Just over two weeks into our mystery shopping and it’s time to do a bit of a overview of findings to date. And the first thing to say is that there has been a marked improvement in how charities are handling online donations over the last two years.
In 2006, 66% of charities sent a thank you email in response to a web donation.
This year, 83% sent an email thank you.
There are also some significant improvements by individual charities in how they accept, process and acknowledge donations. I’ll be dealing with them in detail in the coming weeks, but Irish Cancer Society, Amnesty International, Simon Communities and Children’s Medical and Research Foundation can all take credit for clear steps forward - generally nothing extraordinary, just doing things better which...
Just over two weeks into our mystery shopping and it’s time to do a bit of a overview of findings to date. And the first thing to say is that there has been a marked improvement in how charities are handling online donations over the last two years.
In 2006, 66% of charities sent a thank you email in response to a web donation.
This year, 83% sent an email thank you.
There are also some significant improvements by individual charities in how they accept, process and acknowledge donations. I’ll be dealing with them in detail in the coming weeks, but Irish Cancer Society, Amnesty International, Simon Communities and Children’s Medical and Research Foundation can all take credit for clear steps forward - generally nothing extraordinary, just doing things better which...
It’s the bit you always overlook. You’ve written the great thank you email, thrown in an emotionally resonant anecdote or two (haven’t you?) and signed off with a big, empathetic hug of a thank you. And then you realise you need to stick something in the subject line. So what do you do? Write ‘Donation Confirmation’, because that’s what it is, isn’t it?
Time to stop and start again. Forget the content of the email for a sec and put all your energy, effort and empathy into that subject line. Because that’s what people read first. In fact that may be all people read - at the very least it will determine whether they read any further. You wouldn’t treat a billboard headline as an afterthought, would you? Well, don’t treat a subject...
It’s the bit you always overlook. You’ve written the great thank you email, thrown in an emotionally resonant anecdote or two (haven’t you?) and signed off with a big, empathetic hug of a thank you. And then you realise you need to stick something in the subject line. So what do you do? Write ‘Donation Confirmation’, because that’s what it is, isn’t it?
Time to stop and start again. Forget the content of the email for a sec and put all your energy, effort and empathy into that subject line. Because that’s what people read first. In fact that may be all people read - at the very least it will determine whether they read any further. You wouldn’t treat a billboard headline as an afterthought, would you? Well, don’t treat a subject...
The two rules of a Thank You are that it should be PROMPT and PERSONAL. We’ll get on to the personal touch later, but we have some clear winners in the prompt department.
Congratulations to Bothar, Cystic Fibrosis Association, Marie Keating Foundation and Trócaire all off whom succeeded in getting me a thank you letter in two working days.
Is your organisation that good?
Technorati Tags: mystery shopping, charity, thank you, charity...
The two rules of a Thank You are that it should be PROMPT and PERSONAL. We’ll get on to the personal touch later, but we have some clear winners in the prompt department.
Congratulations to Bothar, Cystic Fibrosis Association, Marie Keating Foundation and Trócaire all off whom succeeded in getting me a thank you letter in two working days.
Is your organisation that good?
Technorati Tags: mystery shopping, charity, thank you, charity...
Tragically, nonprofits are not very good at customer service and that is an understatement. All fundraisers should perhaps reflect that customer service is like personal hygiene – without it, your relationships won’t even get started.
As almost every mystery shopping test confirms, fundraisers are almost invariably rotten at customer service. In the past most donors haven’t expected anything better, but as customer expectations rise generally, that will change for nonprofits for sure.
Woody Allen … foresaw swarms of invading aliens who would not be eons ahead of us at all. Instead they would be 15 minutes ahead in everything … By being consistently just 15 minutes ahead … these infuriating aliens could always be sure to have just enough advantage over us to...
Tragically, nonprofits are not very good at customer service and that is an understatement. All fundraisers should perhaps reflect that customer service is like personal hygiene – without it, your relationships won’t even get started.
As almost every mystery shopping test confirms, fundraisers are almost invariably rotten at customer service. In the past most donors haven’t expected anything better, but as customer expectations rise generally, that will change for nonprofits for sure.
Woody Allen … foresaw swarms of invading aliens who would not be eons ahead of us at all. Instead they would be 15 minutes ahead in everything … By being consistently just 15 minutes ahead … these infuriating aliens could always be sure to have just enough advantage over us to...
I got a very nice email from Liz Roche, the St Vincent de Paul’s National Fundraising Co-ordinator. They’re currently re-developing their website and will soon be able to capture donor information properly. I may have been a little harsh in my comments about SVP in previous posts (sorry about that) but it’s good to hear that they are taking steps to address the gaps in their online giving. Here’s Liz’s email in full:
Dear Damian,
Your post of August 5th has been brought to my attention and I am writing to personally thank you for your very generous donation to SVP via the website.
I’m sure you will be glad to hear that we are in the middle of a major website development and revamping project, which will include being able to capture donor details and thank...
I got a very nice email from Liz Roche, the St Vincent de Paul’s National Fundraising Co-ordinator. They’re currently re-developing their website and will soon be able to capture donor information properly. I may have been a little harsh in my comments about SVP in previous posts (sorry about that) but it’s good to hear that they are taking steps to address the gaps in their online giving. Here’s Liz’s email in full:
Dear Damian,
Your post of August 5th has been brought to my attention and I am writing to personally thank you for your very generous donation to SVP via the website.
I’m sure you will be glad to hear that we are in the middle of a major website development and revamping project, which will include being able to capture donor details and thank...
Two years ago, I donated a small amount of money to 15 Irish charities - all in the medium to large category - as part of the preparations for a presentation at a fundraising conference. The results were disappointing - 5 never sent me an email to say thanks, some didn’t even record any details.
So, two years on, I thought I’d repeat the exercise to see if things have improved.
We’ve selected 20 charities (the same 15 as 2006, plus 5 new ones) and made (or tried to make) an online donation. We’ll be tracking how each of the charities relate to us over the next couple of weeks.
We’re going to be entirely open and upfront about what happens - not to point figures or take pleasure from failings, but to offer advice and suggestions on how to improve things to...
Two years ago, I donated a small amount of money to 15 Irish charities - all in the medium to large category - as part of the preparations for a presentation at a fundraising conference. The results were disappointing - 5 never sent me an email to say thanks, some didn’t even record any details.
So, two years on, I thought I’d repeat the exercise to see if things have improved.
We’ve selected 20 charities (the same 15 as 2006, plus 5 new ones) and made (or tried to make) an online donation. We’ll be tracking how each of the charities relate to us over the next couple of weeks.
We’re going to be entirely open and upfront about what happens - not to point figures or take pleasure from failings, but to offer advice and suggestions on how to improve things to...
A couple of quick updates on the Great Mystery Shopping Escapade:
1) The charity that I couldn’t donate to online last week was the Irish Hospice Foundation. I’ve spoken to Tim O’Dea, their Fundraising Director, and he’s explained that they were recently subjected to a hacker attack which disabled most of their website, including the donation function. They’re currently working on getting everything back in place, but a useful reminder to keep an eye on your internet security.
2) So far, only 2 of the 14 charities haven’t sent me a thank you. For the record, they’re Amnesty International and St Vincent de Paul. Whatever about Amnesty International, I’m not expecting a thank you from the SVP, as they never bothered to record my email or...
A couple of quick updates on the Great Mystery Shopping Escapade:
1) The charity that I couldn’t donate to online last week was the Irish Hospice Foundation. I’ve spoken to Tim O’Dea, their Fundraising Director, and he’s explained that they were recently subjected to a hacker attack which disabled most of their website, including the donation function. They’re currently working on getting everything back in place, but a useful reminder to keep an eye on your internet security.
2) So far, only 2 of the 14 charities haven’t sent me a thank you. For the record, they’re Amnesty International and St Vincent de Paul. Whatever about Amnesty International, I’m not expecting a thank you from the SVP, as they never bothered to record my email or...
Welcome to the great Mystery Shopping Adventure 2008! We’ve just tried to donate to 15 of Ireland’s largest and most well known charities - but one wouldn’t accept online donations. Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be sharing our experiences of being a donor in today’s Ireland.
But let’s start with the basics - saying thank you. You know, the way your parents taught you to when you were a child.
Of the 14 charities we donated to this afternoon, 11 have sent me a thank you email. Which means nearly a quarter of them didn’t bother (in fact one didn’t even bother to record either my email address or my postal address - more on that later).
Stay tuned for more…Technorati Tags: mystery shopping, charity, nonprofit, fundraising,...
Welcome to the great Mystery Shopping Adventure 2008! We’ve just tried to donate to 15 of Ireland’s largest and most well known charities - but one wouldn’t accept online donations. Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be sharing our experiences of being a donor in today’s Ireland.
But let’s start with the basics - saying thank you. You know, the way your parents taught you to when you were a child.
Of the 14 charities we donated to this afternoon, 11 have sent me a thank you email. Which means nearly a quarter of them didn’t bother (in fact one didn’t even bother to record either my email address or my postal address - more on that later).
Stay tuned for more…Technorati Tags: mystery shopping, charity, nonprofit, fundraising,...