Run a Matchback report

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

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.

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 − Cost) ÷ Cost × 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.

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 uploaded.
• 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.

Method 1: Automatic from your CRM

If you use Raiser's Edge NXT—and, in some cases, Salesforce—Avid can pull appeal and package costs directly from your CRM. No file upload is required.

1. When you connect (or reconnect) your CRM, confirm the option to pull cost data is enabled in the connection modal.
2. After the next integration sync, costs flow into the Matchback report automatically alongside your appeals and transactions.

Method 2: Direct Mail Select package cost

When you build a mailing list with Avid's Direct Mail Select tool, you can save the package cost alongside the export. Avid uses that cost in the Matchback report automatically.

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

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), you can upload a cost file. There are multiple ways to send the file to Avid:

• sFTP – drop the file into your Avid sFTP folder. See How to connect SFTP.
• Email forward – forward the file as an attachment to your Avid ingestion email address.
• Public upload link – upload the file through your organization's Avid upload link.

Any of these methods work. Pick whichever fits your workflow. More info: Send Files to Avid

Cost file format

• If you provide audience_size + cost, the system calculates cost_per_piece.
• If you provide audience_size + cost_per_piece, the system calculates total cost.
• Appeal codes are validated against your transaction file; a warning appears if no match is found.

Create the data set and set the category to Cost

1. After the file uploads, go to Settings > Data Sets and click + Add.
2. On the Information step, give the data set a clear name (for example, Cost file – FY26 Spring Appeal).

3. Under Data Category, select Cost.

   The Cost category is what tells Avid to route this file into ROI calculations in the Matchback report. Other categories (such as Transactions or Constituents) will not surface the data in ROI.

4. Complete the Filters and Column Mapping steps, making sure appeal_code and at least one of cost or cost_per_piece are mapped.
5. Save the data set.

For a deeper walkthrough of the data set wizard, see "+ Add" a Data Set.

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