It’s shocking how much other agencies waste client time on lots of inconclusive tests. Risky mailings and digital strategies abound. Test rollouts based on a flawed test design or misleading test results. But Avalon takes both our responsibility to your budget and the rules for statistics very seriously.
One of the most important things we will do for you is to create a more reliable and cost-effective set of strategies that will produce sustainable, long-term growth for your organization.
Direct marketing can be a humbling business with all its specific, predetermined objectives and precise tools to measure the effectiveness of any tactic and strategy you want to try. So, it’s wise to test everything – even a “consensus favorite” – before gambling on an unproven idea.
For example, focus group participants will vigorously urge you to just send them brief, one-page letters. Yet, longer letters almost always do better in head-to-head tests. Focus groups will also tell you they prefer thicker paragraphs, fewer contractions, and fewer gimmicks like circling a suggested giving amount. But those are the exact strategies that help skimmers see the most important points in a letter. And more often than not they earn higher response rates and net income in head-to-head tests.
It is not unusual for the initial numbers in a donor recruitment program to look fantastic. But, after tracking what those new donors do after they join, those numbers may come up short. And all these challenges require the patient, methodical, and comprehensive analysis. That is one of Avalon’s strong suits.
That’s why Avalon pays close attention to where someone makes their first gift. Plus, we track how quickly they make their second gift to an organization. We do this with tracking tools and re-solicitation strategies found nowhere else. It is one of the most important things we can do to increase retention and the long-term value of your donors.
We also use our Analytics tools to study exactly how, why, when, and where your audience will make their first donations. And we apply everything we can do to make that experience more engaging and enjoyable for them.