Your existing one-time gift donors are one of the best and cheapest sources of new potential monthly givers. How can you use Dataro's 'Convert to RG' ranks to convert more monthly donors?
What is Dataro's Convert to RG propensity?
Objective: Identify which donors who have never made a successful recurring gift are most likely to make at least two successful recurring gifts in the next 6 months.
Output: Convert to RG Rank (Rank 1 = most likely) and Convert to RG Score (0.5 = 50% likely).
Model Definition: Donor who successfully donates to RG in the next 6 months without having any RG history and having at least 1 prior one-off gift.
Step 1) Decide on your outreach strategy and cadence
Options include calling, email, digital re-engagement, SMS & direct mail. Dataro recommends a multi-channel approach and we’ve found that calling has the best conversion rates, supported by digital channels. Remember - converted donors have a very high lifetime value.
1) Predict: Use the Convert to RG Rank to find the single giving donors most likely to convert to recurring giving.
2) Engage: Try different tactics to engage with these donors about regular giving and measure the results. Calling tends to have very good conversion rates, but you should also try digital journeys and targeted paid ads, as well as SMS.
3) Measure & Repeat: Track campaign results, adjust tactics & volumes, and increase conversions.
Step 2) Determine your campaign size
There are several methods for determining how many donors you should contact, and it will depend on the channel and frequency you've decided on.
For a rolling monthly telemarketing/phone strategy:
Utilize Dataro's Convert to RG campaign size suggestions, which were designed for this exact campaign type.
For any other outreach channel or cadence:
There are myriad ways to determine an appropriate campaign size. You can make this determination according to:
- budgeted volume
- pre-planned volume
- team/agency capacity
- target number of conversions and expected conversion rate (goal / conversion rate = campaign size)
- For example, if your goal is to upgrade 100 monthly donors, and you expect a 10% conversion rate, you'll need to contact 1000 donors.
After the campaign, you can evaluate performance and adjust future quantities as warranted.
Step 3) Make your donor selections
To select the donors who are most likely to reactivate, you will utilize the Dataro Convert to RG Rank.
Here's how you'll do it step by step:
- Log into the Dataro app
- Go to Donors & Audiences > Audience Builder
- Click "Filter" in the top right corner
- Add a filter for:
- "RG Conversion ranking is less than or equal to [insert your planned campaign size]." This will select all the most likely donors.
This is your base list of the one-time donors most likely to convert.
Naturally, you'll need to apply exclusions next, depending on your outreach channel and strategy. Some standard exclusions for a telemarketing/phone campaigns would be to remove:
- Anyone on a do not call list
- Anyone without a valid phone number
- Anyone who has already received another call in the past 3 months
- Note: For rolling programs, you will need to keep track of which donors have already received an upgrade call. You can do this by creating separate Audiences each month and then excluding donors who were in those earlier campaigns (e.g. if they were in the March audience, they are excluded from the April audience.)
NOTE: If you access Dataro Ranks via your CRM, you will use the Dataro Convert to RG Rank field in your CRM and follow the same process as above.
Step 3) Create your outreach content
Use Dataro's AI Assist to create a first draft of your campaign content. Read more about using AI Assist here.
Pro Tip: Use AI Assist Version 1.0 to create a Recurring Donor Conversion Journey.
Step 4) Make your campaign omnichannel
Donors who hear from you in multiple channels are more likely to give and remain connected to your cause for the long term. For each campaign you’re planning, consider these omni-channel options:
- Add a calling cohort:
- Can I select the top 10% of my file (i.e. the best Dataro ranks for your campaign type) and call them with a supplementary ask?
- Separate email campaign:
- Do I have a matching email campaign / journey for this ask? If not, why not? Replicate your message across channels to enhance responses.
- Connecting my email marketing platform to Dataro.
- Mirror your ask amounts across mail and email.
- Supplemental emails & calls:
- Send a warm-up email prior to a calling campaign or sending a letter. This can make the donor more receptive to your message.
- Make a warm-up phone call to the most likely donors in your mailing file to let them know to watch out for your letter. This increases response rates.
- Always send an email after calling each donor, especially if you were unable to connect. Make your ask via email again.
- Paid Ads
- With your mailing or calling list finalized, make a duplicate list with modified suppressions. This revised list should take into account donors contactable via email. Upload this list as a custom audience within Meta and Google Ads. Match your content with online ads to reinforce your message.
- Create lookalike audience within Meta and Google Ads to acquire similar donors. At a minimum, you’ll need 1,000 high-quality contacts to reach new people similar to your current donors. Use the top 5,000–50,000+ Dataro Convert to RG ranked donors as your lookalike seed list.