The wait is over!

For those of you looking for up-to-date, pandemic-proof, all-Canadian direct mail benchmarks, look no further. The 2021 Canadian Direct Mail Benchmarks Report is here—and you can download it (for free!) right now.

DM Benchmarks Report

 

Early, non-biased reviews are already pouring in, and they’re electric:

                    “Good job, dear” – Melanie’s mom

                    “That’s cool.” – Melanie’s husband

See? It’s truly a can’t-miss report!

 

A total of 48 incredible Canadian charities, of all shapes and sizes, came forward with their time and their data to make this report possible. Thanks to all of them, we’re thrilled to be able to present you with this report—and help answer some of the questions we’ve all had about direct mail performance in 2020.

As a special bonus, we’ve broken out this year’s figures into two groups: healthcare organizations (such as hospital foundations or health-related causes), and non-healthcare organizations (including causes related to animal welfare, community services, education, environment, international relief, arts and culture or religion).

Given 2020 was such a monumental year for all matters related to health, we wanted to evaluate health-related direct mail separately, and give our friends in the health and hospital sectors a reliable source of custom benchmarks.

The goal is to break the data down even further next year, with more participants.

 

WHAT YOU’LL FIND INSIDE

Our fabulous participants provided us with data that allowed us to calculate a total of eight benchmarks related to both House and Acquisition direct mail performance, as follows:

HOUSE MAILINGS

  • Response rate
  • Average Gift
  • Gift frequency (Average number of gifts per donor per year)
  • Renewal rate
  • Cost per dollar raised (A new benchmark for this year’s report!)

ACQUISITION MAILINGS

  • Response rate
  • Average gift
  • Average cost to acquire a first-time donor


(SOME OF) THE HIGHLIGHTS

Without giving it all away, we can tell you that direct mail donors showed up in a BIG WAY in 2020. Every benchmark we measured showed growth over the year prior. When you download the report, you’ll also see:

  • Over 70% of direct mail donors renewed their giving year-over-year.
  • 2020 was the year to invest in acquisition—prospect acquisition rates were up 9% in 2020.
  • Average gift amounts for House donors are up—a LOT!
  • Donors to health-related and hospital organizations get gold stars for their giving in 2020. Canadian healthcare charities saw a healthy bump in response rates over 2019.

If you’re looking for a really deep dive into the findings, I invite you to sign up for my webinar on the subject (happening Thursday, May 20 at 1pm EST).

And don’t wait another minute to download the report today!

We know you’ll find it as valuable as we do. And if you have questions—or want to put your hand up to participate next year—please send me a note!