"What percentage of a response rate should I expect from my mailing?"
If someone ever gives you a definitive answer to our industry's most frequently answer, don't do business with them.
Why? Because your situation is different from anyone else's. Even if you are comparing two identical non-profits, the circumstances may be different: how one promotes planned giving on their website; season of mailing; different donor stories being used; CEO's handle on things; different opinion in the public media; how many clouds are in the sky that day; and so on.
There are always different forces at play. When it comes to measuring the impact of marketing campaigns, almost all evaluations are based on some type of attitudinal analysis. This approach assumes that attitudes and opinions lead directly to desired behaviors. There's only one problem: No one has ever proven that "changing attitudes" actually contributes to a bottom line impact.
The problem with most fundraisers in our industry is that we do not know how much is costs to move a prospect from point A to point B. Many do not take the time to calculate their ROI on mailings, etc. And this is a difficult topic to write since there are different standards for different outcomes. For example, a 1% response rate for one non-profit may be excellent, whereas another may not even survive on 10%.
Bottom line: compare response rates against your own over time. Even though there are still forces at play, it is the best measure of improvement you can use.
