Let’s talk about your relationships.
Now think about people you call “friends”.
You stay connected, even when life gets busy. You talk or text just to catch
up, or to extend an invitation. You're in it for the long haul…through a myriad
of shared experiences. Friends add value to your life without you even
thinking about it. Friendships are, for the most part, frictionless. The desire to retain these relationships comes naturally.
Who are you more likely to support
through thick and thin? I’m betting it’s your friends. So why is it that many organizations
and associations treat their current donors and members like acquaintances
rather than friends?
Far too many organizations continue
to rely on an outdated transaction-based model for the majority of their
individual donor revenue or membership renewals. This model is dependent upon annual
“look at what we did this year”, and/or “here’s why you want to stay a member”
appeals.
We’re all familiar with the saying
that it costs a lot more to get a customer than to keep one. It’s time to take
a page out of the for-profit playbook on the lifetime value of a customer.
The Value of Friends
The Value of Friends
Numerous
studies show that a mere 10 percent improvement in donos/member retention can result in up to a 200 percent increase in projected value of retained
donors/members. What drives this value?
As each year passes, fully-engaged members and donors tend to increase their levels of involvement and giving. Also, as repeat donors and members become more familiar with an organization’s programs and services they are more likely to talk up the organization to friends, family and co-workers. Much like a sales cycle, potential givers or members are far more likely to join in when they hear about an organization from a satisfied friend.
As each year passes, fully-engaged members and donors tend to increase their levels of involvement and giving. Also, as repeat donors and members become more familiar with an organization’s programs and services they are more likely to talk up the organization to friends, family and co-workers. Much like a sales cycle, potential givers or members are far more likely to join in when they hear about an organization from a satisfied friend.
Engaging Your Friends
Forbes has an interesting read about shopping patterns. The story
profiles Kroger, the grocery chain, yet I found the principles very applicable
to nonprofits and social enterprises. Kroger calls the 11 million pieces of direct mail it sends to
customers each quarter “snowflakes”—because it’s a fluke if any two pieces sent to individuals within the database are the same. Much like snowflakes and friends, donors and
members may look alike, but dig deeper and you’ll see that each one is unique.
While your organization doesn’t have the financial resources of Kroger, there are steps you can take to turn your acquaintance-type members and donors into lifelong friends.
While your organization doesn’t have the financial resources of Kroger, there are steps you can take to turn your acquaintance-type members and donors into lifelong friends.
- Create a series of new donor/member welcome communications. Friendship must be earned. It starts by welcoming acquaintances into the fold. The sooner this process begins, the greater your chances of enduring friendship. Spend the first year learning about their particular interests, then (and this is key) actually make use of this data to tailor communications and invitations.
- Put leadership to work. Develop a schedule for board members to make random phone calls to simply say “thank you for supporting our mission”, or “we’re glad that you’re a member.” It’s surprising how many of these calls result in increased levels of engagement.
- Make it easy. Younger donors and members are significantly more comfortable with participating online. In fact, when reminded to do so, younger donors are more likely to give more than once a year than older donors if they have an online option.
- Make it quick. The generational gap is at work here as well. While the baby-boomer generation feels comfortable with longer lasting meetings and volunteer opportunities; younger adults are looking for ways to make an impact in an hour, or learning online to save valuable time for other activities.
- Make it emotional. Whether young or older, we’re all drawn to emotional experiences. Yet, the stories that interest me may be different than what motivates you. Have a clear understanding of the emotional factors that will draw individual or groups of donors deeper into your organization.
- Make it social. Develop a social media plan. Better yet, involve some of your donors or members in developing this plan. Getting people talking to each other builds a sense of community among friends.
