Too many nonprofits fail to see themselves as providing ‘customer service’, yet as Roger has emphasized repeatedly (here and here, for example), ineffective servicing of donor questions and concerns (on matters as ‘simple’ as correcting misspelled names) can be a major reason for anemic donor commitment and even defection.

Here’s a study indicating just how demanding consumers have become with respect to customer service, and if you don’t think these expectations wash over into the donor/nonprofit context, you’re dreaming. Expectations have heightened especially around social media interactions.

For starters, speed of response. In this survey, some 42% of respondents making contact with companies via social media say they expect a response from companies within an hour! Another 38% within the day. Amidst all the crowing about how cool your organization’s Facebook page is, can your nonprofit promise that?

Half of respondents say the phone is their preferred method of contacting companies with customer service issues or inquiries; 27% prefer email and 14% online chats. Only 2% say social media, by the way.

In the consumer world, phone contact is rated highest in terms of meeting expectations and — most importantly — resolving issues. When people contact brands via phone, their issues are resolved 54% of the time, the highest percentage of any customer service channel; social media has the lowest rate of issue resolution (13%).

Do you encourage your donors to call? You should. But before you do …

Are you sure you know what will happen when they do? You better! Make the call yourself, it could be frightening!

Tom

P.S. Do you appreciate the importance of effective donor servicing to your bottom line? The Agitator has offered plenty of commentary and advice regarding the importance of donor servicing to donor commitment and retention … check our archives, with search term “customer service”. Better still, if you’re really serious about wanting to improve your donor service to improve your bottom line, re-read Roger’s Retention Fundraising book, where he shows how critical it is to embed customer service in your overall donor retention strategy.