By Alan Sharpe, CFRE
Stephen Hitchcock makes a wise recommendation on how to keep your mailing list clean. In his article, Keeping Your Donor File Clean, in Contributions Magazine, Stephen recommends the following step:
“No matter how hard you work at this, some mail will be returned as undeliverable (what is called a “nixie”). Don’t take this as the final word. The postal sorting equipment can make mistakes and individuals can temporarily stop their mail. First, do everything you can to get the correct address. Get on the phone. Send an e-mail. Check the Internet. Second, send out the returned mailing again to the same address but put it in a new envelope and hand-write the address (manual sortation). Finally, don’t mark the donor’s record undeliverable. Send at least two more mailings and, if those are returned, then mark the record “undeliverable” or “bad address.” It’s not just in baseball that it takes three strikes before you’re out.”
This proves how important it is for you to capture phone numbers and email addreses for all your donors. Some donors move without changing their phone numbers. And most donors keep the same email address regardless of how often the move. To reduce the amount of undeliverable mail (nixies) you receive, do this in as many places as possible, including:
- on the direct mail reply device that donors mail with their gift
- on your online donation page
- on your newsletter subscription form, both online and offline
- in the thank-you letter you mail after the first gift
Can you think of any other times and ways to solicit donor phone numbers? Make a comment.
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