Creating Effective Direct Mail Charitable Solicitations: The Effects of Enclosures and Different Appeals

Noneconomic goals of investors

“…choices (Block and Keller, 1995), making and keeping resolutions (Mukhopadhyay and Johar, 2005), environmentally responsible behaviors (Berger and Corbin, 1992), and charitable giving (Diamond and Iyer, 2007) has been well studied. For instance, dieters who believe in their own dieting regimen and its positive effects tend to stick with the dieting regimen.…”

The effects of mailing design characteristics on direct mail campaign performance

“…Only a few scientific empirical studies have been published on related issues. These studies focus mostly on the advertising context of direct marketing and on a particular industry or firm, and they typically employ firmspecific experimental designs leading to non-generalizable results (e.g., Bell, Ledolter, & Swersey, 2006;de Wulf et al, 2000;Diamond & Iyer, 2007;Gordon & Kellerman, 1990;van der Scheer, Hoekstra, & Vriens, 1996). Given the variety of industries and their peculiarities (e.g., Stone & Jacobs, 2008), it would not be surprising if only a few design characteristics actually achieve cross-industry importance, while the majority of effects might be industryspecific.…”

Not everybody wants to save the world

“…SIE ' is the assessment an individual makes of the likelihood that his / her investment will lead to the desired social outcome or at least increase the probability of the desired outcome. 39 It has been shown to be a signifi cant moderator in case of helping behaviors, in general, and charitable giving, 40 in particular. Perception of high effi cacy ( I can do something about it ) gives people a greater sense of confi dence, thus vitiating the need to carefully process any incoming information.…”