Nonprofits And The Customer Experience
In the commercial marketing arena, there’s heaps of chat about the ‘customer experience’ and how to improve it in the interest of retaining and up-selling customers.
Nonprofit marketers who watch that space are probably a bit dismissive, because few of us have stores, physical products, services, complex transactional websites, call centers and so forth where it’s obvious the customer experience plays out for better or worse.
However, nonprofits do indeed deliver a ‘customer experience’, and this post — Both gift and sale are four letter words — by Chuck English at Marketing That Works illustrates how.
Chuck talks about these elements of the donor experience, which a nonprofit can deliver well or poorly …
- A personal sense of satisfaction.
- The ability to tell others about what I’ve done.
- The knowledge that I am helping people, advancing a cause or making a difference.
- The opportunity to find out more about an organization or cause (and engage more deeply).
- The opportunity to do it all again.
Amen, Chuck.
Tom
P.S. This sounds like building donor commitment to me, something we can’t say enough about.
One response to “Nonprofits And The Customer Experience”
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! I’m a huge fan of getting nonprofits to embrace and improve the experiences we create for our various stakeholders. Don’t think that just because we’re mission focused means we can ignore the experience we’re creating! It’s about the journey, not just the destination.