The client, a boarding school for impoverished Native-American students, has been with Concord Direct since 1995. They needed a creative solution for their spring greeting card package that improved performance and cut printing costs while also delivering a dramatic new design.
To meet the school’s goal, Concord Direct first tested a new strategy. We created a personalized letter using a proven “symbolic giving” approach, outlining three gift coupon options: $20 for school supplies, $30 for textbooks or $50 for housing. A fourth option — to give $100 to support all three categories — was included to encourage donors to increase their impact.
The package also included greeting cards as a thank-you gift to donors. But on top of being expensive to produce, the school’s previous line of greeting cards needed a makeover to boost waning performance.
Concord Direct worked closely with the client’s graphic artist to replace the previous glitter-embellished cards with five new cards featuring hand-drawn images of Native American children. By partnering with the designer every step of the way, Concord Direct was also able to ensure the new design would still resonate with the client’s target audience.
The simplified card design meant Concord Direct could save the client production costs by using a four-color printing process on a lower-cost paper. At the same time, the elevated greeting card envelopes were printed to match the colors featured in the cards and included a simple Native American-inspired border.
Concord Direct tested the updated greeting card package in March, 2020. Not only were the greeting cards less expensive to produce, the package response rates and revenue performance improved, particularly among the school’s target: donors who give $25+.
Even though removing embellishments typically depresses performance, Concord Direct’s guidance for refreshing the artwork led to significant increases:
For <$25 donors:
19% lift in response rates
48% improvement in net revenue
For $25+ donors:
53% lift in response rates
73% improvement in net revenue