Enhancing the Donor Experience

• "Identify the one big thing that causes donors problems, and fix it," Brandt said. She mentioned a former financing company she worked for that instead of fixing its one big problem that customers pointed out across the board — too long of lines at the drive-through — ignored it, and the problem still exists today.
• It's very hard for donors to start a relationship with you, but very easy to stop.
• Call your organization as a donor/prospect or get a friend to call. Know who's answering the phone and what it sounds like. Is it appropriate and representative of your brand and mission? Or does something need to be corrected?
• Get as much information about your organization and donors as possible: Do surveys, talk with staff and employees, engage in social media conversations.
• Examine all your touchpoints. Make sure you send out consistent, uniform messages.
• Long-term donors aren't necessarily valuable donors — if they drain your resources.
• A loyalty program is not for loyal customers — they're already happy and loyal — it's for new customers who need guidance.
• Failure to test is a huge problem. Many organizations don't do it for a variety of reasons: time, money, not sure what to test. "It's going to cost you more to fail than it would to test," Brandt stressed.
• It's OK to make changes.
• You don't get to say "sorry" later. If there's a problem, fix it immediately and apologize right away.
• Empower people from the top down and reward them for making right decisions. "People who punish people for making the right decisions, fire them," Brandt said.
• Know what donors want and like in mailings, e-mails, etc., and give it to them. Don't send a donor a basic, vanilla mailer if she only responds to more elaborate ones, and vice versa.
• Be transparent. Tell donors what you're going to do with their money … and then do it.
• "If you have to click more than once to give on your site, that's a no-no," Brandt said. "A login for ease, yes, but NO WAY make a login required to make a donation!"
• Empower people at the front desk to have what they need. They should have all the information and answers for donors and prospects looking for more details.
• Empower employees: Let them make decisions, ask for input, invite them into discussions, etc.
• "We're lucky that so many people want to help our causes that sometimes we ignore people," Brandt said. Acknowledge your donors, employees, staff and volunteers.

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