Liz Tait draws on her experience in managing successful direct mail appeals, with a back to basics approach to running a campaign for the first time

1. Keep it simple

Make sure you don’t overcomplicate your campaign and that you keep your costs to a minimum. With your first test, you want to prove that the channel works, before embarking on a more ambitious and sophisticated approach with the next one.

2. Know your numbers

Always start by developing some top-line projections for your mailing, estimating how many donations you’ll receive and your average gift, to give yourself an income target and to determine how much you can spend.

3. Know your data

The data is the most important aspect of any mailing, so you should start close to home and review the warm contacts that you have available. Look for individuals who have had past contact with your charity. It's almost always more profitable to start by mailing individuals already on your database rather than buying cold names from an external supplier.

4. Know your donors

Drawing on your own experience of dealing with your donors, think about the typical person who gives to your cause and focus on what will appeal to them. Look at the messages that work elsewhere in your fundraising – those that will grab their attention and demonstrate a need for funds.

5. Perfect your ask

To maximise your immediate returns start with a cash ask. Make sure that your ask is up front – on the outer, and in the title and first couple of paragraphs of your letter. Make it clear how much you’re asking for and what the donation will achieve. For example, ‘Give £x today and help x, y and z’.

Keep the ask as focused and tangible as possible. Bear in mind that the more you ask for the lower your response will be. You are most likely to maximise your response if you specifically ask for one amount on the donation form and in the letter. You can always give examples of sums at different ends of the scale to demonstrate what you can achieve with different levels of giving.

6. Optimise your creative

The general rule of thumb is that the more incentives or enclosures you use (such as cards, labels or pens) the higher your response – but the more expensive the appeal will be. For your first mailing keep the pack as simple and cheap as possible, to maximise the net income raised.

For example, write an urgent, heartfelt letter from your chief executive or a key service delivery colleague, with a passionate plea for funds. Make the pack look as authentic and homemade as possible. If you use photos ensure they help demonstrate your message, or are of people or animals looking directly into the camera.

Make sure the size and format of the pack doesn’t have a negative effect on your postage costs and meet with different postal providers to understand how savings can be made.

7. Manage your donations

Bear in mind that the majority of responses to direct mail appeals still come back in the post, so focus on the donation form as the main response mechanism. Do, however, include details of your website and a phone number for those who prefer to give in these ways.

8. Learn something

The response rate you achieve (and your mailing volume) will determine whether your results are statistically significant, and whether they will be reflective of what would happen if you were to do it again. Don't overcomplicate your first mailing but do try to undertake a simple test. Always think about what you would like to learn and how you will apply this in the future.

9. Remember the past

Look at the packs that major charities are using regularly, as they are likely to be repeating a winning formula. Also look back at your charity’s files just in case there have been any past attempts and learning that you can draw upon.

10. Look to the future

It's worth thinking ahead to future appeals and about the roll-out potential of any campaigns you undertake. You don’t want to reinvent the wheel each time, so make sure you develop an approach that can be repeated.

In particular, plan how you will maximise income from those who donate, as well as those who don’t. Think about which channels you might use to contact them again, such as telemarketing and email, as part of your communications plan. Specifically, think about when and how you will ask for a regular monthly gift.

Above all, if your mailings consistently deliver, be ambitious and think about how you might be able to build on that success to grow a long-term income stream for your charity.

Liz Tait is director of fundraising at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home