Don't create fundraising that you like

Here's a good insight from a long-time pro in direct marketing: Denny Hatch, in his Business Common Sense newsletter, at It's the Design, Stupid!

It's mainly a wonderful, cranky critique of a badly designed direct mail piece. (I want to be him when I grow up.) But here's what he says that should really get your attention:

When someone asks for a critique, I never say whether the piece is good or bad, or whether I like it or not. Long ago, I realized I can't judge good direct mail. It judges me.

If the mailing works -- brings in orders, inquiries or donations at an acceptable cost per order -- it's good direct mail.

It's not about whether or how much we like something that matters. It's whether or not it works.

So much energy and money are wasted in misguided quests to create fundraising messages that we (or our superiors) like.

That's all wrong. Your (or my, or your boss's) personal taste tells you almost nothing about the potential power of a fundraising message.

In fact, the I-like-it factor is probably a strong counter-indicator of potential success.

You aren't your donors. Your sense of what's cool, motivating, or interesting are very different from your donors'.

Furthermore, you aren't trying to get even your donors to like your fundraising. You're hoping it'll motivate her to give. Amazingly often, effective fundraising is not very likable. If you've ever watched a focus group look at successful direct mail pieces, you've seen how the winning pieces do. People hate 'em!

The secret to successful fundraising is to move completely beyond like/dislike and operate from a body of knowledge of what has worked and tested well before. Add to that passion, energy, and a willingness to take well-considered risk, and you'll produce good work that succeeds more often than it fails.

Don't waste your time talking about whether you like it or not.

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Comments

[Melissa Balkon]

this is a great post. I do come at it from a designer's perspective though. I often deal with clientele who make aesthetic decisions based on their own taste, rather than the way the human mind processes. if you are working with a GOOD designer, they have been trained in what graphic treatments (colors, styles, fonts, etc) lend themselves with certain emotions. And will implement these principles as they should. However, I have often found that clients doubt a designer's rationale and just want to choose based on their personal biases.

[Erik Deckers]

Great post, Jeff. I've dealt with this a lot. I even blogged about it at my own blog.

The problem is most people assume that what they like, everyone else will like. Or, they assume that they know better than everyone else. It's true for nonprofits, corporations, and small businesses. It's why we get Super Bowl ads that are hysterical, but don't sell a single thing.

[steve cunningham]

Jeff - this is SO true. There's far too much emphasis placed on aesthetics, and far too little on results. I suspect that the scales will tip in the favour of results very soon. Perhaps we should ship all the "brand police" off to an island somewhere for the next year or so and see what happens.