National Survey Mailer: Dems vs GOP
At Blueprint we care about the ins and outs of direct mail, and while we think we know a decent amount about it, we always want to learn more. So we're pretty excited that we were lucky enough to get access access to both the Democratic and Republican Party National Surveys!
We'll go over both of them, and judge from our perspective where they hit the mark and where they can improve, both as surveys and as direct mail fundraising pieces.
Democratic Party National Survey Direct Mail Piece
The Democrat Party's Survey is in black and white, and looks something like a tax or insurance document at first glance. Every question asked involves picking three or four choices from roughly 12 answers, and there is a concern that this could be an intimidating amount of text on the page. The text is fairly small, and line spacing is close together.
When picking from multiple choices, or rank ordering answers, any more than 8 possible options just becomes overwhelming for most people. Because of this, reading through this survey is an exhausting process, requiring the recipient to weigh 10+ options for every question. However, the survey does look 'official' due its bureaucratic feel, which may help open rates and responses.
The unstated goal of these direct mail pieces is to raise money. The intimidating and dense nature of this survey may dissuade people from finishing the survey. But will it dissuade people from contributing?
The Democrats does a good job of integrating a contribution ask both in the beginning of the survey (the survey instructions indicate that the contribution form should be completed) and at the end. The use of an asterix for the 'recommended' amount is a great touch. Something interesting to note is the extremely tight range of suggested contribution amounts: $18, $25*, $35, and $50. This tight range is often used as a means to facilitate new donors - it’s more about getting someone to donate the first time rather than just one large gift. Finally, there is a box suggesting an additional $3 be contributed to help with processing costs, something we agree strongly with including in any remit.
All in all, the Democrats contribution remit looks great, and to top it off they paid for return postage as well. While their survey is not a great survey from our perspective, as a means to obtain contributions, the DNC's mail piece as a whole will likely be effective.
Republican Party National Survey Direct Mail Piece
The Republican Survey uses splashes of red and blue color to frame the survey, and is clearly understandable at first glance. Most questions are yes or no, with the one multiple answer rank order question being in the middle of the page. Text is large and easy to read, and it's likely most people who received this survey (and were supporters of the Republican party) filled out the survey to completion. This has a distinct style setting it apart from a generic government document, while remaining professional.
The GOP's survey is better designed and more approachable from a graphic design perspective. However, while the DNP's survey suffered from too many options, the GOP survey suffers from too few. Very few Republican respondents would select 'no' to most of these questions. A Likert Scale (5 point scale), would provide more usable information than simple yes/no questions and would be more likely to engage the reader.
Like the Democrats, the GOP also included a remit with their survey. However, they did not integrate their contribution ask into the survey instructions like the Democrats did. Something of note is how drastically different the GOP's ask amounts are, ranging from $25 to $1,000. It’s a signficant difference between the two surveys and could be a result of targeting and/or the Dems is more about engaging first time donors and converting them to life time donors, while the GOP is seeking one-time larger gifts. Or it could even be that the GOP believe their respondents may not be turned off from seeing large ask amounts (while Democrats may be).
The GOP also offers a checkmark box to cover processing, but their box is not presented as part of the contribution, but rather part of 'survey processing'. In reality, this box is just a disguised $15 contribution box. Finally, it is worth noting that the online option for contribution to the GOP is hidden away at the bottom right corner, as compared to the Democrats who placed it front and center.
Conclusion
Based on how the surveys are designed, along with the prominence of the remit and asks, leads me to believe that these pieces are actually persuasion pieces and direct mail fundraisers disguised as surveys. Both surveys suffer from serious methodological and/or design flaws from a survey design perspective, but do a great job of galvanizing the reader towards their sides political cause, with a well designed remit to cap off the survey. These mail pieces are most likely actually persuasion pieces that also net a solid return, for both parties, similar to web advertisements disguised as informative blog posts or surveys. Whether this is considered ethical or not, it is almost certainly an effective method of doing fundraising.