Unleashing Direct Mail Power: Tactics & Insights with Lauren Daley from Pledgemine

This episode is presented by Evertrue. Set yourself up for higher retention rates all year long by joining my free webinar with Evertrue on January 16th. RSVP at positiveequation.com/thanks.

What if you could tap into the power of direct mail to drive success in your nonprofit organization? That's exactly what we're unpacking today with our special guest, Lauren Daley from Pledgemine.

We dive into the intricacies of direct mail strategies, revealing how to effectively incorporate it into an omnichannel approach while considering your donors' interactions and preferences. (Hint: Anniversary cards and QR codes are seeing a HUGE uptick!) Pledgemine plays a prominent role in revolutionizing direct mail campaigns by streamlining the entire process, from design to production to mailing.

We even venture into Lauren's fascinating journey from the wine and cheese industry to digital fundraising, for a delightful mix of insights and unique pairings.

We wrap up our discussion by exploring how digital communication intersects with direct mail and what will significantly boost retention rates. Lastly, we provide strategies for donor appreciation and delve into the concept of on-demand mail programs.

Direct mail doesn't have to be a daunting task - join us for this insightful conversation and transform your direct mail strategy today!

Resources & Links

Connect with Lauren on LinkedIn and learn more about Pledgemine to make the move to smarter direct mail campaigns.

EverTrue Studios is like Netflix for fundraisers. Check out their catalog of on-demand documentaries and podcast episodes here.

I’m hiring a Brand Partnerships Manager! Learn more here.

Applications are now open for 5 organizations to join my Monthly Giving Mastermind program which starts in February! Ready to build a dedicated community of recurring donors to generate consistent revenue? Let's make it happen together. Learn more and apply here.

Don’t miss DonorPerfect’s Community Conference SPARK on June 4 & 5! It’s for any fundraiser wanting to excel in donor management, program innovation, community engagement, and organizational growth. Register for FREE! RSVP: https://bit.ly/DSSPARK

Want a donor acquisition plan tailored to you? All you need to do is answer 5 simple questions. Get your personalized growth plan: https://bit.ly/DonorGrowthQuiz

The NIO Summit is the nonprofit industry’s premier digital fundraising event! Join hundreds of fellow nonprofit professionals in Indianapolis September 18-19 and save $600 on your ticket -- the lowest price available anywhere right here: https://bit.ly/NIOSummit2024

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:36

I think that there is no wrong time for direct mail. Whether you're looking for solicitations or you're working for stewardship, there's always going to be a moment where direct mail works. I think that direct mail is the most effective within an omnichannel approach. It's really about knowing your donors, knowing when they're interacting with you and then making sure you're interacting back with them in that same time frame.

Speaker 2: 2:05

Hey, there, you're listening to the Missions to Movement podcast and I'm your host, Dana Snyder, Digital Strategist for Non-Prophets and Founder and CEO of Positive Equations. This show highlights the digital strategies of organizations making a positive impact in the world. Ready to learn the latest trends, actionable tips and the real stories from behind the feed. Let's transform your mission into a movement. Hello friends, welcome to December. I cannot believe this is my favorite month. Christmas is my favorite holiday. I love all the food. I love putting up decorations and seeing lights and celebrating it this year with our little one. For the first time, she will be eight months old, which I think will just be really magical to celebrate this holiday with her. I'm very excited for our conversation today. We're going to be talking about direct mail. Direct mail is something that you might have received from me in the past. I usually like to send holiday cards. Actually, what's mean? I need to get all the information possible from Lauren to send out the best holiday card ever. But if you've received them from me, I don't really follow a whole lot of strategy. I kind of wing it. I need this conversation today If you are working on your direct mail pieces for 2024 planning. Most of us have already knocked them out for this year. This is going to be really exciting, impactful and informational conversation. Lauren Daly is joining us from Pledge Mine as a sales engineer and knows all the ins and outs of direct mail. Lauren, thank you for being here.

Speaker 1: 3:46

Thank you, I'm so excited to talk to you today.

Speaker 2: 3:50

Yes, Before we dive into the nuts and the bolts of all things, direct mail I did some LinkedIn stocking, as one does with my guests. Your background is quite fabulous because before the nonprofit space I noticed you were an expert in wine and cheese. Can you please explain?

Speaker 1: 4:10

Yes, absolutely. My career path has been a little less than linear. I took a couple curves to get here. I started working at Whole Foods right out of college. I love Whole Foods. I went to art school and I got this job and I was like, oh my gosh, these are my people. I ended up becoming a cheese buyer and then a wine buyer. I loved wine. Wine was like every part of life that I loved. It was historical and artistic and it was booze. Yes, it was very cool. Then I switched to the distributor side, worked in sales selling wine for about five years. Then COVID happened and it made you really wonder what you wanted to do with your life. What was important? What balance looked like? I'd been aware of PledgeMine for a while and they reached out and it took a meeting Best decision I ever made.

Speaker 2: 5:03

I love it. That's awesome Congratulations, thank you. I have to ask you a fun question and I'm sure you'll appreciate this too If anyone's hosting whether it's for their nonprofit and event taking somebody out to dinner, maybe board members are hosting jacuzzi nights to increase giving Any wine cheese pairings that you recommend?

Speaker 1: 5:28

I love to pair on a theme Italian cheese with Italian wines or Spanish cheese with Spanish wines. A really unique pairing, though, is blue cheese with a dessert wine. Some times a report, something like super sweet, you want to be outside of the box. That's a cool one to go for.

Speaker 2: 5:48

Interesting. Yeah, I never would have thought about doing the themes with one another. Okay, amazing, thank you, let's chat DirectMal. Right now I know my mailbox is getting inundated with them and they look all pretty much the same. What do you find in terms of when is the best time to send DirectMal pieces?

Speaker 1: 6:12

Yeah, I think that's a great question and I think that that's something that a lot of organizations are really trying. It's a discussion topic because DirectMal isn't the cheapest marketing way that organizations can focus on. You really want to be able to leverage the right move at the right time. I think that there is no wrong time for DirectMal. Whether you're looking for solicitations or you're working for stewardship, there's always going to be a moment where DirectMal works. I think that DirectMal is the most effective within an omnichannel approach when you're talking about using digital marketing and other forms of communication as well. It's really about knowing your donors, knowing when they're interacting with you and then making sure you're interacting back with them in that same timeframe.

Speaker 2: 6:58

Is there peak times? Have you seen it work really well in the summer? Or has there been any weird campaigns that you've seen that are just knocked out of the park, that are not an essential end of year case?

Speaker 1: 7:12

study. Yeah, outside of the box. We work with a lot of higher ed. Higher ed works on a pretty structured we call it the poor form. You have a fall, a calendar year end, spring and a fiscal year end. That kind of leaves summer open. I've found that organizations that still steward during the summertime have a more responsive donor base Because you still want to be able to engage with them. That is outside of the framework of solicitations, no matter what that looks like, if it's events or if it's holiday cards, whatever exists within that timeframe. That, I think, is an important time to interact with your donors as well.

Speaker 2: 7:49

Got it? Has there been something that's working really well right now If, thinking about Q1 of next year, are there certain types of mailers styles that are working really well, like postcard versus the traditional envelope or even things with in envelopes and what's included that you've seen tested over the course of time?

Speaker 1: 8:10

There's two things I think that are cool about this question is that we've seen a huge uptake in anniversary cards. Sending out a monthly anniversary card that talks to when the donor lasts interacted with you, Then you're following the cadence that your donor sent. We have so many success stories about that, but then also so many organizations are growing to do that as well. There's really a hotspot right now for anniversary cards. As far as different styles, it really varies. It depends on who your donor base is. Some people really enjoy the traditional letter with a return envelope so they can mail in their checks. Personally, I love self-mailers A good tri-fold with a little perforation that's still there. I think it's the best of all worlds. We see a lot of organizations using postcards just because it's a really flash in the pan easy way to communicate. I find that if it is an envelope, it's important to have a logo or an image or something on it that really makes it stand out in the mail. Otherwise you grab all of your same-shaped envelopes and they'll just get flustered.

Speaker 2: 9:14

Yes, is there anything that, on the opposite spectrum, isn't working anymore? That could be maybe generational differences, but isn't it hitting the mark anymore?

Speaker 1: 9:25

Again, it really depends on your donor base. There are so many cool things about different generations and how they interact with direct mail. What's really important to know is that every generation still interacts with direct mail. We have one organization we had a college that was sending out direct mail as a part of their giving day strategy. They took out 35 and over and they got a more traditional letter that was then segmented by which area they were trying to raise for. But then everyone, 35 and under got a postcard with the QR code. Then that QR code was programmed to the segment that they were in to take them to their practical giving page. They made almost 100% more of what their goal was on that giving day. That was a part of their strategy to make sure that you're meeting your donors where they are. Part of that is understanding how they want to be communicated with.

Speaker 2: 10:10

Yes, I love that. I was going to ask you about QR codes QR codes versus mailing something in. Do you think it really just depends on what you're saying is, know who your donors are and then segment those? Have you seen QR codes really work?

Speaker 1: 10:22

Totally. Qr codes are fantastic. You can also do both. You can send a QR code that still has a business reply device. That way, based on what data you have and how you choose to segment, you're not pigeonholing any of your donors. We do see that a lot. There's still a place for barriers they haven't fully disappeared. But the use of QR codes, it's such a good way to communicate with your donors, but then you can also track the data back. It gives you a way to say they received this mail and then they went to this site, which tracking ROI can be really hard to do, unless they're giving a gift that's attached to something that's on that piece of mail.

Speaker 2: 10:58

Is that something that's done within PledgeMind Link you're going through? Do you create a QR code within the software?

Speaker 1: 11:04

It's a great question. Pledgemind at this time does not touch data. The data gets exported and then imported into us. Then that would go specifically into whatever CRM the donor is using or the organization is using.

Speaker 2: 11:16

Within PledgeMind are you designing everything.

Speaker 1: 11:19

Yeah, we actually can. We support client design. If they want to design something in-house, that's absolutely fine. Otherwise, we have a really fantastic team of designers and they're really good at what they do.

Speaker 2: 11:30

Amazing. I know something I was thinking about. My holiday card last year was what's your word of the year? It was on the front. It left an open space where somebody could write their word of the year and essentially place it on their fridge or on a post-it note or wherever on their computer or a bulletin board wall. On the back I wrote what I chose as my word of the year. I had so many people and I asked them screenshot this and send it back to me and let me know what your word is. I got so many responses or people sharing them on social and telling me what their word is. Even if it's funny, recently, a couple months ago, somebody messaged me and was like I still have your postcard, your holiday card, that's up on the wall and reminds me about what my word was. And so when you're thinking about designing and I'd love to know if you have any like thoughts or creative ones that have been sent out but is to think about how can this mailer become a piece of artwork, a sense of inspiration, something that lasts longer than just receiving, looking at it, maybe interacting and then throwing it away, but it can be like a constant reminder. I mean, I'm standing here recording with you and behind me is a bunch of artwork pieces from Morgan Harper Nichols or actually this piece of artwork that I have next to me is a postcard that is now framed and is tacked to my wall Right. And so I think there's a lot of cases where, as organizations, you probably have beautiful photography taken of your organization. Like how can you turn it into something that's not just like chucked, like once it's viewed, but any specific examples that you've seen with that?

Speaker 1: 13:17

Yeah, absolutely. It's also a really successful holiday card. Great job, that was a really good idea.

Speaker 2: 13:22

I don't know what I'm gonna do now. It's in December 6th.

Speaker 1: 13:27

Don't jinx it, it'll be fine. We have one school, whole college. They've been doing an anniversary card for years and what they do is they add a perforation to the top of their card so it tears off like a postcard. So it's already like there's a spot for the stamp, it's already set up to be a postcard and so then they can use that if they wanted to send a message. They could keep it as a little keepsake on their fridge and they redesign it every year. But I've seen them do it in a way that can be sent to the students that the money that is being fundraised goes to help. So like, if they're going for a specific scholarship fund, these are students that are in that scholarship fund and they can just tear off the postcard and send it directly to their students, which I think is it's so cool, like that was such a cool idea.

Speaker 2: 14:12

Yeah, that's. How did they do that. So on the address, what was?

Speaker 1: 14:15

on the address side, there's a bifold card, and then it was in an envelope, and so then, when you tear off for the postcard, it's addressed to the student, and so all they had to do is like write in their note and put a stamp on it. It was good to go.

Speaker 2: 14:27

That's really clever. Oh my, there's so many instances of organizations that could do that. That's awesome. Yeah, it was really cute. Have I had a brainstorm slump where you just need somewhere to go for new ideas? Now, yes, this podcast is for sure one. But I wanted to introduce you to EverTrue Studios. It's basically like Netflix but for fundraisers. Their platform offers free on demand documentaries, series and over 250 podcast episodes tailored for advancement professionals, like Ray's and Talking Shop. You can subscribe at evertruecom backslash studios to start binging and you can click the link in the show notes. Again, that's evertruecom backslash studios. And since you're a podcast fan, I just wanted to highlight you can go on Spotify or Apple to find these shows right now. Ray's podcast, hosted by the EverTrue CEO, who's really talking about the most exciting things in fundraising from a completely different angle. That is what the Ray's podcast is all about. And Talking Shop is hosted by David Lively. He is the senior associate vice president for alumni relations and development and campaign manager at Northwestern University. And Aaron Moran, director of commercial enablement at EverTrue and the former associate VP and chief of staff at DePaul University. So, basically, what happens when an advancement operations nerd and a big ideas major gift guys sit down to chat? They talk shop. So Ray's podcast and Talking Shop go check those out, go ahead and you can visit all of these documentaries and content at evertruecom backslash studios. Now back to the show. Walk me through the process of using a tool like Pledgemine. So if I want to send a mailer, I log in what happens.

Speaker 1: 16:18

Like logistically, how does it function day to day? Yeah, we have two different ways that you can use us. So we have one time mailings and then we have what we call our on demand mail service. On demand is it gives you the ability to utilize mail in a cadence manner, so we call it our cadence based mailing program. You would go through the whole design process, which I can explain the one time mailings, but then they live on your Pledgemine dashboard and you can upload your data and send it into the mail stream that very same day. So it gives you that really rapid turnaround with direct mail. That doesn't really exist outside of a super manual internal process. So, especially for organizations, I mean with fundraisers, everyone's wearing like seven or eight hats right now and the norm is already like three or four, and so it's. Everyone just needs more manpower. And if you can take projects that are really manual internally and, you know, automate them through Pledgemine, even if that gives you back two hours a week, what can you do with those two hours For sure. So that's a really cool way to send things off day by day. If you're doing a one time appeal, we work through a third part of the process. We work through a third party app to go through all of your design process. So you'll request what kind of project you want if you want it to be a postcard, a letter of ifold and then that whole process is really personalized for whoever is using it and you're able to make really specific edits to your proofs. Once everything looks good, you upload your final data. It goes right into our in-house production team and then into the mail stream. So it's a pretty seamless process and you have a partner within Pledgemine the entire time as your main point of contact. So it's you're being led through it as well.

Speaker 2: 17:51

Got it. Okay, cool. Is there a way, like on the reporting side, to know, like when they get sent off, who received them?

Speaker 1: 18:00

You get to pick the drop date, so what day you want it to leave. The facility we have an estimate of when it'll be in homes is what we call it. Non-profit mail can take some time, so there's a window in which I can land. We can do informed delivery, which means that you get notified when it has been delivered, and then all of that data that's your data that you upload to us so you have a record of everything that everyone received and this is also we're using like donor IDs is really important because then you can track who received what and that can get right uploaded into their CRMs as well.

Speaker 2: 18:30

Got it Okay, very cool. You mentioned earlier like an omnichannel marketing approach and I know Evertrue is now kind of the parent company of Pledgemine and ThankView and I was just talking with JD a couple of weeks ago about ThankView. In your opinion, when you're putting together like a ThankView video email campaign with direct mail, how have you seen those work really seamlessly together?

Speaker 1: 18:56

Pledge-mined and ThinkView were designed to be best friends, like they're. Just they have the same goals, they have the same like energy. It's really this important idea like one-to-one communication, so them working together it makes so much sense. Things that we've seen that work really well is again that use of QR codes. So you can, let's say, create a ThinkView as a pre-appeal and it goes out. You can pull the list as to who viewed, who viewed it all the way through. You can take the people who haven't seen it or haven't seen it all the way. Take that QR code, put it on a postcard but then goes into the mail. So then you're able to say, if these donors aren't interacting with ThinkView, can we get them to interact with direct mail? Yes, then you're able to see in the ThinkView donor base when they watch that video. So like, okay, this is how these donors want to be communicated with. Can we do that? That, I think, is a really fun way to leverage also the tech part, like where that data comes from and how you can use that data. Then PledgeMind can also repurpose your designs from direct mail to be used in a not-muchannel approach, so to be formatted for websites or social media or however you want to utilize it, but you can do that within ThinkViews. So if an appeal is going out with direct mail, but your acknowledgments and ThinkViews are going out in ThinkView, they can still be designed to look the same. So you have cohesive branding across all fronts, which is so important if you're looking to really lean into an not-muchannel approach.

Speaker 2: 20:21

I love that. I mean, I even love the idea of so the premise, right of sending the videos is usually a thank you message and even sending just like thank you postcards as like a preemptive to an ask, or like the idea of birthday cards or, like you're saying, anniversary cards, especially if you have a recurring giving program, like happy six-month anniversary for giving to us, and then maybe there's like a QR code that links to a landing page that has a video on it that's specifically curated for them. I love the idea of like blending the two of those things together, specifically with quarter one. So if I'm thinking about listeners and they're like okay, we want to be able to plan for re-engagement campaigns of any supporters that donated to us during the end of year giving season, what would be a recommendations for strategy for direct mail in the first, like, quarter of the year?

Speaker 1: 21:20

It's a really good question. I think what's important about Q1, or maybe what's unique about Q1, is that there isn't a person who isn't, at some point in time during the end of the year, solicited or stewarded with intentionality or without intentionality. But in general we all we go through the holidays, spend a lot of time with family. There's a sense of emotional exhaustion that kind of comes from the beginning of Q1. Everyone's getting their ducks in a row planning for the year. I think that what is most successful when you communicate with your donors is when you communicate to them in the way that they want to be communicated, but also think about how you want to be communicated with. What do you feel in January? What is your emotional space? What would make you feel happy and loved and seen Then go off of those feelings? I think that, especially in non-profit and it's one of the reasons I'm so grateful to have made in this switch I had is that we're all trying to do good. There's this overwhelming sense of just trying to make the world a better place. What would make you feel good? Would it be a congrats on the new year? This is going to be great postcard. We're so happy that you're here. Is it a? Here are plans for the new year. We want to be transparent so you can see what we're doing moving forward. Is it an impact report that wraps up what 2023 was? They can have transparency more into the books and say this is what you did last year, we're super excited. Or is it just a? Hey, we're still here, we're so glad, so are you. Any of those can be done within PledgeMind, or also ThankYou, and both of us together.

Speaker 2: 22:52

Yeah, that's such a good idea. I think it's just the constant pulse of communication without there needing to be an ask. I just talked about this in a previous episode where I was going through the Tip Top Tuesdays from ThankYou. It's so rare to receive anything other than a receipt of a ThankYou. It really is, as somebody like I don't need to a bunch of different organizations either one time or monthly. I would say 99.9 percent of the time all I receive is a ThankYou receipt email, Not even a personalized one. Later, I think, a couple of times I've had an automated email sequence. That's further nurturing me about the organization Monthly giving a couple organizations send a handwritten ThankYou note. But I think something like this when you're talking about the on-demand, it sounds like there's a way that you can also do this at scale to make it automated based upon certain milestones or data that you have in your system. Is that right?

Speaker 1: 23:55

Yeah, Absolutely. You can send one piece of mail every day for the entire year and that piece of mail can be triggered by your donor's action. If you have a first-time donor, you receive that gift and then they get a first-time donor postcard that's in, sent that same day. So smart Of the recurring donors and the monthly donors. We see a huge push in trying to really cultivate those, but then how do you maintain that relationship?

Speaker 2: 24:19

How do they not?

Speaker 1: 24:20

get lost In the shuffle. If they're donating $10 a month, you don't want to thank them every month because then they're getting the same card and then it also feels monotonous. What do you do? Is it every six months? Is it every year? Is it different invitations to different things? You have to figure out, again based on your donor base, what's going to make them feel the most valued, because that's really what you want to do when you're appreciating somebody. I've seen a lot of organizations do different responses based on the size of gift. So thank yous for this amount, postcard thank yous versus by-fold card thank yous and all of that kind of leveraging between, again, for the donors.

Speaker 2: 24:59

I love that. Is there somebody that can work with someone at an organization on those on-demand moments of working through that I didn't see now what they look like.

Speaker 1: 25:09

Yeah absolutely. With ImpledgeMind you'll have one main point of contact, but then also with an Averture you get a main point of contact as well. They're more like strategy-wise looking at your program as a whole. So yeah, we definitely have resources to help guide and plan and tell you what we see in the industry.

Speaker 2: 25:28

I don't know if this makes anybody else really excited, but thank you, brainstorming, designing a really exciting thank you strategy that is on-demand, like that for all different types of people Y'all, you will blow people away. I promise this will be such a game changer. If there's one thing going in 2024, we always hear about low retention rates. This, I think, would significantly change that.

Speaker 1: 25:57

A higher donor retention rate is one of the consistent wins that we see amongst our customers, and we correlate that with the on-demand mail program for sure.

Speaker 2: 26:07

Yeah, I love this. Once you set it up it's like a one-and-done, and then obviously, I'm sure you maybe update the materials occasionally so that it's fresh and relevant to your organization. But this is so exciting I could set this up for myself and just have it run. That would be amazing, even gosh think about. So this is me just brainstorming off the cuff here, go for it. Okay. So what if, lauren, somebody signs up for your email newsletter and then, within that nurture sequence, you ask them for their address? That could then trigger them just receiving a postcard like a welcome from you? Absolutely, because a lot of times we struggle to get people engaged on our email list. But if you ask for a direct reply, like, hey, I want to send you something special in the mail, and maybe it's like a postcard with a piece of artwork on the other side or something, or a special quote about your organization.

Speaker 1: 27:08

Okay, my mind's spinning 100%. That's the exact right way to leverage multiple channels at the same time is that if they connect with you one way, you go. This is so cool. Thank you so much. Let's also try this way and then see what that happens. And then it's also like keeps it fresh for them. And, like you were saying, with thank yous, it is so important to appreciate your donors. Like you want to remind them that they're a part of them. That's for more than just what their donation is and when that comes. I just think that that's really important, especially moving forward.

Speaker 2: 27:38

Yes, hey, I hope you are enjoying this episode. I wanted to give you a quick announcement. The next round of my monthly giving mastermind will start in February. Previously it was mid-January, but as I'm going through 2024 planning, I really want to give us all time to get settled into the new year. So the monthly giving mastermind will start in February for five organizations max. So if building a monthly donor program has been on your to-do list that it keeps getting pushed back due to limited time or resources, this is for you. By April you will have a program that is ready to go live. So let's make it happen together. You can head to positiveequationcom backslash mastermind to learn all about it, to apply, to view more details and to view our work with featured alumni of the program. Again, that's positiveequationcom backslash mastermind. What I would recommend listener and I'm not sure how you guys do this on your side, but this is where my mind goes, some visual learner or planner is create an if this, then that whiteboard new email subscriber. Then this happens If they are a donor for this amount of time, then this happens. You don't have to overcomplicate it, but the main milestones that I would say that can just help somebody stand out. It's like if they've never donated before. How do you make sure to have consistent touch points, just like you were saying, maybe they're not going to ever donate to you via an email. Maybe they need that mailer to be their reminder, to scan the QR code, to do the thing. Like you don't know until you try.

Speaker 1: 29:18

Yeah, a fun stat that I learned about. We talk a lot about millennials and, just in general, they're the generation that everybody, everyone's really working on trying to figure out. And I think that there's this idea that direct to me is You're a complicated bunch, aren't we? Yeah, I'm a fucking nice, we were raised that way but there's this idea that millennials, specifically, don't like direct mail, but all we want is technology that we don't engage in any other way and that's it's so wrong, like it's so wrong. But we're also now we're a really big donor base and so having to learn how to communicate with us, I think is incredibly important. But 63% of millennials said that they took action based on information that they received in direct mail.

Speaker 2: 30:02

63%, like that's a big number when you talk about direct mail communication.

Speaker 1: 30:07

And then think about how many emails you get every day, yeah, and do you really open every single one of them? And not saying that emails don't work or aren't important, but it's all part of the same strategy and you really need to leverage each kind of way of communication to make sure you're hitting each person how they want to be communicated with.

Speaker 2: 30:26

Totally. You know it's really interesting about that. So this is just a funny example from the other day. So my husband and I have been vinging suits right now. So good, so good. But there's been. When we were going in between channels we got an ad for Domino's and I am not like a big Domino's fan. However, it was on the weekend and I like did not feel like cooking and we had got any flyer in the mail about like a I don't know, a 9.99 one topping pizza, whatever they get right, and I like disregarded it and I was like, yeah, no, I don't, I'm not gonna like use this like Cuba. Then I think I got targeted online, dismissed it. Then we were watching the show and it was prime time of me being hungry and I saw the ad and I turned to my husband. I was like, do you want to order Domino's? It takes multiple touch points. It does it, doesn't? I laughed because I worked in advertising. I was like this is hilarious. I remember all of these touch points and this is the one where I never thought I would take action, but because it was hitting me, like in this moment. So I love the Omni channel approach If you are a small shop. What I love about this idea is how can you set it up to be automated and thank you. I believe you can do the same thing. You can set up automated video messages to go out with certain touch points too.

Speaker 1: 31:48

The word automated, it means different levels of automation. With a pledge mine and thank you, so I just want to be with pledge mine. You do have to upload your data each time you want it to send, so it's not like a truly set it and forget it, but it is. It is a five minute process that you can upload your data and you can approve each individual record, but you can do that in advance. So, theoretically, you wanted to set up six months worth of drops. You're able to do so, but it really. It is a game changer to be able to communicate with your donors with that turnaround in direct mail, like it just simply doesn't exist in another way. That isn't you putting a stamp on an envelope.

Speaker 2: 32:26

Love it, lauren. This has been so impactful. If anybody has questions about direct mail wants to pick your brain, where can they reach out?

Speaker 1: 32:34

Yeah, absolutely, come find me on LinkedIn, happy to chat with you all.

Speaker 2: 32:37

Lauren Daley, go find her pledge mine. I will link to it in the show notes for everybody to check out. Evertrue also has an incredible studio, evertruecom backslash studios, and they have a ton of amazing podcast episodes and videos and documentaries and series and just like examples of these things out in the wild for you to listen and learn from. So, Lauren, thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate all the work that you're doing.

Speaker 1: 33:05

Thank you, thanks for having me, that was fun.

Speaker 2: 33:07

Can you tell I love talking all things digital To make this show better. I'd be so grateful for your feedback. Leave a review, take a screenshot of this episode, share it on Instagram stories and tag positive equation with 1e so I can reshare and connect with you.