check, thus maximising the opportunity of the conversation.
Surely it’s better to take a more marketing-oriented approach to a call?
This is a question quite a few prospective clients have asked us, concerned that in not having an opportunity to actively promote and market their charity, that results won’t be as good. But that’s just not the case: with a marketing reactivation call, TPS screening will reduce a calling list by anything up to 50 – 80%, so your file is always going to be smaller than when approached as an admin call. With fewer supporters to call, your results will naturally be lower, and coupled with the increased price of telephone look up, your overall campaign costs will be higher.
So what are the results like?
We started this type of campaign at the end of the summer with just one client – now we have around 20 rolling admin reactivation campaigns for regular giving, membership and lottery – and despite the current economic challenges, the results have been incredibly stable averaging at between 15 and 25%, as opposed to 10 to 15% for a standard marketing reactivation campaign in a ‘normal’ economic climate. Very occasionally a charity might experience lower results than that quoted, and equally some charities are having greater success. However results are consistently better than the marketing reactivation approach, and charities are all achieving donations in line with their expectations, which is a fantastic outcome.
What is the likelihood a supporter will ‘re-cancel’?
Good question! And although we have not had any reports of this happening, we appreciate it’s early days in the scheme of things, so we have just started a project to evaluate ‘re-cancellations’ and will report back in several months time on this. In the meantime, feedback is excellent from clients, and we will be bringing you some case studies in due course.
In summary…
These are exceptionally difficult times we are navigating when it comes to fundraising, and the likelihood is that it’s going to get a lot harder before it gets easier. The potential for supporters to cancel their donations or membership is only going to increase, so we strongly encourage you to mitigate these threats and safeguard your fundraising income by making admin reactivation a key part of your strategy.
Would you like to hear more? We’d be more than happy to help – please do get in touch.
