Use Predictive Analytics to Harness Big Data Power

Predictive analytics, meaning scientific analysis that leverages customer and donor data to predict future prospect and customer actions, can scientifically "cherry-pick" names from overwhelming "big data" lists and other files. For example, at AccuList, experienced statisticians build customized Good Customer Match Models and Mail Match Models to optimize direct mail results for prospect lists, as well as one-on-one models for list owners to help acquire more new customers or donors. Plus, predictive models can aid other marketing goals, such as retention, relationship management, reactivation, cross-sell, upsell and content marketing. One of the benefits of analytics is improved lead scoring, for example. Lead scoring is too often a sales and marketing collaboration, in which salespeople provide marketers with their criteria for a "good" lead and marketers score incoming responses, either automatically or manually, for contact or further nurturing. Predictive analytics will remove anecdotal/gut evaluation in favor of more accurate scoring based on data such as demographics/firmographics, actual behavior and sales value. It also speeds the scoring process, especially when combined with automation, so that "hot" leads get more immediate contact. And it allows for segmentation of scored leads so that they can be put on custom nurturing tracks more likely to promote conversion and sales. In fact, with predictive analytics, list records can be segmented to achieve multiple goals. The most likely to respond can be prioritized in a direct mail campaign to increase cost-efficiency. Even more helpful for campaign ROI, predictive analytics can look at the lifetime value of current customers or donors and develop prospect matching so mailings capture higher-value new customers. Predictive analytics also can tailor content marketing and creative by analyzing which messages and images resonate with which customer segments, identified by demographics and behavior, in order to send the right creative to the right audience. Finally, analytics can develop house file segmentation for retention and reduced churn, looking at lapsed customers or donors to identify the data profiles, timing inflection points and warning signs that trigger outreach and nurturing campaigns. Data analysis and modeling can also be used to improve future marketing ROI in terms of channel preferences and even product/services development. Of course, reliable predictions require a database of clean, updated existing customer or donor records, which AccuList also supports via its list hygiene and enhancement services. For helpful links, see https://www.acculist.com/predictive-analytics-harnesses-data-for-marketing-roi/

Use Tech and Data Trends to Spur Fundraising

Innovations in data analytics and technology offer some potential boosts for 2019 nonprofit fundraising. Consider trends highlighted in this spring's Nonprofit Technology Conference in Oregon. For example, nonprofit tech pros reported success using Digital Wallets, such as Apple Pay, Paypal and Google Pay, to make donating easier for donors and to increase conversions. AI and chatbots are another boon cited by tech experts, not just because they free up staff from time-consuming interfaces but because they can be used to segment audiences and tailor communications to boost donor acquisition, value and retention. Meanwhile mobile text messaging and mobile giving not only continue to grow in use, but nonprofits are learning to leverage SMS to trigger response, scale donor relationships, and engage and motivate communities more fully. Online giving continues its growth path, but there are now more online giving services and their offerings are expanding. For example, Give Lively has free online fundraising tools for text-to-give, peer-to-peer, events, and integration with social media platforms such as Facebook. Finally, virtual-assistant voice services have entered the fundraising arena; for example, Amazon's Alexa now can help donors verbally contribute up to $10,000. But for tech innovations to be effective, quality data and data analytics for targeting are essential. Data can combine with real-time marketing automation, triggered e-mail series and variable data printing of personalized direct mail for improved donor acquisition and retention. And nonprofits don't need to vacuum up every bit of big data for better results. The key is to collect and track the information in the donor database, or to select the key response factors to target in prospect lists, most likely to lead to success. Beyond the basics of name, address/contact, gender, age and date and amount of last donation, data targeting can be enhanced with parameters indicating donor capacity (the ability to give) and donor affinity (the willingness to give), as a recent Philantopic blog post advises. Indicators of donor capacity include personal income/wealth measures, real estate ownership, business title, stock ownership, etc., while donor affinity parameters include the RFM (recency, frequency, monetary) of the donor or prospect giving history, past relationship/interest in a specific cause or affiliated appeal, and political affiliation and giving. Of course, a good database policy also includes regular hygiene and updating, and an ongoing check for knowledge/data gaps. For questions to ask to avoid costly data knowledge complacency, see our website blog post at https://www.acculist.com/tech-data-trends-spur-2019-fundraising-opportunities/

AccuList USA Fetes 20 Years As Data Broker

AccuList USA® celebrates a 20th anniversary this June in a very different place from its start as a traditional direct mail list broker and manager. As a member of the Data & Marketing Association and the Association of Fundraising Professionals, and as an SRDS-recognized mailing list and insert media broker and manager, it has successfully adapted to successive marketing challenges—including the rise of e-mail and social media, the digital flood of “big data,” and today’s complex omnichannel marketing strategies. AccuList USA has distinguished itself by embracing new marketing tactics and by identifying rentable prospect lists that conventional data brokers ignore, including exclusive second-party data on active customers and donors. Its clients also benefit from first-party data enhancement for improved monetization. AccuList USA relies on predictive analytics and proprietary mailing research to select the best names from individual lists as well as from multimillion-name compiled “big data” and modeled cooperative databases. AccuList USA goes beyond merely supplying data and helps business and fundraising clients attribute omnichannel marketing results, so that they can effectively measure campaign success and the costs to acquire a new customer or donor. The focus is always on sales or gifts, not just open rates, page views, and clicks. Its data pros even track which postal and e-mail lists perform best for leading marketers in designated vertical markets. Over the past two decades, AccuList USA has helped 1,000s of companies and non-profit organizations to further monetize their data and acquire new customers and donors in the following verticals: Catalog & Ecommerce; Fundraising; Insurance; Museums & Zoos; Performing Arts; Pet Owners; Publishing; and Trade Shows & Conferences. AccuList USA and its corporate parent AccuList, Inc., are headquartered in San Antonio, TX, but serve clients targeting businesses, institutions, and affluent consumers nationwide and in several foreign countries. For more on AccuList USA and its omnichannel postal, e-mail, and digital marketing services, visit http://www.acculistusa.com/

Smart Direct Mailers Embrace These Tech Trends

Direct mail marketers looking for success in 2018 should check out a blog post by Postalytics, a direct mail automation tool, which recently mined expert sources for the most influential direct mail trends of 2018, including key technologies. Unsurprisingly, automation purveyor Postalytics puts mail automation software at the top of the list, but they get plenty of industry support. Automation allows marketers to quickly generate high-quality, personalized and trackable letters and postcards by leveraging templates, digital cues and automated workflows, cutting direct mail production cycles from 4-6 weeks down to 1 week. Automation also allows marketers to maximize response by integrating triggered direct mail into any step in the buyer's journey, online or offline, so that mail delivery taps into the appropriate timing, content and call-to-action. Then interactive, mobile-scanned Augmented Reality apps and QR codes, as well as personal urls (PURLs) linked to targeted content-specific landing pages, allow direct mailers to connect offline marketing's printed paper with online marketing's digital pages, images, animations and videos for greater overall campaign response and ROI. But it takes quality, enhanced data to match the right message to the right people at the right time. Good mailing list data allows for targeting based on shopping habits and needs, retargeting and cross-selling, recapturing and reactivating of lost prospects and customers, leveraging of trigger events and personal preferences, and more--provided there is a commitment to database hygiene and processing. Good mailing data also allows for the sophisticated content personalization that has become a basic expectation of customers including personalized coupon codes. For more, see http://www.acculistusa.com/these-tech-trends-likely-to-drive-2018-direct-mail-success/