Email vs. Print Communications
Perception and Reality
Lisa Hoover
Director of Publications, Print and Mail
Bucknell University
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania
Where is Bucknell University?
Located in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania
About three hours from New York City,
Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
Bucknell University Campus
• Private liberal arts university
• 450 acres
• 3,500 undergrads
• 150 graduate students
Publications, Print and Mail
Function under
Communications Division
Bindery
Copy Center
23 Staff Members
Networked Copier Fleet
Graphic Design
Email Marketing
Offset and Digital Printing
Bulk Mailing Services
Campus Mail Delivery
Student Mail Services
Perceptions about email
It’s free – or at least cheap
It’s fast
It’s how people want to receive information
It’s better for the environment
Perceptions about print
It’s expensive
It’s old-fashioned
It’s takes a long time to produce
It’s unfriendly to the environment
Current Perceptions
How to perceptions change
Facts
Education
Personal experiences
Time
Facts we can use
Published reports
White papers
Benchmarking statistics
Tracking response rates
Return on investment
Real examples of your successes
Facts about email
90 trillion – The number of emails sent on the Internet in
2009.
247 billion – Average number of email messages per day.
1.4 billion – The number of email users worldwide.
100 million – New email users since the year before.
81% – The percentage of emails that were spam.
92% – Peak spam levels late in the year.
24% – Increase in spam since last year.
200 billion – The number of spam emails per day
(assuming 81% are spam).
http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/01/22/internet-2009-in-numbers/
Facts
Average number of emails we each receive
every day – 176
Email continues to grow as a communication
media
Lots of competition in the inbox compared to
traditional mail box
Email is not the silver bullet; email and print
need to be integrated and used together
Facts about email
79% of email messages are delivered to
their intended recipients; 21% are not
delivered
Email addresses are constantly changing
There is no email address verification
process
The average open rate for email messages
is 30%
Source: Return Path's Deliverability Benchmark Report, accessed August 3, 2009.
Facts about traditional mail
Using first class or presorted mail virtually all
pieces will be delivered to their intended
recipients
25% of addresses are changing at all times
We can verify that addresses are good before we
send the piece using CASS, DPV and NCOA
We can choose to have the piece returned if it is
undeliverable to correct address
Gathering Facts
Who is responsible for sending email
messages at your university?
Are they tracking:
Delivery rates
Bouncebacks (hard and soft)
Open rates
Click through rates
Response to call to action
Gathering Facts
Who is tracking success of print pieces?
Are they measuring ROI?
Are they comparing ROI with email?
Are they doing surveys of how constituents
want to receive information?
Will they share this information with you?
Direct Mail Survey
The polling firm International Communications Research
surveyed approximately 1,100 U.S. college graduates and
post-graduate school respondents about their preferences
for receiving information from the school they attended.
Results:
Alumni have a strong preference for direct mail (54%)
versus e-mail (23%) as a communications channel
when it comes to being contacted about gifts and
donations by their college or university.
A Bucknell Survey
Survey Goal: To identify the most preferred types
of format, content, delivery, and timing of the
communications/messages produced by the
Development Office.
Total Responses: 46
Survey Audience: Bucknell Alumni Board
A Bucknell Survey
Alumni
Events
Question: What is your
preferred source of Bucknell
news/information?
Email
BU
Magazine
# of Responses
Friends
Letter
Website
0
20
40
Envelope
in BU
Brochure Magazine
# of Responses
Letter
Question: To which type of
annual giving communication
would you most likely
respond?
Email
Online
Giving
A Bucknell Survey
0
20
40
Response Rates for Giving Campaigns
20.0%
19.3%
18.0%
16.2%
Presidential Invite - PRINT
50th Reunion Letter - PRINT
16.0%
25th Reunion Letter - PRINT
September AF Alumni Mailing - PRINT
14.0%
Bison Club Mailer - PRINT
November Alumni Mailing - PRINT
12.0%
Freshman Hall Competition - EMAIL
Fall Magazine Envelope - PRINT
Freshman Hall Competition Flyer - PRINT
10.0%
Association for the Arts - PRINT
Gift Envelope in the Bison Roundup - PRINT
8.0%
Calendar Incentive Email - EMAIL
6.0%
Fall Athletic Emails - EMAIL
5.2%
Calendar Year-end Email - EMAIL
4.2%
Winter Athletic Emails - EMAIL
4.0%
2.0%
0.0%
3.2%3.1%
Winter Magazine Envelope - PRINT
1.0%
0.8% 0.7% 0.6% 0.5%
0.4%0.3% 0.2%0.2%
0.1%
Presidential Invite Results
Medium – Variable Data Print
Number of Solicitations – 446
Response Rate – 19.3%
Number of Gifts – 86
Total Revenue - $1,020,425
Average Gift - $11,913
Cost per donor - $48
Fall Annual Fund Solicitation
Medium – Variable Data Print
Number of Solicitations – 26,304
Response Rate – 4.2%
Number of Gifts – 1,115
Total Revenue - $217,538
Average Gift -$207
Cost per donor - $12
Bison Club Solicitation
Medium – Static Print
Number of Solicitations – 7,460
Response Rate – 3.2%
Number of Gifts – 242
Total Revenue - $74,905
Average Gift -$328
Cost per donor - $18
Freshman Hall Challenge
Medium – HTML Email
Number of Solicitations – 626
Response Rate – 1.0%
Number of Gifts – 6
Total Revenue - $60
Average Gift -$30
Cost per donor - $20
Calendar Incentive Email
Medium – Variable Data HTML Email
Number of Solicitations – 15,491
Response Rate – 0.4%
Number of Gifts – 66
Total Revenue - $2,784
Average Gift -$45
Cost per donor - $3
Bison Club Athletic Email
Medium – Variable Data HTML Email
Number of Solicitations – 3,581
Response Rate – 0.3%
Number of Gifts – 11
Total Revenue - $2,419
Average Gift -$258
Cost per donor - $42
Data Summary
Appeal Type
Description
No. Sols Gifts
% Resp
Avg/Gift
Net Revenue
Cost/Donor
Letter/Invite
Presidential Invite - PRINT
446
86
19.3%
$11,913
$1,020,425
$48
Letter
50th Reunion Letter - PRINT
271
44
16.2%
$444
$19,425
$3
Letter
25th Reunion Letter - PRINT
633
33
5.2%
$429
$13,871
$8
Letter
September AF Alumni Mailing - PRINT
26304
1115
4.2%
$207
$217,538
$12
Brochure
Bison Club Mailer - PRINT
7460
242
3.2%
$328
$74,905
$18
Letter
November Alumni Mailing - PRINT
19596
602
3.1%
$223
$120,296
$24
Email
Freshman Hall Competition - EMAIL
626
6
1.0%
$30
$60
$20
Envelope
Fall Magazine Envelope - PRINT
53000
431
0.8%
$429
$181,397
$9
Flyer
Freshman Hall Competition Flyer - PRINT
681
5
0.7%
$65
-$1,248
$315
Letter
Association for the Arts - PRINT
1482
9
0.6%
$121
-$527
$180
Envelope
Gift Envelope in the Bison Roundup - PRINT
3118
16
0.5%
$321
$4,665
$32
Email
Calendar Incentive Email - EMAIL
15491
66
0.4%
$45
$2,784
$3
Email
Fall Athletic Emails - EMAIL
3581
11
0.3%
$258
$2,419
$42
Email
Calendar Year-end Email - EMAIL
24003
54
0.2%
$123
$6,449
$4
Email
Winter Athletic Emails - EMAIL
1052
2
0.2%
$20
-$260
$150
Envelope
Winter Magazine Envelope - PRINT
50025
52
0.1%
$180
$5,750
$69
Print or Email?
Who is the target audience?
What is the stature of the message?
What is the call to action?
What are the implications if the message
does not reach the intended recipient?
If budget and time allow, do both
How to start
Make connections
Give department tours
Find out who is tracking data
Pick one department to study
Make it about their success, not yours
Let them spread the word
Graphic Design
Print and Electronic Design, Customer Service, Blast
email, Print Management
Print Production
Offset and Digital Printing, Prepress Trapping and
Imposition, Bindery – Folding, Saddle Stitching, Perfect
Binding, Comb and Coil Binding
Copy Center
Black and White and Color Copies, Electronic Document
Submission, Postal Contract Station, Copier Fleet
Management
Mail Services
List Processing and Certification, Ink-Jet Addressing,
Bulk Mail Processing, Fulfillment, Campus Mail and
Package Delivery
Student Mail
Student Mail and Package Sorting and Delivery, Student
Box Stuffing, Mail Forwarding, 17 Student Employees
The Academic Quad
The Bertrand Library
Rooke Chapel
Christy Mathewson Gates