RSPCA’s show stopping door dropping

Aiming for animal lovers

RSPCA, the UK’s best known animal charity, has been championing furry friends since 1824. Relying on public donations, their campaigns always need to pack a punch. For their Christmas campaign, we zoomed in on their key audience groups, to inspire one-off cash donations. But with a cost-of-living crisis making money too tight to mention, this was no walk in the park. The challenge? Bring in new donors without barking up the wrong tree. We had to keep things ethical, avoiding vulnerable groups and focusing on those who could genuinely afford to give. 

Testing times, literally

We levelled up RSPCA’s door drop campaigns with a data-driven makeover! Using responder data from past mailings, we fine-tuned our targeting to focus on high-performing areas, while steering clear of vulnerable groups, like those struggling financially or aged 75+. Plus, we tested everything: envelope vs. one piece mailers, cash-only asks and regional messaging that highlighted local RSPCA rescue stats to make the appeal more personal.  November was our testing playground, with volumes split evenly to keep things statistically sound. The creative, centred on Skye the husky’s rescue story, tugged at heartstrings. We trimmed costs by tweaking letter sizes and using match-backs for regional data. Bonus: the campaign was carbon balanced, protecting over 3,000m2 of tropical forest.  

Donations and discovery

Skye’s story didn’t just tug at heartstrings—it inspired action! Donations came flooding in, smashing targets with both volume and value. Many new donors joined the RSPCA’s CRM programme, promising long-term impact. We saw the best results with the ‘cash-only’ ask and regional messaging, while the C5 pack with the undersized A4 letter became the go-to format for future campaigns.  Complaints were minimal, proving our ethical targeting worked, and the campaign’s numbers were next-level: Donor acquisition soared by 80% and costs per donation dropped by 54%. It’s clear—door drops are a winning strategy for RSPCA. Find out more about how RSPCA uses targeted door drops to drive acquisition in our webinar replay.