# Colourful Upturn for Charities Sector

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/05/22/colourful-upturn-charities-sector/
- Published: 2007-05-22T08:55:01+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

A research report from GI Direct has revealed that despite a major upturn in the
usage of variable colour direct mail in the Charities sector, response rates remained
consistently high. Variable colour” is the term used to describe direct mail where
text, images and content are changed to suit the recipient’s profile, preferences
and value. Variable colour is the latest development in direct mail targeting to
improve relevance and encourage greater campaign response.

The research was conducted amongst the UK top 1000 company marketers, who reported
average response uplift from the use of variable colour to be 32.6%, compared with
non-personalised campaigns. Research back in 2004 amongst a similar audience reported
a 33.4% uplift from the use of variable colour in direct mail. Statistically speaking,
there is no significant difference between the 2004 and the 2006 response uplift
figures. Yet over this period, the use of variable colour in direct mail has risen
by a third, from just over 30% (31.8%) to almost 40% (39.1%). In the charities sector,
the use of variable colour direct mail use has experienced a 10% upturn over the
last two years.

![Use of variable colour in creative direct mail](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/
blogs/newswire/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/GI%20Direct%20graph%202_JPG.thumbnail.
JPG)

In other words, this research reveals that variable colour direct mail response 
rates have held steady despite the significant increase in its usage. These findings
are good news for marketing professionals within the charities industry, both in-
house and agency, who can have the confidence to invest heavily in highly segmented,
personalised colour campaigns with the confidence that response rates are holding
up.

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Patrick Headley, Sales Director, GI Direct, comments: In psychological terms, these
findings are interesting, firstly regarding the extent to which consumers appreciate
effective personalisation and relevance, and secondly as a reminder that impact 
can be preserved when using discrete media such as direct mail. The fact that increased
usage of variable colour in DM has not suppressed response rates implies that we
are all much more receptive to targeted communications. Moreover, this would appear
to be an appreciation that is not relative – in that the more personalised communications
we get, the more delighted we are – at least in the current state of play of DM”

Mr Headley concludes: It would be naïve to think that personalised marketing will
not reach a point where it is so universal that response rates may fall somewhat.
However, it would appear that, at present, we are very far from that point, and 
that consumers are simply enjoying the more relevant and tailored marketing offers
they are receiving.”

Methodology

Marketers from the UK’s top 1000 companies were interviewed during April 2007. Fieldwork
was carried out by independent researchers Marketing UK (www.marketinguk.co.uk).
Respondents were asked about their experience of response rate uplift where they
had introduced variable colour into their direct mail campaigns, compared with campaigns
not using variable colour. This was then qualified by their views on the experience
of peer organisations. The resulting statistics were then compared with previous
research on the subject to generate trend data.

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