First lottery benchmarking survey shows local causes score highest with public
Melanie May | 25 May 2016 | News
The first lotteries benchmarking survey has been published, commissioned by The Lotteries Council and analysing 109 society lottery campaigns over the past five years.
The 109 campaigns involve just under half a million players, supporting 18 different charities.
The survey reveals a number of key findings, with lotteries for local causes showing significantly higher player retention rates than those for non-local causes, such as nationally based charities.
The findings also reveal that face-to-face is an effective method of recruitment for lotteries. Compared to Direct Debit donors (non-lottery supporters) recruited via this channel, retention of lottery players recruited via the same method is around twice as high, with year one attrition at 25%, versus 52%.
In terms of payment methods, players that pay by Direct Debit generated the highest amount of income over the lifetime of a player, and credit card/cheque payment players the lowest, with cash and standing order payment players performing in between the two.
Gross income from lotteries has held steady since 2011, with slight improvements seen in 2012 and 2013. Income raised from cash lotteries has remained very similar over the four years while that from credit card and cheque has increased with 2012 and 2013 the best years. Income from standing orders and direct debits was at its highest in 2010 but has dropped every year since then as attrition has increased.
Retention rates in relation to payment methods vary. The pattern for standing orders reveals a clear step up in attrition after every four draws, showing that players are considering whether or not to continue every month. Data on credit card & cheque rates however shows a gradual climb every quarter for most lotteries, while the pattern for direct debits is very similar to that for standing orders with a jump in attrition every four draws, mainly relating to monthly cancellations.
No show rates also vary, with direct debit no show rates increasing year on year: from 4% in 2012 to 9% in 2014. Standing order no show rates however decreased from 10.5% in 2012 to 5% in 2013 and then increased again to 7% in 2014.
The survey was carried out by Decaid Consulting on behalf of The Lotteries Council.
Rupert Tappin, director of Decaid Consulting, said:
“The sector’s first-ever benchmarking of the long-term performance of weekly lotteries has produced some valuable findings. Whilst recruiting lottery players through face-to-face channels showed higher levels of retention in 2014 than non-F2F methods, of the F2F-recruited players that pay via Direct Debit, attrition rates for lotteries are around half that for F2F-recruited regular giving donors. Another surprise was the degree to which the player retention of locally-based lotteries such as hospices and air ambulances outperformed nationwide lotteries.”
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.