Cross-channel integration has become the new standard in non-profit marketing, and for good reason. When your donors engage across multiple channels, they are more likely to stay on your file, give more frequently, and subsequently have a higher lifetime value.

The more cross-channel touchpoints your audience has with your message, the more engaged they become with your organization. By delivering content in a coordinated manner, you maximize the potential for deeper engagement in volunteering, online actions, and fundraising.

Here are five best practices that will help guide a successfully integrated cross-channel campaign:

Match up timing, offer, content and imagery

This is the fundamental concept of integration – giving your audience a message across channels that is visually consistent and well coordinated.

Here is an example from our work with Mercy for Animals on a cross-channel matching gift campaign, their “Million-Dollar Challenge”:

 

Note that the campaign name and tagline is consistent, as well as the photos and stories used on the direct mail inserts and online campaign pieces (the email directly references the mail piece using a visual call-out). The banner ads, social media and web promotion creative is also consistent with the campaign look and feel.

Retain the best practices of each channel

You may have noticed that while the examples above share the same schedule and content, the various channels present the campaign differently. For example, email copy length is much shorter than direct mail copy, as a rule of thumb. Banner ads have optimal character counts, Facebook ads have text restrictions, and so on.  The key is to use the strengths of each channel to the best of your ability while still maintaining as much consistency as possible.

Get the data right

In order to meet your constituents in the channels that they use, you must be able to identify and segment them first. Be sure that your database can accurately record touchpoints across channels for matchback analysis.

Be creative

Sometimes there are cases where the structure of a campaign is not conducive to full cross-channel integration. In this example, the Consumer Reports Foundation was sending a mailed sweepstakes to members. The corresponding email did not have any links, it instead brought attention to the fact that people had received something in the mail and encouraged them to fill it out.

This is a great example of how there’s not one right answer to integration and it’s important to get creative in service of your goals. Consumer Reports sees a lift in response from those mail recipients who also received the follow-up email in this test case.

Recognize that not everything should be integrated

While it’s important to stay creative, the bottom line is that there are cases where the costs of cross-channel integration outweigh the benefits. Always take into account your budget, audience sizes and potential reach, and resources required.

Nick Garcia is a Senior Account Executive for Mal Warwick Donordigital, based in Berkeley, CA. He has worked in nonprofit fundraising for over eight years, with experience ranging from direct response to event planning and data management. He has led several successful fundraising campaigns for Americares, Be The Match, and many more of our clients.