Promotional Codes Drive Donations, Memberships, Renewals, Upgrades and Loyalty

Many marketers and development professionals at nonprofits likely are familiar with a powerful, direct marketing tool from the commercial world: promotional codes. Now, Convio has added this tool to its suite of online applications designed to help nonprofits build and sustain relationships online.

Commercial marketers use promotional, or coupon, codes to drive and track responses from specific market segments.  For example, a car rental company might send a direct mail piece offering a discount if the consumer uses an alphanumeric code provided in the mailer when booking a reservation. In the commercial world, promotional codes are a proven marketing technique for meeting multiple objectives:

• Turning price-sensitive shoppers into buyers;
• Getting consumers to try new products;
• Enticing consumers to switch from rival brands; and
• Inducing customers to buy sooner than they would have otherwise by offering an incentive.

By prompting such behaviors, consumer marketers can optimize overall response to a campaign.

Of course, nonprofits face different problems than commercial marketers but they can apply some of the same techniques. Consider typical challenges that promotional codes can help address:

• Membership-based groups need to increase membership renewal rates, renew memberships at higher levels and prompt members to renew early;
• Many organizations need to provide preferential treatment to specific groups of constituents, including members, major donors, board members and others; and
• Development and membership professionals need ways to acquire new members and donors.

How would promotional codes solve these problems? Following are a few scenarios:

• A public broadcasting organization sends an email with a promotional code to existing members. Those who enter the code on the online membership form can upgrade their membership levels at a discount for a limited time;
• As a member benefit, a museum sends email and direct mail with a promotional code to its members, offering a discount for a special exhibit; and
• An organization hosting a fundraiser for cancer research emails a promotional code to survivors, allowing them to register online for the event at no charge.

Beyond stimulating donations, memberships and/or participation, promotional code offers allow an organization to track the success of different marketing channels. Each visitor using a promotional code on a nonprofit’s Web site leaves a “record” that makes it easy for an organization to determine which emails or offline communications triggered the response. This is very valuable feedback on the effectiveness of different mediums and messages.

Nonprofits can use Convio’s promotional code feature to increase the overall effectiveness of almost every program.  It is a powerful addition to Convio’s expanding collection of personalized, online marketing tools for driving donations, memberships, renewals, event attendance, participation and constituent loyalty.  For more information, please contact info@convio.com.