There’s a lot of talk about the cost-of-living crisis at the moment and undoubtedly supporters are starting to have to cut back on their giving and make difficult decisions on how and where to give their support. Our own benchmarking data is showing the increase in lapsing supporters and difficulties in recruitment, and we’re also starting to see lower results from charity campaigns and appeals.
We know that it’s a difficult argument to make to keep that investment tap going but those charities that do continue to spend will reap the rewards later. And whilst it may be inevitable that some budgets will need to be cut keeping spend going as much as possible can still bear fruit.
Strange as it may seem we often see an upturn in spending on analytics when the going gets tough. Using your data to better understand your campaigns and supporters will help you make the right decisions on what and how much to cut.
We suggest two key things to be looking at:
Campaign response analysis – now is the time to really be looking at who responds to your communications and who doesn’t. Is it time to take a look at your selection segmentation? Going beyond standard RFV, or even building muti-variate propensity models, can reveal hidden pots of responsive supporters and allow you to cut volumes whilst retaining response levels.
Income forecasting – being able to accurately forecast your income based on different investment scenarios, and different levels of campaign performance, can also help show the longer term effects of reduced investment and give more confidence in the outcomes and benefits of continuing to spend.
We’re not by any means saying it’s easy and to just keep spending will not alone be the answer. But by being smarter you can continue to maintain good levels of income, engage and communicate with your supporters, and protect your supporter file from deteriorating as we navigate our way through the coming months.
