Galapagos Conservancy

Re-engaging Lapsed Members on the Phone

When a decline in numbers of Galapagos visitors put a dent in the Conservancy’s prospecting universe, a targeted phone campaign to lapsed members helped boost membership and produced a positive net.

Visitors to Galapagos are the primary source of new members for the Galapagos Conservancy. However, with new member acquisition limited to a finite universe, lapsed member reinstatement plays a significant role in supplementing file numbers and revenue. The Conservancy’s 2009 reinstatement telemarketing campaign was budgeted not only to boost member counts but also to yield a positive net.

That year, the Conservancy’s prospect universe was further limited by a 12% drop in available visitor names, most likely due to the recession. To compensate for the loss in leads, Avalon reached out to lapsed member names dating back to the 1990s. We added a matching gift offer to boost pledges and fulfilled gifts. Finally, we adjusted our call strategy on a daily basis to identify and target the most productive lapsed leads.

In the end, the phone campaign doubled the amount of new/reinstated members to Conservancy’s overall file—5 ½ times more than a recent direct mail acquisition/reinstatement campaign. The reinstatement segments also produced a positive net, offsetting the costs of the campaign and helping the Conservancy achieve its budget goals.