What's it like to be one of your donors? Do they have to fight their way through voicemail hell to talk? Do you screw everything up like a plumber? Are you casually cruel like an airline?
You don't have to be a sadist to create experiences like those (though I'm sure it helps). Bad experience comes from companies not caring about what their customers go through.
If you don't care about it, I can almost guarantee you're creating unpleasant experiences for your donors.
A few smart companies are starting to figure this out. And a blog they're reading is Customer Experience Matters, which recently posted Introducing The 6 Laws Of Customer Experience:
- Every interaction creates a personal reaction.
- People are instinctively self-centered.
- Customer familiarity breeds alignment.
- Unengaged employees don't create engaged customers.
- Employees do what is measured, incented, and celebrated.
- You can't fake it.
This list is not aimed at the nonprofit sector. Nevertheless, it would be smart to pay attention these things. Because donor experience really does matter.
We don't typically have a lot of front-line interactions with donors the way retailers and service companies do, but that's no excuse to ignore the one-to-one touches we have with donors. Do the people who take calls from donors really get it? Do they understand your cause well enough to answer questions? Do they love donors? Do they have the authority and access to comply with donor requests?
Pay attention to these things. They matter as much as doing your fundraising and marketing right.
See also How poor service destroys your reputation.
Technorati Tags: fundraising, customer service
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