Increase response rates by pre-filling your donors’ personal information on your direct mail reply cards. It might be tempting to just leave these blank (it’s probably modestly cheaper than pre-filling), but don’t give in to the temptation!
If you pre-populate donor name, address and ID code, that makes it quicker and easier for donors to respond. And time and again we see the easier you make it for donors to respond, the more likely they’ll be to respond.
Additionally, if you are populating ID code on the reply device, that’ll make it even easier for your gift processing staff to update donor records too!
I completely agree with this tip. This year we modified two of our appeals to include a tear off pledge card that was personalized. Response rates are up significantly and our gift processing team appreciates how much easier it is to identify the donors. Thanks!