Identifying Lists That Work: The Basics

These and other factors will be compiled into a list analysis report. A break-even point will be included on the final report to determine the lists that worked and the lists that didn’t. The broker will investigate why certain ones worked and others did not. This will help plan the next mailing, and the next circulation plan will contain the following:

* Lists to drop — lists that could not improve in performance no matter what tweaks are made.
* Lists to test — new lists that are based on intelligence gathered from the mailing.
* Lists to re-test — these lists aren’t successful enough to continue with but might warrant another try if the broker can improve the recency or dollar amount without adding additional costs.
* Lists to re-use — sometimes the list owner allows a re-use of the same list again if that pocket of names worked particularly well. Re-uses also allow a discount by the owner/manager.
* Lists to continue — these lists work well and will be continued. These are also known as continuations.

In addition to the list adjustments, there might be changes to the mail piece (copy or creative) or to the timing of the mailing that help to target the right message to the donor.

Susan Newell is a sales and account manager at Target Analytics, a Blackbaud company. Reach her at Suzanne.Newell@blackbaud.com.

This article originally appeared in the latest edition of Blackbaud’s e-newsletter, Fundraising Well.