Faith and Metrics

If there's one thing direct marketers know, it's that you can't take anything on faith.

But they tend to forget that when marketing to the religious. DMers define their audience in one-dimensional terms, overlooking other variables.

To get some guidance on this, Direct spoke with Craig Wood, CEO of The Clarity Group Inc., a consultancy that uses consumer data and analytics to provide insight into the faith-based and nonprofit community.

DIRECT: What's the biggest mistake religious marketers make when attempting to qualify their targets?

WOOD: They play the faith card. Consumers are multidimensional. We as marketers can figure out what appeals to them based on demographic, attitudinal and transactional data. Consumers are also brand conscious, or privacy driven. Faith may be important, but it's one element to consider among a mix.

DIRECT: What types of measurements should faith-based marketers consider?

WOOD: First, affinity. How aligned are they with your cause? This can be measured by examining related memberships, previous activity, survey information and compiled data. Second, propensity — the likelihood to purchase or act on that affinity. This is done by examining past behavior. Traditional RFM measurements, like which ones have a history of giving. These can help a marketer predict not only whether a prospect is likely to give, but how much and when, such as within a 30-day window. Knowing if a donor is a likely October or February giver can be very powerful. Finally, ability. Can they give? Do they have the financial ability to buy, spend or donate? That's the critical third piece. A lot of money is spent on analyzing prospects' affinity and propensity, but current ability tools are not very good. Household income and net-worth indicators do not measure spending or tithing ability. You need discretionary spending metrics, but these can be modeled.