The Power of a Thank-You (and Multichannel Communications)

It was a great use of storytelling, putting a name and faces to the mission.

The short letter simply read:

"Your generous gift of $25 in June 2012 will help save the lives of St. Jude children like Hayli. [An image of Hayli, a 1-year-old with acute myeloid leukemia, appears above on the reply device — another face to go with the mission.] Your kindness and consideration mean more than you'll ever know. Thank you for caring."

Then there is a P.S. that explains the inserts:

"Please accept these labels and Father's Day card as a special token of thanks from the parents of St. Jude children. They could never thank you enough for all that you do to help St. Jude continue its mission of finding cures and saving children. On behalf of the children of St. Jude, Happy Father's Day."

While I'm not a father myself, it was perfect timing receiving it last week, with Father's Day taking place just this past weekend. The reply device not only thanked me again for my gift, but it took the opportunity to make a soft ask, with an ask string of $25, $38 and $50, following by a blank amount. It also asked for my e-mail address to receive updates.

I was so impressed by St. Jude's use of a multichannel follow-up strategy, as well as moved by the package, that I sent in another small gift. I never expected to get an offline thank-you mailing after donating online and receiving an e-mail acknowledgment.

I thought this was a great touch, and St. Jude got another gift from me. It was a simple display of the power a thank-you has, and also a great example of multichannel communications and timeliness best practices.