Looking for a higher yield from promotional emails and mail? Try combining lapsed members and prospective members into a single pool. The results might surprise you, according to executives from the AARP.

Treating lapsed members and prospects as a single pool of promotable names will yield higher overall responses. That’s what Anne Golightly and Joe Harr told participants at the 11th annual Bridge to Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference, in National Harbor, Md. The two discussed strategies for building an integrated multi-channel Winback Program.

AARP models both Winback and Acquisition mail using the same model, though each has its own budget. Renewals are members contacted six months prior to their membership expiration through seven months past expiration. Winback is members contacted from seven months past expiration to 25 months past expiration. Acquisition members are those whose membership expired more than 25 months ago.

Combining the promotable names yielded a lift in combined response rates, they said.