Every interaction someone has with your nonprofit shapes their perception of your organization and creates their donor experience. Despite its profound impact, the concept of donor experience often flies under the radar for many nonprofits.
At its core, the donor experience encompasses every touchpoint, from initial outreach to ongoing engagement. The amalgamation of emotions, perceptions, and interactions defines a donor’s journey with your organization.
And it’s a strategic imperative. By prioritizing and improving the donor experience, nonprofits can reduce donor churn, foster loyalty, and even boost revenue.
What Is the Donor Experience and Why Is It Important?
The donor experience is all about how donors feel and think about your organization. It includes every interaction they have with you, including your website, social media, emails, mailers, and in-person communication.
It’s important to think about donor experience because it impacts your bottom line. Improving the donor experience allows you to:
- Generate higher donor engagement and retention (reduce churn). You can even help create more recurring donors with positive experiences.
- Create stronger donor relationships.
- Move donors through the donor cycle more effectively.
- Increase donations and revenue.
How to Improve the Donor Experience at Your Nonprofit
Once you start thinking about donor experience, the natural next step is coming up with a plan to create better donor experiences for your organization.
Here’s how to do it.
1. Learn About Donors
Start with the data and information you already have to learn more about donors.
Use data from your donor database, CRM, donation platform, and Google Analytics. These are great sources of real, relevant data for your organization.
Then, reach out and ask donors about their experiences. This first-hand information can be valuable feedback that can help you shape future campaigns. Ask donors how they like to donate (online, by mail, etc.) and what’s important to them and their continued support.
You can do this outreach via phone calls or a donor survey.
2. Use Personalization
Once you know what donors want, personalize that experience. Almost every communication you send to a donor, including thank-you messages, emails, donation requests, and receipts, can feel like it is just for them. These small touches make every experience feel unique.
Hyper-personalized donor experiences can create more positive interactions and even facilitate increased giving.
3. Focus on Storytelling
Nothing can help connect a donor to your organization like great storytelling highlighting donations’ impact. Foster that connection with personal stories of donors and those they have helped.
Remember to focus on your brand and mission in all visual and written communications during the storytelling process. Use images and videos that show people directly connected to your organization making a difference. (Stay away from generic or stock imagery.) You can also consider using data for storytelling.
4. Make It Easy to Donate
An easy donation experience is a positive one.
The challenge is that what a donor finds easy can differ for everyone. Provide multiple methods for giving, such as text-to-give, in-kind donations, and online forms.
Establish a strong donation page and link to your website in all materials. Make sure there’s a button on every page that leads donors to the form—don’t make them search for it!
Use QR codes on printed materials that link directly to your donation page. Don’t make potential donors click through multiple pages to donate. Create a direct path.
5. Be Transparent
Transparent communication is a must.
There are three key points of communication you should provide to every donor:
- Always provide receipts (GiveWP donation forms can be sent automatically)
- Explain how data is used and protected if using a platform like GiveWP; link to your privacy policy for additional detail
- Lean into your storytelling to explain where donations go and what impact they have on the community
6. Build Community
Foster a sense of belonging and community for donors with a communication plan that’s just for them. Donors will appreciate being part of a greater circle or network of supporters. Community building can also encourage more giving over time.
When you are thinking about this communication plan, include elements that build community, such as:
- Segment an email list of similar donors and create a newsletter that’s just for them
- Create a social media group or online forum where donors can interact with each other
- Develop an online store or offer exclusive gifts or swag items that are available only to donors
- Host special donor-only events, such as a luncheon, or bring in a speaker related to your organization
Improve Your Donor Experience With GiveWP
Whether you create it or not, every donor will come away with an experience pertaining to their giving. With a directed strategy in mind, you can foster a path of positive donor experiences that can lead to greater loyalty and even increased donations.
GiveWP has tools to help you manage the donor experience, from early communication to long-term relationships. The WordPress tool includes powerful donation forms, a donor database, and fundraising reports and integrates with popular payment gateways and tools to ensure seamless transactions.
If you already use GiveWP, use the data you collect to strengthen current donor experiences. If you are just starting, get started for free or view the demo.
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