Reinvent Donor Relationships Online - Report
9 December 2010 at 11:27 am
The online giving experience has a significant impact on donor loyalty, retention, and gift levels, according to a ground breaking study by Network for Good.
The study from Network for Good and TrueSense Marketing, in the US, examines the online giving experience not only on Not for Profit websites, but also via donation portals and social networks, and finds it is directly tied to donors’ likelihood of giving more—and more often.
Network for Good says this isn’t another study about the rapid growth of online giving (though it is skyrocketing)—it’s a call to reinvent donor relationships.
The study covers $381 million in online giving through Network for Good’s platform, including 3.6 million gifts to 66,470 different Not for Profit from 2003-2009.
The study found that the online giving experience has a significant impact on donor loyalty, retention, and gift levels. The more intimate and emotionally coherent the giving experience, the stronger the relationship between donor and Not for Profit appears to be. In other words, online fundraising is all about relationships, as it is in offline fundraising.
Researchers found that small improvements to the online experience can make a big difference in donations.
It found that personality matters. The loyalty factor for donors acquired through generic giving pages is 66.7% lower than for donors who give via charity-branded giving pages.
Its analysis of cumulative online giving (i.e., giving added up over time) via different pages powered by Network for Good shows that donors who gave via charity websites started at the highest level and gave the most over time. Those who used giving portals started lower and gave less over time. Those who used social giving opportunities gave the least initially and added little afterward.
It says recurring giving is a major driver of giving over time and should be strongly encouraged in the giving experience.
There were online giving spikes during the month of December and large-scale disasters. During disasters, donors are more likely to consider new giving options, while in December they are more likely to give based on relationships with the charities.
Download the report here (free registration required)
