By: Katy Spencer

Did you know the most important communication you can have with your donors is right after they make a gift? Think about it. They are happy. They saved puppies. They helped a kid in need. They feel good! Now imagine that they never heard from you again until you ask for money again. How does that change their mood or perception of what your organization does?

How can we make sure that doesn’t happen? Create an automated digital donor journey that will provide consistent touchpoints throughout the year building trust and connectedness. Taking the time to develop the journey your donor travels after their gift will increase retention rates and set your organization apart.

Celebrate

This email is often the donation autoresponder. Consider customizing the message with conditional content, such as a short thank you video, based on the fund they supported. Keep the language of this message as personal and donor-centric as possible using phrases like “because of you, we are able to..” or “Your generous gift allows us to..”. Do not ask for any further action in this message.

Reinforce

This message is to build trust with the donor. It could come from the Executive Director or CEO while giving an overview of your organization and focusing on the area they are now a crucial part of. This is the time to reinforce that they are critical to fulfilling the mission. If you have an annual report or a donor portal, you can include it in this message.

Learn

When you take the time to learn more about your donors, you can develop detailed segmentation for future campaigns. Create a survey to allow donors to self-identify what areas of the organization interest them the most. This could be a stand-alone email message or a conditional story in your established eNews campaign. This strategy can be used multiple times throughout the journey.

Impact

This is my favorite message of the series – the story. Use this message to provide an emotional, genuine story about how your organization has helped someone or something.  Consider making this email “from” that person. For example, if your organization helps homeless teens, have the story written from a teen’s perspective. This includes more than a sender name and signature but also tailors the copy and tone of the message to match the intended writer. Consider sending this message 3-6 months after the donation as an additional touchpoint.

Analyze

Are you asking too much without any other touch points? Do you have regular donor stewardship communication? Need help planning your donor journey? We’ve helped nonprofits all across the USA and Canada with their digital fundraising campaigns by leveraging email strategy and automation technology to strengthen their relationships with their donors.

Drop us an email and let’s set up a time to strategize about your donor journey!