1138% ROI from Direct Mail.

Formara has worked with a number of charities on successful direct mail and direct marketing campaigns. Each campaign is different and has its own criterion for success.

In November 2020, right in the middle of the UK’s second lockdown, we were approached by Rebecca, Head of Fundraising at Zoë’s Place Baby Hospice in Middlesbrough, to work on a direct mail postal campaign.

Of course, we jumped at the chance to bring our many years of experience to the table and started brainstorming ideas for a campaign to raise much needed funds for the hospice. Like so many charities, they were struggling with fundraising due to the pandemic.

Zoë’s Place provides palliative, respite and end-of-life care to babies and infants (find out more about them on their website https://www.zoes-place.org.uk ). Sadly, the effects of COVID-19 on the fundraising events they had planned for 2020 reduced their funding to such an extent that they were unable to offer their normal 24/7 support for families in need of their services.

Our first consideration was the data held by Zoë’s Place and, together, a relatively small sample of individual and corporate givers was identified to approach for donations. Formara also advised on the question of GDPR and compliance as many donors had not explicitly opted in to receive printed communication from Zoë’s Place.

The design team at Formara, together with Rebecca and her team, put a range of creative suggestions together for a high impact direct mail campaign that also complied fully with data protection regulations.

Having worked on similar campaigns before, the team at Formara knew the best approach was to keep it simple. A beautifully designed 4-page leaflet, which incorporated a letter, a case study of one of Zoë’s Place’s families and donation forms was produced and mailed to the database of identified recipients.

Almost immediately after the mailing started landing on doormats, Zoë’s Place was receiving donations. Within 1 week of Formara posting the campaign, Zoë’s Place covered their costs for the mail out.

But at Formara, we aren’t happy if our charity mailings only ‘cover the costs’. We want more, and we got it - over 11 times more!

In fact, every £1 spent on the whole process (including design, print, fulfilment and post) raised an incredible £11.38 for Zoë’s Place Baby Hospice in Middlesbrough. Importantly, it has also helped the charity to re-engage with people in the local area thanks to an incredible 57.6% response rate.

To say we were excited by the results of this direct mail campaign is an understatement! But most importantly Rebecca and the team at Zoë’s Place Baby Hospice are happy: