Nonprofit Satisfaction and Experience

The Temkin Group publishes an annual Experience Ratings study. It evaluates the quality of the experiences U.S. companies deliver to their customers by surveying 10,000 U.S. consumers about their recent interactions with organizations. They measure the experience across three different areas:

1. How did the consumer feel about his or her recent interaction with a company? (emotion)
2. How easy was it to interact with a company? (effort)
3. To what degree was the goal of the interaction accomplished? (success)

To quote the 2015 report: “Customer experience shows its first decline. We compared this year’s results with survey responses from the past four years and found that customer experience has dropped since last year. Even when we removed utilities from the analysis (which we only added in 2015), the number of poor and very poor companies grew from 25 percent in 2014 to 28 percent in 2015, while the number of good and very good companies remained the same. Of the three components, emotion experienced the most significant decline.”

Luckily, nonprofits are not included in this report—but if they were, how do you think they would measure up? Perhaps more importantly, how well do you think your organization would measure up if you asked your constituents about their experiences with your brand? What makes that question so scary for most people is that nonprofits have so many different engagement avenues that thinking through “a satisfactory experience” can become somewhat overwhelming. Understanding if your constituents are having experiences that make them feel good about their choice to engage with your mission and, perhaps of greater importance, feel good enough to want to come back again is critical to your success. Here are some tips to make this less overwhelming:

Channels
Think through the various channels where you have large usage by your constituents. Don’t just think about your donors—although, dissatisfied donors will probably make the biggest impact on your organization the fastest.

• Customer service/donor service/inbound telephone service:
  Whether you have a general inbound number to handle any constituent questions or an inbound number that provides services to the general public, your brand has a chance to make a great impression—but it can break down in several areas. You need to understand how long people are waiting on hold before they speak to someone, how many people are abandoning the call before they speak with someone, and if people are getting their issues resolved or questions answered. You should never close the call without asking if their needs were met.

  Furthermore, your organization should be using this important one-on-one experience to educate callers about opportunities related to the cause, other services that are available to help them, etc. As always, what you offer must be relevant to the constituents or any positive feelings you have created by meeting their needs earlier in the calls will be reduced.

• Online experience:
  Frankly, an entire article (even a book) could be dedicated to creating an effective and satisfactory experience online. I’m sure there are some out there. I’m not the first to say that this is just the tip of the iceberg, but it represents some of the highest priority areas you should review.

  Starting at the beginning of the experience—let’s face it—an effective homepage is critical. What does “effective” mean? Here are key elements to consider: the speed with which the homepage loads and the usefulness of the homepage's navigation to accomplish business. Speed is an obvious issue and today’s consumer expects an immediate response. If your site takes longer than two to three seconds to load, you have a problem. Next, your navigation strategy must focus on your most common constituents, and if they can “find their way” from the homepage to accomplish their goals. Contrary to what you might believe, most website visitors come with a specific goal in mind—be it to learn something, make a donation, find a volunteer opportunity, etc. Think through your major constituent needs/behaviors and then review your website to make sure it is obvious how those needs get met within one to two clicks.

  Another online experience that can often create frustration is the completion of online forms. If you have any forms on your website make sure they are intuitive, clear and provide the appropriate options. Additionally, only gather the information you need for the transaction or ensure you are explaining why you need information that is not inherently needed for the transaction. The best way to “explain” is to actually turn it into a benefit for the constituent (tailored information in the future, information that is of interest, managing a preference, etc.)

• Direct mail:
  Most nonprofits have some type of direct-mail program. Typically the “experience” with direct mail is managed through four areas: 1) the number of times an average constituent is receiving direct mail from your organization, 2) how you handle preferences around communication, 3) how you handle changes of name and address, and 4) if your information is relevant to the constituent.

  As far as frequency goes, you can ask 10 different people in the industry and get 10 different answers. In reality, frequency becomes a non-issue if No. 4 is handled appropriately. Direct mail becomes a nuisance when it doesn’t matter to the reader—when it doesn’t help them, inform them or motivate them to be better in life or make a difference in the world. The other items are directly related to just providing good customer service. If someone writes a new address on the mail piece, ensure this gets captured and is updated within your mail stream as soon as possible. These are basic expectations of consumers—no matter what the industry is. And, of course, handling communication preferences is not only good customer service, but can be problematic if complaints are made to the state attorney general.

  By the way, the same points above apply to the use of the telephone channel for outbound marketing and fundraising. In fact, the rules and regulations surrounding the use of the phone when calling consumers are very specific and can create large issues for your nonprofit if not followed.

Events
Some marketing experts think of your community events as just other channels like the ones listed above—I disagree. Yes, they are unique entry points to your organization, but for some organizations, their events are as well known as the master organization’s brand itself. Additionally, the volunteers and participants who are involved in your events have unique expectations and, unfortunately, when they are not met—the sheer impact of negative peer-to-peer communication can become a real problem for the event’s success and the organization overall. The key experience areas that must be monitored for events fall into the following categories:

• Fundraising and planning:
  The fundraising and planning experience is best thought of as pre-event. Your volunteers and participants are the success of your event. Once they agree to support your cause and volunteer their time, they need to be taken care of in the months and weeks leading up to the event. Your event staff must be organized and have a plan to ensure your volunteers feel efficient and that they are making a difference. Disorganization by nonprofit staff is one of the key drivers of an unsatisfactory volunteer experience. Furthermore, the organization is perceived to be the experts in fundraising. Your volunteers and participants need to feel that they are receiving guidance and support to help them be successful as they ask friends and family for donations.
• On-site operations:
  Just remember your volunteers and participants have worked for weeks and months to raise money and awareness for your cause (and event). Don’t let them down through poor on-site operations. What constitutes poor operations? These might be minor things, but they are important: lack of good signage on where to go to check in at the event, food (if applicable) that is not as expected or previously promised, bathrooms that are not available or not in reasonable locations, etc. You might provide the most rewarding, emotional experience to someone, but if they can’t find the bathrooms you will hear about it—over and over and over again.
• Post-event communication:
  For many staff members, the day after the event is a day to breathe and be happy it is “over.” However, your volunteers and participants have a significant sense of accomplishment and it didn’t stop when they went home. The post-event communication is critical for many reasons. First, volunteers and participants want to be thanked and thanked again. You need to make sure your event constituents realize how important they are to the entire event and the cause. Second, it allows you to communicate the details of the event—how much money was raised, what that money will do for the cause, etc.

  Also, if the event recognizes levels of fundraising success, make sure you communicate those results (top fundraisers, top teams) as quickly as possible. I would recommend doing this at the event, but if for some reason it must be delayed, do it within 24 hours of the event.

Progress and Information
While this is last on the list, it can easily be the No. 1 reason your constituents indicate they will not engage further with your nonprofit. Simply put, you must be able to communicate how your organization is making progress toward its goals and helping the cause. This is not a pie-chart talking about your financial stewardship. This is not a set of numbers in an annual report. This is a clear set of statements that show progress towards whatever your organization is trying to make better or overcome. Today’s donors (not to mention tomorrow’s donors) want proof. They want to know the time they are giving, the money they are donating and even the support they show for your organization on social channels is the right decision and your organization is worthy and successful.

It’s a long list—and this is only a blog post. You must make the experience you are providing your constituents top-class. This post started with the experience satisfaction ratings in the commercial world. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that the same doesn’t apply to your nonprofit.