Hi all,
My telefunding campaign has realized some precipitous drops in revenue over the last two years and I'm reaching out to ask what others are experiencing. At the outset it seemed like it was related to the election in fall 2016, which was the moment of highest decline, but since that time we haven't only not bounced back, but overall telefunding revenue continued to decline. A notable change is that it's taking quite a few more calling attempts to catch people on the phone. Once we do talk to them, metrics are actually pretty good, but the time spent dialing is notable.
I'd really appreciate any info you can share about how your calling campaigns are performing. Have you also seen decline, and what level of it? Have you changed the format of your campaign as a result (fewer weeks of calling, etc)? Does anyone have a campaign that's not in decline, and can you share strategies that have kept calling viable?
I am curious what others' business practices are around do not call requests. Once a patron requests to not be called, does that restriction remain on their account for good, or do you have a designated duration when you would try to call them once again? What is the waiting period to resume calling?
Thanks in advance for any info you can share.
Best,Megan
Hi Megan,The telefunding landscape has changed quite dramatically over the last several years--this is an industry-wide issue for sure. More and more people use cell phones and do not answer calls from numbers they don't recognize. I'd be surprised to learn of ANY organization whose total telefunding revenue matches what it was a few years ago. Teleservices vendors need to be willing to experiment a bit more, whether that means sending emails in advance of calling (to tout a special incentive or offer that will be made to the patron via phone), leaving voicemails when a patron doesn't answer, incorporating text messaging, or something else. We have reduced the length of our campaigns (just by a couple weeks), and overall it's still worth it for us to carry out a telefunding campaign, but if the industry doesn't act fast to change with the times, I'm not sure how long that will last...Re: DNC requests, we make that change permanently (unless the patron asks for it to be reversed at a later date).Best,Jennifer