By Ellena Fortner Newsom

As families plan for summer vacations, many turn to Google Maps to plot the best course and discover new and unique attractions, popular restaurants, and cozy accommodations. The planning can be the difference between a family vacation you merely survive and one where you thrive, building memories for a lifetime.

Mapping an audience journey can be just like that vacation plan, paying off at every stage of the constituent life cycle. Organizations where managers invest the time into mapping journeys will see impacts starting at the awareness stage and driving well into influencing retention and advocacy. 

A data-driven, responsive, personalized, audience-first journey results in increased retention, increased donor lifetime value and increased revenue. And, this isn’t just for donors. Journeys drive engagement with all key stakeholders in your organization: volunteers, advocates, board members, etc. 

Journey Vs. Funnel

A funnel traditionally serves as the backbone of the constituent experience. The goal is to deliver an organization’s point of view (POV), explain the mission and provide inspiration that hopefully leads to engagement and donations. Staff at purpose-driven organizations have increased access to data that reflects a faster-paced world and evolved constituent management practices. 

A journey, as opposed to a funnel, harnesses these drivers and puts a specific person behind the wheel. 

There are differences between a funnel and a journey. A donor funnel defines a static plan in which messaging is pushed out based on calendar or campaign timing. While content may include some personalization, such as merge fields for a first name, the content is developed and delivered through specific channels, regardless of a donor’s interest or decisions. Therefore, the donation funnel is more representative of the organization and its mission and interests. 

Journeys, however, ebb and flow based on the actions and interests shown by the individual. The donor selects the correct road for them, and the journey reacts — turning left or right based on donor decisions, often in near real time. Personalization becomes a key driver for both conversion and subsequent communications. Audience preferences influence the frequency of communication, which channels are included and what content is received. 

This is moving beyond donor personas and into 1-to-1 communications. And, like the views on a road trip, the results can be breathtaking.  

Navigating the Donor Journey 

There are three key elements to the start of the journey. They are:

* Begin by developing a detailed, data-driven understanding of your audience. Gather as much demographic, psychographic and transactional information as you can. How old is the audience? Are people in the group married or single? Do they have children in their homes and, therefore, less disposable income (or possibly more attachment to your mission)? What is their education level and income? What part of your mission does this audience truly connect with, as it is likely not the full mission but one or two specific pillars? What are their goals? Their frustrations and motivations? Strong data providers should be able to provide you with, or use, this information. 

* Select an audience. This selection is probably based on the audience’s lifetime value, size or likelihood as either a one-time or monthly donor based on the donor’s similarity to current donors. Modeling delivers a robust solution that incorporates all these factors. This is where your organization’s priorities come into play. Pick the group that rises to the top for you. 

* Create a surround-sound experience with built-in places for your audience members to take a few left or right turns. While you want donations at some point, consider which website pages they visit, what content they interact with or what emails are opened. Engagement, while often not the end goal, is a common stop on the way to a donation, especially for audiences such as volunteers or advocates. It is critical during the timeline opportunities to assess what is or is not working. 

Turn On Cruise Control

Automation is the fuel that delivers personalized, 1-to-1 experiences. For example, manually sending out an email saying thank you after each donation just isn’t feasible or sustainable. Automation streamlines processes, standardizes thank you messages and other follow-ups and prevents donors from falling through the cracks. 

Automation delivers economy of scale, allowing even the smallest purpose-driven organization to deliver a top-notch donor experience regardless of the audience size. Plus, it enables your team members to focus on other tasks. 

The power of automation will only continue to evolve as data continues to play a larger role for purpose-driven organizations. By merging automation with human creativity, you will produce powerful journeys that inspire and drive people to click, advocate, volunteer or donate.

Take In The Scenic Views

Don’t allow your organization to get stuck in just one part of the life cycle. Leverage your funnel to provide an understood framework to build on. Here are five elements:

Awareness: Before someone can donate or volunteer, first they must know your name. You must be discoverable. Emotion-filled social media channels, robust search strategies and video-forward content help increase mission awareness. Retargeting and co-targeting will amplify your messaging much like modeling targets the most likely to convert. Resist the urge to automatically put a donate now call-to-action first. Consider how to build connections. Perhaps this will be an ask, but that will not always be the case. Entice a website visit and grab that all-important email address or website visitor. 

Remember, this is not a straightforward funnel. It is a flexible, personalized journey. Each stage of the life cycle will influence the next one down the road. If a donor expressed interest in a specific mission pillar, that type of content should be introduced in the next stage. 

Consideration: Now you can start listening to your constituent. What emails do they open? What website pages do they visit? Target them with content they have shown interest in. Demonstrate what mission success looks like via testimonials, case studies, annual reports and more. Never shy away from a video in the consideration stage. 

Decision Making: Optimize your donation form. You have met the donor. You have made your case to give. Now, make it easy. Do not resell and keep the decision-making fatigue to a minimum. With a new donor, now is also the time to make your first pitch for monthly giving with a sustainer-first donation form.

Retention: Gratitude and impact. Too many organizations drop the ball when it comes to sending thank you communications or explaining exactly how the donor’s contribution made a mission possible. As you are creating an omnichannel ask, you should also build an omnichannel thank you. Build connections, and you will reap the benefits. 

Advocates: Even though you have secured a donation and made an upsell, you are not done. Keep deepening and engaging with that donor until they want to sing your praises, and then make sure to ask them to do so — loudly and in public.

Journey Watchouts

Just like on a family road trip, unexpected challenges can delay the whole journey. Keep an eye out for these typical challenges:

1. Limited Resources: Pick the right tools for the job. You don’t need every bell and whistle, but your organization will benefit from capable audience selection, donor management and automation tools.
2. A Static Journey: Sometimes you turn a corner and something unexpected delivers the wow. Let your donors meander when and to where they want. Treat the journey as a living document and allow the donors to shape and influence its growth. 
3. Traffic Jam: Sometimes donors get stuck and do not move through the flow. Lean into A/B testing to discover what motivates your audience to get back on track. 
4. Silos: Traditional channel silos and structures, especially when it comes with an extended decision-making process, will keep the journey in park far too long. 

The success of a vacation rests on preparation, and the same is true for developing an ever-growing, audience-first journey. Remember, you do not have to create a perfect journey, but an enjoyable experience keeps your specific audience engaged, delighted, and converting.

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Ellena Fortner Newsom is a Texas-based freelance writer.

The post Are We There Yet? Piloting An Audience-First Donor Journey appeared first on The NonProfit Times.

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