How Creative Testing Enabled a Nonprofit Providing Meals to Seniors Find a Direct Mail Donor Acquisition Workhorse

Challenge

A nonprofit meal-delivery program for homebound seniors had never used direct mail for donor acquisition and needed TrueSense Marketing to build its new direct mail program from the ground up.

Solution

TrueSense needed to identify a compelling, mission-aligned acquisition approach to drive strong initial responses and long-term donor value, as well as discover which themes, offers, and creative approaches resonated best with the nonprofit’s base. We embarked on a multi-year creative testing journey that included experimenting with a wide range of package formats, offers, and messaging.

Results

One dual-purpose campaign outperformed the others. It asked donors to make a gift to the nonprofit and sign a petition urging the U.S. Congress to prioritize senior needs in national policy.

The new package generated a 52% higher response rate than the previous control and continues to outperform all subsequent creative tests, including vouchers, bounce-back cards for seniors, and seniors-and-their-pets offers. Many leads responded with petition signatures without immediate gifts, creating a warm lead pool for retargeting.