Designing A Customer-Centric Organization
In his posts on ‘donor centricity’ (start here and use the links!), Roger strives to separate the wheat from the chaff. As he has put it, just using the word ‘you’ in every other sentence doesn’t make your fundraising program donor centric.
The true magic ingredient of donor centricity is listening. Listening to each donor — in fact reaching out for and simplifying donor feedback — and then acting on the information donors provide. Indeed, if you don’t intend to act, why bother listening … why pretend?
Acting on what your donors tell you might lead to changing things that probably could be working to the greater satisfaction of all donors (such as streamlining your online donation page) … a better systematic or ‘wholesale’ solution or practice.
Or, at the ‘retail’ level, changing the way you interact with respect to an individual donor, based upon their expressed preference (such as communicating only online).
Response to listening — carried right through to the individual donor — is the true test of donor centricity.
Here, from the commercial space, is an example written up in Marketing Profs — with a bit more marketing jargon, of course — of how to move an organization in the direction of customer-centric.
Step #1, which would apply to any nonprofit as well, is focusing on understanding the customer experience from the customer’s point of view. Why? Because it’s only the customer’s or donor’s perception of whether things are working satisfactorily that matters, not yours.
I liked this ‘experience map’ used to illustrate the point for a catering business (click to enlarge). In this case, by listening across the entire ‘customer journey’, it became clear that, while the customers raved about the food, there were also a number of dissatisfying aspects to the service that could actually jeopardise its viability.
In short, offering great food isn’t enough to hold the customer.
Is your nonprofit just offering ‘great food’? That’s not good enough these days.
Tom
3 responses to “Designing A Customer-Centric Organization”
Behavioral Science Q & A
Integrating an individual giving appeal with other communications from a charity can have both positive and negative effects, and the outcome largely depends on how it’s executed. Advantages of Integration Brand Consistency: Maintaining a consistent appearance and messaging across all communications can reinforce the org’s brand identity and strengthen brand recognition and trust among your […]
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I’m not aware of any in-market tests specifically comparing recurring vs. gift frequency language. I suspect the answer might not be the same with all gift frequencies, nor with all people. It sounds like a great opportunity for you to test and find out what works for your audience. Based on the literature, here’s a couple […]
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Based on what we know from existing data, those renewal notices can actually be pretty effective in getting people to donate. They tap into our psychology – creating a sense of urgency, reminding us of past support, and using personalization to make the message hit home. They’re playing on our natural tendencies to feel obligated […]
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Interesting question. I had a quick look at the testing done on this topic. On the positive side, in all cases, over half of donors decide to cover the fee. In some cases, it goes as high as 65%. Not a negligible percentage at all. Here’s another test from iRaiser showing consistent results (see point […]
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There’s just one thing to consider when designing a supporter journey: the supporter. More specifically, you need to take into account: Who the supporter is i.e. their identity, which is the reason they support this cause, and their personality, which describes the way they “see” and process the world. These will determine the kind of […]
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I’m not an expert in this but a quick search surfaced this article on the effect of tax reforms on 2019’s charitable giving. The researchers didn’t find a reduction. Actually, they observed an “increase in charitable contributions in 2019, even with the lower tax rates and the dramatically smaller number of taxpayers who itemize their […]
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Yes. Again. As Adrian Sargeant has been saying in print since at least 2004, when his Fundraising Management (co-author: Elaine Jay) appeared.
When fundraisers view their organization’s supporters as customers who should be satisfied (rather than as, say, bulging wallets), the results are SO much better.
As Mark Phillips has uttered/muttered and growled, “The only thing worth a damn is the donor [customer] experience.” And that experience has many parts worth considering.
Donor experience, the name truly says it all.
We all know when we have had an “experience”.
As the research has shown, even a bad experience provides an opportunity to make things “right” and to establish a long term donor!
SO important! I wrote an entire article on this subject recently. http://clairification.com/2017/05/23/6-ways-create-superior-nonprofit-donor-experience/ It begins with making someone on your staff responsible. Ideally, make everyone responsible!