Charity campaign effectiveness its lowest in five years
Melanie May | 1 June 2022 | News
DMA and REaD Group research investigating charity marketing campaign effectiveness has revealed a decline over recent years, even though they are still above-average performers.
The Data & Marketing Association (DMA), in partnership with REaD Group, launched the Meaningful Marketing Measurement: Charity Sector Focus report, which analyses charity marketing campaign effectiveness, this week.
The report draws on the DMA’s Intelligent Marketing Databank, which provides insight into the effectiveness of charity marketing campaigns, as well as how marketers are measuring their effectiveness. It does this through data from over 135 charity campaigns and over 1,000 cross-channel campaigns, which it groups into response, brand, business, and campaign delivery ‘effects’, for example acquisitions, brand perceptions, clicks and likes.
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Key findings
- Charity campaign effectiveness has been declining over time, achieving a peak of 3.4 effects per campaign in 2019 and dropping to 2.3 effects by 2021 – falling below the cross-sector average in 2021
- While charity marketers are adept at hitting response-based KPIs, a decline in response effectiveness has prompted the overall effectiveness decline in 2021
- The average number of response effects halved from 2.6 per campaign in 2020 to 1.3 in 2021
- Campaigns that employ three or more marketing channels are more effective at generating brand, response and business effects (3.4 effects) than those running with one or two different media (2.7 effects)
- Ad mail is the most effective channel at driving immediate response for charities (3 effects)
- TV is the best all-rounder for charities. It drives an above-average response and above-average brand effects
Tim Bond, Director of Insight at the DMA commented:
u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ernrn“Declining response effectiveness in a challenging market, where household budgets are under more pressure than ever, has inevitably played its part with the decline in total campaign effects generated. While other organisations grapple with the appropriateness of purpose-driven marketing, charities have no choice but to consider their purpose. They are tasked with creating deep-rooted emotional connections with consumers while asking them to part with their hard-earned cash, often for little reward other than a good sense of altruism.”rnrnu0026nbsp;rnrnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ernrn“Charity CMOs need to be armed with the data-driven insight to inform the role of marketing in building charity brands, while at the same time striving to measure and attribute campaign success more accurately at a time when budgets are under greater scrutiny than ever.”rnrnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e
More findings
- Despite the decline in 2021, a typical charity campaign generates 2.9 effects per campaign, typically determined by their ability to drive more immediate direct response effects, such as donations and sign-ups.
- Charity brands come in at fifth place in the overall sector effectiveness rankings: behind the financial, retail, utility and automotive sectors, but ahead of the remaining majority, including public sector.
- Charities are more effective than average at driving a short-term response, but it is long-term campaigns that generate the most effects overall. With only 8% of charity campaigns running in the long term (i.e., for over a year), the report suggests that charities should consider redressing the balance.
- Two-thirds of charity campaigns run across multiple channels. Campaigns that employ three or more channels are more effective at generating brand, response and business effects than those running with one or two different media.
Scott Logie, Customer Engagement Director, REaD Grou commented:
u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ernrn“The last few years have been difficult for marketing departments across all sectors with increased regulation, the impact of Covid, and the current cost-of-living crisis. That has been especially true for the charity sector where the challenges presented by GDPR were felt a long time before others after some high-profile investigations.rnrnu0026nbsp;rnrnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e u003c!u002du002d wp:paragraph u002du002du003ernrn“Added to that mix are the challenges for fundraisers around understanding and using the increased proliferation of channels, ensuring these are maximised as far as possible and against very tight budgets. As such, knowing where to put a charity’s hard-earned cash to ensure the continued growth of both their supporter base and the vital revenue they generate is not easy.”rnrnu003c!u002du002d /wp:paragraph u002du002du003e
- Micro-upskilling pilot shows it offers more benefits than traditional training methods (3 February 2023)
- One in four businesses is still unprepared for GDPR, says DMA (23 February 2017)
- [Infographic] DMA on marketing emails in 2017 – the challenge of relevant content (15 March 2017)
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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.