Today, in the wake of coronavirus/COVID-19, optimizing your digital channels to maximize fundraising is more important than ever. Here are some tips.
We know that many of our friends and clients are on the frontline fighting the impacts of coronavirus. Whether that’s in terms of supporting refugees, assisting families who were already living in challenging circumstances, holding those that govern us accountable for their actions, or ensuring people with underlying health conditions have the vital information they need. Firstly, a thank you to you all. We appreciate all that you’ve done and all that you will continue to do.
Here at Engaging Networks, we recognize we have a role in supporting our clients to be effective in their missions. This means keeping our technology up and running to support the increased traffic so many of you are seeing. It also means ensuring our client service team is on hand to assist you with any queries and help with your organization’s response to this emergency situation.
And, we recognize it’s an emergency, not just for those organizations whose beneficiaries are impacted by COVID-19 but for all organizations who have found themselves with an anticipated income deficit as a result of the economic uncertainty we suddenly find ourselves in.
As many of the offline channels organizations have typically relied on are no longer available, here are our thoughts on the things you can be doing online today.
Now is the Time to Engage with Your Existing Supporters
What are you doing? How has the demand for your services increased? Have you had to train more people? Recruit more volunteers? Now is the time to tell your story, be specific and focus on connecting emotionally. We are all craving human contact right now.
- Why not set up a marketing automation with an email planned every few days?
- Implement and refine your A/B testing. It’s a great time to get the team involved in brainstorming new ideas and then sharing what’s worked well.
- Get creative. Why not review your email templates so they convey the urgency of your message.
Optimize Your Funnels to Ensure You Get Maximum Conversion
The last thing on your mind might be about improving your website when the world seems to be burning, but now is the perfect time. Many organisations are seeing their traffic increasing with more click-throughs from emails and more people having the time to browse online.
- Make sure your supporters are getting a truly personalized experience by using conditional content to customize landing pages.
- Use your supporters’ previous Highest Previous Contribution, to offer a dynamic display of prompts on a donation page. This will help increase your average donation values.
- Why not seek out some expert advice? Look out for #COVIDCRAP on LinkedIn where a bunch of CRO specialists globally want to help and are offering a video or phone call going over your website to identify conversion issues and suggested changes to fix them.
Ensure That New Supporters are Given a Great Experience
A few weeks ago organizations had confidence in the balance of their fundraising portfolios. Fast forward a matter of weeks and digital is now the primary channel that remains. People are heading online in search of information and reassurance. Understanding this right now will be key in ensuring long term engagement.
- Why not set up a marketing automation to introduce them to your work and demonstrate how they can help?
- This is also a great way to find out more about your supporters so why not include a survey so you can ensure your future communications are based on your supporter needs?
- Remember that people are often the most engaged and motivated to take action soon after they’ve signed up. Make sure you are giving them things to do that feel valuable and impactful. This case study from Refugee Action may inspire you.
Look at New Ideas to Replace Lost Income
We all know these times are unprecedented. Before COVID-19 all organizations had plans and goals and these still stand. The relevance and need have not changed but the environment is more challenging. Don’t be afraid of sharing your specific needs and what’s needed for your organization to continue to deliver their mission.
- When a single donation is given why not ask your supporters to convert it to a monthly donation? The important thing is to thank the supporter first and then explain why you need them to give a monthly donation in addition to the donation they just made.
- Why not look at moving your previously planned event into a virtual event? We’ve put together a set of tools to help you live stream a fundraising event. And don’t forget our peer-to-peer module can be customized to suit whatever type of activity you want to promote.
- Why not join #GivingTuesdayNow, a global day of giving and unity, set to take place on May 5, 2020 as an emergency response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19.
And don’t forget we are here to help and support you. If you can’t find the answer you’re looking for in our Supportal you can email us at [email protected], or give us a call:
North America: 202-0525-4910
United Kingdom: 020-7253-0753