Membership Acquisition Benchmarks: Where are you?
By Becky Zahrly, Senior Membership Consultant
November 2010

Schultz & Williams’ Membership Acquisition Campaign Consortium achieved record-setting results during the spring 2010 acquisition season:

• The Consortium captured an average response rate of 1.62% for $365,000 net income.
• 77% of participants achieved higher returns than the previous spring.
• All participants (except one free organization) realized positive net income – a notable accomplishment in this difficult economy, especially for the smaller mailers.

The value message – always a cornerstone of membership acquisition – resonated particularly well in the tight economy. Overall response outpaced the spring 2009 season by 19%.

New joins continued to choose upgraded membership. By emphasizing the additional value and adding premiums and exclusive events, 57% of new members joined at upgraded levels (the Family Plus level or equivalent).

Package and list testing efforts were particularly productive, informing strategy to boost response rate and maximize net income. Streamlined packages – two-color carriers, smaller carriers, one-page letters – consistently beat glossy, four-color control packages, achieving higher response rates than the more colorful control packages.

Deeper discounts were successful in capturing significantly higher response rates to offset a lower average gift, resulting in more favorable nets. Response was generally not depressed by membership price increases, although lapsed members were more resistant to higher price points than new prospects.

Consortium members leveraged cooperative buying power in list acquisition, piggy-backing orders to reach minimum name requirements and secure net name agreements for nearly one-third of all lists ordered. The consortium was able to access not-yet-to-market files and pull deeper buyer recency than is typically available. Participants saved an average of $5,300 by splitting data delivery and processing fees.

With shrinking universes and an increasing number of off-the-market lists, finding sufficient volume of quality names continues to be a challenge. To open up new names without assuming undue risk in testing, we broadened list selections to identify additional segments of the strongest go-to files. This strategy was particularly successful within the children’s subscribers market. By mailing lapsed subscribers (with children’s age select) and gift givers, we were able to add 57,000 strong names, resulting in 1.95% response.

E-mail and viral campaigns captured an average of 500 additional members for $25,500 net income for each consortium member. Several organizations deployed a rolling Friends & Family e-mail to direct mail responders, averaging 81 additional joins for $4,000.

In addition, most organizations mailed a delayed second follow-up drop to recently lapsed members, bringing in an average of 431 reactivated members for nearly $26,000 net income.

For a complete analysis of our results, please click here to view the graphs and charts, including a week-by-week breakdown of when results were received!

The deadline for participation in the spring 2011 Membership Acquisition Campaign Consortium is December 15, 2010. For information, please contact Jessica Harrington at jharrington@schultzwilliams.com or 215-625-9955.

Schultz & Williams is a national consulting firm based in Philadelphia; providing management, fundraising and marketing consulting for nonprofit organizations, along with full-service direct marketing, database and creative/production services.