Does anyone know of any research or stats on whether sending a donor a letter with a first class stamp has better results of them opening it versus a metered letter? Joanne Felci Direct Mail/Acquisition Specialist World Concern [Email Removed]

I believe it's been repeatedly shown that a close faced envelope with a first class stamp has much more chance of being opened. Meter screams business and direct mail. Indicia screams direct mail even louder. Patty Patty Renaud Membership Manager Maine Coast Heritage Trust [Email Removed] [i]--- Edited at 9/12/2007 9:33:10 AM by Patty Renaud[/i] [i]--- Edited at 9/12/2007 9:33:28 AM by Patty Renaud[/i]

I am a believer in the closed face envelope and have seen the stats on that. I also had to watch as a consultant tanked our direct mail program by introducing window envelopes when we hadn't been using them before. I am not so sure about the indecia or meter vs live stamp. I also think that it completely depends on your audience - if mailing to previous donors - they know who you are and recognize your logo and probably won't care about the stamp. In fact a previous donor might be upset if you use a full first class stamp instead of a non-profit stamp knowing you spent more on the mailing than you needed to. For a special group of major donors or for some special events I have used full first class stamps but otherwise use stamp but one that inticates nonprofit bulk. If mailing to an acquisition group they are least likely to respond anyway and spending too much on them is a huge waste. Unless they are preselected (board member recommendations or the like) use whatever is cheapest which is probably an indecia. I have even tested using logo or just an address on the outer envelope but the results were split. I'd like to test again because I am hearing that no logo sometimes wins. If you have a large enough mailing group for any of this the only way to know for sure the behavior of your donors is to conduct a test. Every donor group has their own culture and some things may be very particular to your group. If you can randomly do half metered and half live stamp - test and see what your results are. It may take repeated tests to be sure but at least it is your own data. Melissa S. Graves Director of Development Services The Village for Families and Children mgraves (at) villageforchildren.org www.villageforchildren.org GET ON THE BUS! Check out what the Blackbaud User Society is talking about today at www.blackbus.org!

I worked at Save the Children for 15 years and we had the ability to do a lot of testing. In my experience, closed envelopes and live stamps win every time. In fact, the more stamps you have on an envelope, the better. So take your old stamps and add a $.02 stamp and watch what happens.

A number of years ago we pulled a random sample and attached stamps, while the rest of the group was metered. The mailing went to our alumni who had not given in 5+ years. There was no difference in the response rate between the two groups. I agree about window envelopes. We only use windows for receipts and pledge reminders, never for appeal letters. I also completely agree that each organization has its own culture and donor behavior. For example, we are a university and I don't base our mailing practices on tests conducted by non-education charities. Use good ideas from any source, but do your own testing. Don't completely change what you are doing if it is bringing in money. Pull a random sample from your usual appeal, change one thing, and look at the results. Someone at a conference I attended once said you should run a test with EVERY mailing you do -- test the outer envelope appearance, the design appearance inside, the wording of the message, etc. Just change 1 thing per test group.

Based on my very limited experience, I do not know that it makes much difference, but I believe that it might. One of the things I have noticed is that a response is more likely to come from someone who knows the person signing the letter, seeing familiar name(s) in the letterhead, and/or newsletters. On a personal level, the bulk mail stamp is not much different than the metered mail. I am about as likely to open a mailing with the balk mail stamp as I would metered stamp, which is often times, not at all. Use of first class stamps, does catch my attention, even if I do not respond.

In general, studies show that response is better with a stamp, than with metered or imprinted mail. Also, as someone before me suggested, if you use a couple of stamps with smaller denominations rather than one large denomination, you'll get better response. In doing mailings, you may want to keep in mind that the more personal you can make the mailing, the better your response will be. Adding their name in the salution and in a couple of places throughout the letter (and yes, peole know it's just a mail merge, but it still works), personally signing with real ink (rather than just using the signature picture), highlighting and underlining important parts of the letter all help with response. As an organization, you'll have to decide whether or not the extra time, effort and costs are worth the extra dollars in donations you may get. Try varying your mailings so that with one or two you put out a little bit of extra effort, and see what happens. [i]--- Edited at 9/18/2007 5:20:14 PM by Danette Bloomfield[/i]

And, I agree with Allison, but will add "Closed envelopes WITH COLOR and live stamps win every time."