Q: What are the three most important things to consider when designing a brilliant supporter journey?
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 offers, calls to action, and creative they’ll be more likely to respond to and will help you maximize the journey’s efficiency and effectiveness. You can read more about this topic here and here
- The supporter’s basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness. Each of these has to be satisfied in every single touchpoint in the supporter journey to increase the supporter’s motivation to keep engaging with and supporting this org. You can find out more information about this topic here and here
- The supporter experience. Creating a positive supporter experience partly relates to matching offers and messages to who they are (bullet 1) and the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs (bullet 2). But it is also influenced by other factors including asking for and respecting their communication preferences, minimizing irritation from excessive donation requests, and reducing any hassle experienced in any interaction with the org. Ensuring supporter satisfaction is crucial to increasing retention so asking your supporters for their feedback and acting on it should be part of every supporter journey.
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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