Skip to main content

Run a Matchback report

Updated

The Matchback report ties your mailed or emailed audience to actual giving. Use it to answer questions like "How did this appeal perform?" and "Which donor segments responded best?"

Use this article when

  • You uploaded a direct mail file and want to measure results.
  • You want a single view of revenue, gifts, and response rate for one or more appeals.
  • You need to compare performance by package or by donor lifecycle and giving level.
  • You want to see indirect revenue from donors who gave after receiving your mailing but through a different channel.
  • You want to calculate ROI for your campaigns (requires cost data).

Applies to and prerequisites

Product area Insights > Matchback Report
Data requirements Recent direct mail or activity file uploaded and gifts synced from your CRM.
IDs Constituent IDs from your CRM mapped correctly (Account ID or Contact ID).
Permissions Access to Insights and permission to view Matchback reports.
Time to complete 5 minutes once your data is loaded.
Optional Cost data for ROI calculations. See Add costs for ROI reporting in direct mail and digital efforts.

What the Matchback report includes

The report uses the activities feed and associated transactions to calculate revenue, gifts, response rate, and indirect revenue in defined windows after your drop date.

Steps

1. Open the Matchback report

  1. From the left navigation, click the Insights icon.
  2. Scroll to All Available Reports.
  3. In the How did my recent campaign perform? group, click the Matchback Report card.

2. Set your filters

  1. At the top-right of the report, click Filters.
  2. Under Filters, confirm the Activity filter matches the channel you want (for example, direct mail or email send). This limits the report to the type of activity you are analyzing.
  3. Use User-Defined Filters to narrow the audience:
    • Donor Details for lifecycle, giving level, or other constituent traits.
    • Mailing Attributes for specific packages or creative versions.
    • Transaction Details for time period, amounts, or appeal codes.

  4. Find the Include Avid Generated Records filter.

    • Choose to include Avid Generated Records to count donors who gave to the appeal but were not on the original file ("whitemail").
    • Choose to exclude them to view results only for people on your uploaded list.

    Your choice controls whether "whitemail" gifts are counted in the metrics.

  5. Close the Filters panel.

For most campaign reporting, include Avid Generated Records. This gives you a truer picture of total appeal performance, including donors who responded without being on the original list.

3. Review the Results tab

The Results tab shows direct response metrics: donations where the appeal code on the gift matches the appeal code from your activity file.

  1. Confirm you are on the Results tab.
  2. Review the scorecards to confirm overall performance.

  3. Scroll to the charts:

    • Response Rate by Available Audience – how each mailing's response compares to the audience size.
    • Donors (Most Recent Mailings) – number of donors for each recent mailing.
    • Revenue (Most Recent Mailings) – revenue raised from each mailing.
    • Revenue per Donor by Mailing – average gift per donor by mailing.

    Use these visualizations to spot top- and low-performing mailings.

  4. Review the Results table at the bottom.

    The table shows overall results by mailing, including audience, donors, gifts, revenue, response rate, and revenue per donor.

  5. If you have uploaded cost data, review the ROI column in the table.

    ROI shows the return on investment: (Revenue minus Cost) divided by Cost, times 100.

4. Review the Package Results tab

  1. Click the Package Results tab.

    You may see a warning panel reminding you to select an individual appeal to avoid merged data.

  2. If needed, refine your Filters to focus on one appeal and its packages.

    This ensures each package's performance is shown cleanly.

  3. Review the charts:

    • Response Rate by Package
    • Donors by Package
    • Revenue by Package

    These charts help you compare creative packages, offers, or versions within the same appeal.

  4. Scroll to the Package Results table.

    The table summarizes key metrics for each package, including ROI if cost data is available.

5. Review the Donor Breakdown tab

  1. Click the Donor Breakdown tab.

  2. Review the lifecycle charts:

    • Response Rate by Current Lifecycle
    • Audience Size by Current Lifecycle
    • Results by Current Lifecycle table

    These show how new, retained, and reactivated donors responded to the appeal.

  3. Review the giving level charts:

    • Audience Size by Giving Level
    • Response Rate by Giving Level
    • Results by Giving Level table

    Use these to identify which giving levels over- or under-performed.

  4. Review the additional breakdown charts:

    • Response Rate by Acquisition Channel – compare how donors respond based on how they were originally acquired.
    • Audience by Acquisition Channel – see the mix of acquisition sources in your mailing.
    • Response Rate by Recurring Status – compare one-time vs. recurring donor response rates.
    • Audience by Recurring Status – see the proportion of recurring vs. one-time donors.
    • Response Rate by Giving Level Range – expanded giving level breakdown with more granular tiers.

    These charts help you understand which donor segments respond best to your appeals.

6. Review the Indirect Revenue tab

The Indirect Revenue tab tracks donations that occurred after your mailing but without a matching appeal code. These are donors who were influenced by your mailing but gave through a different channel (online, phone, etc.).

  1. Click the Indirect Revenue tab.

  2. Review the time-window metrics:

    Window What it measures
    0–15 Days Donors and revenue within 15 days of activity start date
    0–30 Days Donors and revenue within 30 days of activity start date
    0–45 Days Donors and revenue within 45 days of activity start date
    Total Indirect All indirect donors and revenue (unbounded)
  3. Review the Indirect Results table.

The Indirect Revenue tab shows only activities with start dates in the past to ensure meaningful indirect attribution windows.

7. Export or share your insights

  1. At the top-right of the page, click Generate Slides.

    Avid builds a slide deck using the charts and key numbers from your active filters.

  2. Download or share the slides with your internal stakeholders.

    They see the same results you see on the Matchback report at the time of export.

What you'll see

  • Scorecards showing total revenue, total gifts, and average response rate for your selected activity or appeal.
  • Charts comparing response, donors, and revenue across recent mailings and packages.
  • Tables for direct response results by mailing.
  • A dedicated Indirect Revenue tab showing gifts received in time windows after your drop date.
  • Donor breakdown charts for acquisition channel, recurring status, and expanded giving level ranges.
  • ROI and Net Revenue metrics when cost data is available.
  • A Last Transaction Date stamp at the bottom of the page indicating how current your data is.

Add cost data for ROI calculations

ROI metrics appear in the Matchback report only when Avid has cost data for your appeals. There are three ways to get cost data into Avid. The right path depends on your CRM and how you track campaign costs today.

Your situation Use this method
You use Raiser's Edge NXT and store appeal and package expenses in NXT Method 1: Automatic from Raiser's Edge NXT
You build lists with Avid's Direct Mail tool and know the package cost at export time Method 2: Direct Mail package cost
You use any other CRM, or your cost data lives outside your CRM (agency invoice, print vendor, spreadsheet) Method 3: Upload a cost file

Method 1: Automatic from Raiser's Edge NXT

If you use Raiser's Edge NXT and record appeal and package expenses in NXT, Avid pulls those expenses automatically on every sync. No file upload and no extra configuration are required.

Avid uses the values recorded on the NXT Appeal > Expenses record (actual and budgeted expense amounts, tied to the appeal and, when present, a package). These flow into the ROI column on the Matchback report the next time the data blend refreshes.

If you use NXT but costs are not appearing in the Matchback report, confirm the authenticating NXT user has the Analysis – Query – Export permission (required for Avid to run the expenses query). See Raiser's Edge NXT.

Salesforce, Bloomerang, DonorPerfect, Virtuous, and other CRMs do not currently sync cost data to Avid. If that is your CRM, use Method 2 (Direct Mail package cost) or Method 3 (cost file upload).

Method 2: Direct Mail package cost

When you build a mailing list in Avid's Direct Mail tool, enter Est. Package Cost on each package. Avid writes that per-piece cost onto every Matchback reporting row when you generate the file with Include the exported data in Direct Mail and Matchback reporting checked.

To learn more about this process, see Create a matchback-ready appeal in Direct Mail.

Direct Mail package costs take priority over standalone cost uploads for the same appeal code.

Lists created before Direct Mail supported package costs do not carry historical cost data. For those older campaigns, upload a cost file using Method 3 to backfill.

Method 3: Upload a cost file

If your CRM is not supported for automatic cost pulls, or if your cost data lives outside your CRM (agency invoice, print vendor report, internal spreadsheet), upload a Cost data set.

A cost file is a short summary: one row per appeal, not the mailing list. Include appeal_code and at least one of cost or cost_per_piece. Include audience_size when you have it. After the file lands in Avid, create a data set and set Data Category to Cost.

Do not add a Cost column to a matchback or Direct Mail mailing list and fill only the first row. Matchback adds cost from each mailed record, and blank cells count as $0. One filled cell of piece cost makes ROI look like thousands of percent.

If you keep cost on the mailing list anyway, every mailed row needs cost_per_piece.

For the file format, Data Category steps, and mapping walkthrough, see Add costs for ROI reporting in direct mail and digital efforts.

You can send the file by direct upload, sFTP, forwarded email, or your organization's public upload link. See Send Files to Avid and How to connect SFTP.

After the next data blend refresh (typically within a few hours), ROI columns populate on the Results and Package Results tabs.

Notes, limits, and common questions

How does Avid match donors and gifts to my file?
  • Avid compares the IDs in your upload to IDs in your CRM-synced data.
  • The system automatically chooses between Account ID and Contact ID based on which matches more records.
  • Gifts with appeal codes that match your selected activity are linked and shown in the report.
What is direct response vs. indirect response?
  • Direct response: The gift has an appeal code that matches the appeal code from your activity file. These appear on the Results tab.
  • Indirect response: The donor was on your activity file and gave within your time window, but their gift does not have a matching appeal code (they gave through a different channel). These appear on the Indirect Revenue tab.
What are "Avid Generated" records?

Sometimes donors give to an appeal but were not on the original activity file. To report on these "whitemail" responses:

  • Avid scans transactions for gifts tied to the appeal code in your upload.
  • If a donor has a qualifying gift but no matching activity record, Avid creates an Avid Generated activity.
  • The Include Avid Generated Records filter lets you include or exclude these constructed records.

Including them gives a complete view of appeal performance. Excluding them replicates legacy matchback behavior based only on the uploaded file.

Why do I see "N/A" or "No Data" in the report?
  • No qualifying activities exist for your selected filters.
  • Your upload does not contain IDs that map to CRM constituents.
  • The appeal has no gifts in the selected transaction date range.

Try widening your date range, checking the appeal code, or confirming that the activity file uploaded successfully.

Why are my expected donors missing?
  • Confirm that your direct mail/activity file includes a valid Account ID or Contact ID.
  • Verify that those ID fields are mapped correctly in your CRM integration settings.
  • If you recently changed ID mappings, re-upload the matchback file so activities re-link using the new mapping.

If you are unsure which ID is mapped, contact LockStep Support so they can review your instance.

Why don't I see ROI metrics?

ROI metrics appear only when Avid has cost data for the selected appeals. Walk through these checks in order:

  1. Confirm your cost source. If you use Raiser's Edge NXT, confirm expenses are recorded on the appeal in NXT and that the authenticating NXT user has the Analysis – Query – Export permission. If you use any other CRM, use Method 2 (Direct Mail package cost) or Method 3 (cost file upload). No other CRM currently syncs cost data to Avid.
  2. Check Direct Mail. If you built the list in Direct Mail, confirm Est. Package Cost was entered before you generated the file with Matchback reporting turned on.
  3. Check your cost file. If you uploaded a file, confirm it is a Cost data set with one row per appeal, appeal_code, and at least one of cost or cost_per_piece. Appeal codes must match your transaction data. Go to Settings > Files and confirm Data Category is Cost.
  4. Wait for refresh. After uploading, the data blend refreshes and ROI populates, typically within a few hours.

For the full Cost data set walkthrough, see Add costs for ROI reporting in direct mail and digital efforts.

Why is ROI a huge number, like thousands of percent?

This usually happens when cost sits on a mailing or matchback list, and only the first row has a cost value.

Matchback adds cost from each mailed person. Blank cells count as $0. One filled cell of piece cost produces a huge ROI.

Fix it by uploading a Cost data set with one row per appeal, or by entering cost_per_piece on every mailed row. Then wait for reporting to refresh. See Add costs for ROI reporting in direct mail and digital efforts.

What time windows are available for indirect revenue?

The Indirect Revenue tab shows four windows:

  • 0–15 days – Gifts within 15 days of the activity start date
  • 0–30 days – Gifts within 30 days of the activity start date
  • 0–45 days – Gifts within 45 days of the activity start date
  • Total – All indirect gifts regardless of timing

Next steps

Related to

Related articles