A surprising number of fundraisers fail to understand a basic axiom of a successful organization/donor relationship: It is the actions an organization takes toward its donors (the so-called ‘donor experience’) that determines the attitude — positive or negative — of the donor. In turn, it is the donor’s attitude that determines the donor’s behavior toward the organization — e.g., giving volunteering, staying or leaving.

In fact, most organizations don’t even bother to measure how the organization’s actions directed toward the donor actually affect donors’ attitudes. Instead, they concentrate on old-fashioned, traditional metrics aimed at determining efficiency — e.g. ROI, RFM, conversion rates, cost per dollar raised, etc.

Even those fundraisers who understand the importance of providing good donor experiences generally don’t do anything to measure it. Don’t bother finding out directly from the donor what’s ‘good’ and what’s ‘bad’.

Rather, the majority swap old wife’s tales (‘best practices’) and other tribal wisdom which is passed around at conferences, on blogs and other outlets with bold assertions that this or that type of experience is what ‘makes donors happy’.

Here’s a video that sadly could serve as a parable for the way most nonprofits approach the ‘measurement’ of donor experiences.

If an organization is to become truly donor-centered, a new organizational model and set of metrics (Loyalty/Commitment/Lifetime Value), not performance metrics (RFM, ROI, conversion rates) is required for steering activities that build donor value for the future.

Whenever you come across an old-fashioned organization that is broken into silos you can bet that management is mostly focused on organizational efficiency and not on bettering the donor experience. After all, it’s far easier to measure ‘efficiency’ by silos or specialized function (direct mail, online, F2F, telemarketing) than it is to seek donors’ feedback.

In sharp contrast, donor-centered organizations focus on discovering and measuring actions that please, retain and upgrade donors by providing experiences that make a difference to donors –and by extension to each donor’s commitment/loyalty and lifetime value to the organization.

Assuming the major organizational/cultural barrier of the silo can be overcome, just what should an organization be measuring?

The answer involves focusing on metrics and information surrounding ‘donor experience’. What is important to them? What makes them satisfied? What do they consider an excellent experience?

The key is to measure what really matters to donors. And what really matters is not general or overall satisfaction. As explained in an earlier post — Measuring Donor Experiences – Part 1 — general satisfaction is one of those meaningless findings; what I call a ‘vanity metric’.

A must-read piece by Kevin Schulman, the CEO of DonorVoice, titled Don’t Measure Donor Satisfaction (it is a waste; Instead Measure and Act on Donor Experience), cites specific examples of the types of donor experiences that can and should be measured. I urge you to read Kevin’s post in its entirety.

Here are some examples of donor experiences that can affect giving and true donor satisfaction.

• Performing a search for Charity X
• Finding the donation page quickly and easily
• Finding a donation page that matches the direct mail offer
• Filling out the form
• The confirmation page
• The email confirmation
• The thank you

These are among a set of steps any donor might encounter, forming opinions about the organization along the way. If the experience is poor at any point the donor may simply abandon the effort. Or perhaps he/she may still hit the final ‘Donate’ button, but mentally commit to never do it again.

As an example Kevin notes, “Continuously measuring the ease of the donation process by conducting a short, purposeful feedback survey post-donation and acting on that feedback will lead to a complete reversal in ease of donation scores going from a very crappy experience to a very positive one.”

Kevin illustrates his point with the following chart:

He explains:  “The corresponding impact on conversion? Going from 10% conversion (i.e. visitors to the donation form actually completing it) to 32%. The increase came from feedback from those giving who were prompted in the feedback process to identify the specific issues in need of improvement.”

The reality is that when we take the time and make the effort to gain donor insights about process improvements we will raise significantly more money. And, we will keep raising more long into the future. Why? Because a better donor experience increases the future likelihood that the donor will continue supporting our organization.

In short, measuring specific donor experiences is about raising more money by identifying and improving specific donor experiences — based on actual feedback directly from the donor.

It’s way past time for most nonprofits to break down the silos with their performance-based metrics and start moving toward becoming truly donor-focused by measuring and monitoring –and acting upon — specific donor experiences.

Which donor experiences are you measuring?

Roger

P.S. It’s way past time that organizations get serious about donor feedback. It’s such a simple, inexpensive process that it’s almost malpractice to not be doing it in this day and age.

This would be a great time to take advantage of The Agitator’s FREE  — that’s free forever! — automated feedback tool. You can install it yourself in about 15 minutes. Go here to watch the video and download the tool.