The first level of feedback is asking people for their thoughts and fixing problems for them.

No, simply having your phone number on your website, mail, and publications and waiting for people to call is not level one feedback.  It may have been at one point, but no longer.

In late 2016, I tracked every interaction for a week to see what organizations I dealt with asked for feedback.  The results:

• 47% of organizations reached out specifically for feedback, including a hotel where the desk manager was asleep with a towel over his head.
• 37% had an indirect ask for feedback, like a feedback ask on the receipt, including the U.S. Postal Service
• 16% did not ask for feedback. These were:

1. Nashville Airport parking lot
2. Local Chinese restaurant. In fairness, the characters at the bottom of my receipt might have been a request for feedback, but as I don’t read Chinese, it likely isn’t a good ask for feedback.
3. An airline that for the sake of anonymity I’ll refer to as Definitely-Not-Canadian Airlines, who cancelled my Washington to Nashville flight for weather despite 1) the flight originally being delayed for mechanical issues, 2) there being no bad weather in Washington, 3) in Nashville, or 4) in between. This distinction is important because it means that Definitely-Not-Canadian Airlines would not pay for the hotel at which I had to stay for six hours before flying back to Nashville through Charlotte.

I’m not saving if you don’t ask for feedback, you are as bad at customer service as DNC Airlines.  You, Dear Reader, have never required me to pay to go to Charlotte against my will. (If you live in Charlotte, I have nothing against your city.  I hope to see it someday voluntarily when the sun is up.)  Suffice it to say, as I write this, I am traveling home on a direct flight from Definitely-Not-Northeast Airlines.

I am, however, saying that if you don’t ask for feedback, you are getting feedback as well as DNC Airlines.  I also am saying you are worse at getting feedback than a hotel where the desk clerk is asleep and worse than the United States Postal Service.

(Shudder!)

Level one feedback is, if you don’t remember amidst my travel-related digressions, using feedback to fix issues for individual donors.

One study of for-profit retention numbers is at right.

You’ll note a few things:

• They are better than non-profit retention numbers. This is likely because there are some for-profit sectors where it’s difficult not to retain customers.  If you had a nickel for every time you hear someone say “I wish I could switch Internet providers, but there’s no other options out here,” you wouldn’t have to raise funds, no?

• You can make an improvement in retention rates by getting feedback and not doing a darned thing. People’s favorite topic is themselves and sometimes being heard and acknowledged is enough to repair a relationship.

• This shows what study after study confirms: people who have a complaint quickly resolved are more likely to retain than those who had no complaint to begin with. Donor services is a retention machine.

I’m not advocating for getting feedback and not doing anything – there are greater gains to be had.  And I’m sure not advocating for intentionally making “mistakes” then fixing them quickly – goodness knows we’ll make enough of them without trying.

Rather, I’m saying that a concerted effort to get feedback, then fix problems, pays for itself.

But wait, you say!  I am a small and/or resource-strapped nonprofit!  How can I deal with the bevy of complaints I’m likely to get?

I feel you.  At MADD, the donor relations department is named Olga.  And while I would put her up against larger donor relations departments head-to-head John-Henry-style, she was still but one person.  Here I would advocate:

1. Triage using commitment. If you are asking donors how committed they are to your organization along with your feedback, you know on whom to focus most of your effort.  If your highly committed gala table host has an issue, you should focus on that more and less on the person who hasn’t donated and doesn’t like the color of your donate button.
2.   If someone is low commitment and low satisfaction, an email autoresponder apologizing and     saying someone may be in touch may suffice.  For the highly committed but dissatisfied group, a slightly different autoresponder saying you are looking into it and will get back to them buys you the time you need to fix the issue or be able to explain why you can’t.
3. Use it as an opportunity. Thankfully, most of your feedback will be of the keep-up-the-good-work variety.  If someone is high commitment, high satisfaction, and high value, when they’ve told you how much they like you is a great time to introduce your monthly giving program or tell them about an event in their area.

In the long run, however, donors flee from organizations who don’t meet their needs to those who do.  Be part of the latter group.

Nick

Ps. Nothing above should be taken to say that all donor comments are fixable. I once had a person ask how he could donate a cow.

Not as a symbolic gift a la Heifer International.  He wanted to donate an actual cow.  A cow.