How Strategic Testing Drove Program Revenue Despite Softening Industry Response Rates

Challenge

A human services nonprofit was experiencing the negative impact of industry-wide trends, including softening direct mail acquisition response rates and difficulty acquiring new donors. Its longstanding magnet control package was showing clear signs of fatigue, and the organization needed to grow its donor base to support program goals without an increase in its testing budget.

Solution

TrueSense Marketing recommended a disciplined, strategic approach focused on two key areas. First, instead of a cost-prohibitive nationwide mailing, a “heat map” approach was used to identify and test nearby regions with existing brand familiarity, selecting Phoenix and Sacramento as initial expansion markets. Second, a consistent creative testing strategy was launched to find a cost-effective replacement for the aging magnet control package. This involved testing new package formats, messaging, imagery, and storytelling angles.

Results

This integrated strategy successfully identified new avenues for growth while controlling costs. Testing revealed that several lower-cost packages — some up to 20% less expensive — performed on par with the existing control package in both response rate and average gift. This insight allowed the organization to replace its fatiguing control with more cost-efficient formats to improve the program’s net revenue.