Testing Tuesday: A weekly series on how to get the most of direct-response fundraising tests
The standard advice for fundraisers is test everything!
It's good advice, but it doesn't apply to about 99% of nonprofit organizations.
Most organizations shouldn't test, because they don't have the numbers to yield meaningful results. (Not sure if that's you? Check out The easy-math way to know if you can test your fundraising idea)
How do you know what to do if you can't test?
- Pay attention to what works for you (and what doesn't). Even if you never test, you do have experience. When something works very well -- or very poorly -- that's a quasi-test. It's not a true apples-to-apples repeatable test, but it tells you something.
- Know what generally works in the industry. Okay, let's put it out there: Long direct mail letters almost always do better than short ones. It's been tested hundreds of times. It's weird, but true. You can run with it. There are quite a few things like that. Be well-read about fundraising, and you'll know them.
- Ask around. Be part of a fundraising community that creates a hive mind of experience. You can learn a lot just by querying whatever it is you're wondering about. (For a very useful community, may I suggest The Fundraisingology Lab?
