Main Subject - Business

Your direct mail fundraising results never lie. But they mislead you if you let them.

I worked as Director of Development for a national charity that held a lavi

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

sh fundraising banquet each year. The staff, from the executive director down to the receptionist, including the development staff, thought this banquet was the organizati

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

n’s most successful fundraiser.

Shortly after being hired, I conducted a comprehensive development audit that measured the profitability of the organization’s fu

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

draising methods, including this annual banquet. I added up the cost of the venue, catering, table and chair rental, lighting, sound, speaker honorarium, invitation printi

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

ng, postage and every other related cost and subtracted this number from the gross income.

What a surprise we got!

What looked like a successful fundrai

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

er was actually the organization’s least-effective fundraiser. In 1999, they spent 89? to raise one dollar. They didn’t realize that their “best fundraiser” was a financi

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

l flop, year after year. Why? Because they always published and celebrated the gross income generated by the event and never looked at the net income.

Two is b

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

etter than one
You see, the problem with direct mail fundraising arithmetic is this—you need to understand and use more than just one measurement. You don’t buy a

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

bunch of bananas based on price alone. You wouldn’t choose a lifelong mate based on looks alone (at least I hope you wouldn’t). And you shouldn’t measure your direct mail

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

undraising success by one ratio or formula alone.

Consider, for example, the most well-known number in direct mail fundraising—the response rate. Everyone knows

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

hat generating a high response rate is a good thing and that generating a low response rate is a bad thing. That’s why one of the first questions that prospective clients

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

ask my firm is usually this: “What kind of response rate will your direct mail fundraising packages generate for us?”

That’s a good question.

But the ans

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

er I give, if I simply quote an average response rate, will mislead. It will mislead because high response rates do not necessarily mean profitable results. And neither do

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

low response rates necessarily mean poor results.

I could craft a direct mail package that generates a 20% response rate but an average gift of only $2. N

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

ot good. You’d lose money.

I could craft a package that generates a response rate of only half of one percent but generates an average gift of $2,000. Th

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

t’s better. Probably.

Look beyond today’s numbers
You need to look beyond each campaign, looking back to previous results and looking forward to ant

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

cipated results. After all, you could be satisfied today with a direct mail program that generates an average gift of $35 but never realize that over half of your donors g

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

ive you just one gift and never give again. Your average gift doesn’t tell you the whole story any more than your response rate tells you the whole story.

You can

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

avoid their mistake—and plenty of other mistakes—by learning the most common ways to measure your success, and then using as many of them as you require to arrive at an ac

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

urate picture of your accomplishments. The knowledge is in your numbers. All you need to do is uncover it—and use it to your advantage in carrying out your mission.

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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Main Subject - Direct Mail Fundraising Arithmetic: Avoid Blunders By Knowing Your Numbers

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