Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Five Cent Direct Mailing


I received this direct mail piece this morning and saw a nickel inside the window. The envelope that the charity annual fund came in, stated:
The enclosed nickel can help save a child's life.

Exactly how many nickels did they send out in this promotional event? If it's guilt they are trying to bestow, this direct mail FAILED! I'm a little more upset that for an annual donator to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society it feels like a bribe after reading this.

But in the letter itself, it contradicts the previous statement:
You and I both know that a single nickel won't go far in the fight againt blood cancers.

I'm now a little upset and confused. If that's true, I'd like to know who managed to sell the idea of passing out nickels?

A little math for you. I gave fifty dollars the previous annul fund. 1 dollar = 20 nickels, so 50 dollars = 1000 nickels.

A direct response mailing can get somewhere between .50-1.00% response. This direct piece was probably more targeted to those who have donated in the past, I would assume 1.00-5.00%. If assuming 5% return rate you'll get 50 nickels (responses) back or $2.50. Although that 5% you'll probably get a variety of enclosed amounts on average, let's say $15.00. For a grand total of $752.50! (Of course the more mailed out the more responses.)

So a campaign that would yield little over $750.00 probably cost at least $1000 to propose.

I guess I can use the nickel towards a postage stamp, along with my donation.

My math maybe wrong on this. I kinda just went on a rant, but I'm just saying, hypothetically!

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