You might have seen our recent blog on saying thank you at Christmas, and how this type of campaign can really deepen supporter relationships and make sure those giving to your charity feel truly valued. It’s also a great opportunity to ask those donors about Gift Aid, to do a quick check on consent, and generally develop your knowledge and understanding of your community (it’s amazing how many legacy pledgers will reveal their intentions during this type of call!).
This month we’re looking at appeal calling – and how when you’re running an appeal, the telephone really is the perfect partner.
We’ve just been running a follow up telephone campaign to an appeal. The client had launched the appeal by email and had a very limited response; we followed up with a phone call and a three ask structure – a request for £50, a drop ask of £20, and if they were not already giving a regular gift, then a third ask of a monthly donation by PDD of £5.
The overall response rate was incredible at 10% sign ups (8.4% of these opted for one off donations, the remainder signed up to a monthly RG by PDD) – the average one-off donation was £37 and the average RG by PDD was £8. And the data for this campaign wasn’t even particularly warm – but the messaging was strong and the approach was persuasive.
But it got us thinking – if this had been a Christmas appeal, the results would have been incredible! We know this because digital fundraising tech experts Enthuse conducted a survey of their clients post Christmas 2022 which revealed:
- The five days before Christmas Day are consistently the best days for giving in December. In 2019, 2020 and 2021, Christmas Eve was the most popular day for volume of donations, but in 2022 it was 21 December. In terms of income, the best day was 20 December. These two dates could be really good ones to focus on if you are running a telephone campaign!
- Giving on these dates is around 50% higher than an average day in December!
- Weeks 3 and 4 of December perform better than any other week.
- Weekdays perform more strongly than weekends.
- 10am – 12pm seems to be the best slot for donations – 11am is spot on
- 12pm – 2pm is still a good time for donation,
- And there is always a spike from 5pm – 8pm.
So this really begs the question, why aren’t we calling more of your supporters in the lead up to Christmas? We know that more people give at Christmas (research suggests 7 in 10 people will donate at Christmas), we know they’re inclined to feel more generous in the season of goodwill and are happy to give a little extra, so this really is an amazing opportunity to follow up on those donors who haven’t responded to your appeal with a timely phone call.
And in the New Year, you can share the outcome of your appeal with your supporters, highlighting the difference their one-off donation has made, and potentially motivate them to sign up for monthly donations.
If you think that the telephone can maximise your Christmas fundraising appeal – then drop us a line, or give us a call. We have a few spaces available for December campaigns and some fantastic rates – and we’d be delighted to chat to you about smashing your 2024 targets!
