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Does irritation induced by charitable direct mailings reduce donations?

Author

Listed:
  • van Diepen, Merel
  • Donkers, Bas
  • Franses, Philip Hans

Abstract

Charities rely mainly on direct mailings to attract the attention of potential donors. Individuals may feel irritated by these mailings, in particular when they receive many mailings. This might harm the revenues charities receive from their mailing activities. Moreover, target selection by charities likely results in many mailings being sent to the best donors, and hence they might become most irritated. As such, irritation with direct mailings could well be endogenously determined. To ensure exogenous variation in irritation, we performed a unique controlled field experiment in cooperation with five of the largest charities in the Netherlands. Our analysis reveals that direct mailings do result in irritation, but surprisingly, this irritation affects neither stated nor actual donating behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • van Diepen, Merel & Donkers, Bas & Franses, Philip Hans, 2009. "Does irritation induced by charitable direct mailings reduce donations?," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 180-188.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ijrema:v:26:y:2009:i:3:p:180-188
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijresmar.2009.03.007
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Direct marketing; Irritation; Charity donations; Field experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C44 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Operations Research; Statistical Decision Theory
    • M - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics
    • M31 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Marketing

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