Sonar® Acquisition Strategy Generates Higher Net Income

The Challenge
The Salvation Army needed to reduce acquisition costs, acquire higher value donors and improve their donors’ retention and LTV.

The Solution
An acquisition test between Summit Marketing and another fundraising agency was conducted. The Salvation Army split zip codes in a major metropolitan city where households in the areas being prospected shared similar demographics.

The Results
Summit Marketing’s strategies targeting quality over quantity won the test! Summit’s exclusive Summit SONAR acquired quality new donors who generated a significantly higher positive net return initially and continued to demonstrate greater donor loyalty, retention and strong financial support over the following three years. The other agency’s newly acquired donors, although higher in quantity, were still at a loss after two years.