by Firefly Partners • 05.09.2016
Last month we wrote about the 3 key ingredients you need to “whip up” a Welcome Series to effectively onboard new constituents to your organization. Today in part two, we’ll focus on ways you can kick it up a notch! Why serve your constituents chocolate chip cookies when some crave brownies and others chocolate soufflé?
So you have a welcome series—that’s great. You’re already one step ahead of many other nonprofits. But a one-size fits all welcome series may be leaving out some powerful opportunities to engage. For most organizations, new constituents come in all shapes and sizes. They enter your database from multiple engagement pathways and have wide-ranging experiences (or no experience at all) with your organization.
In a world of Amazon and Google, constituents have come to expect a tailored online experience. One way to meet that expectation is to conditionalize your welcome series content based on specific audiences and the engagement pathway that brought them to you in the first place. Think of this like a new customer checking out your dessert menu. You want to have several options for them- from tarts to pies to cakes, based on their preferences and behavior. Make sense?
Here are a few common scenarios for you to consider:
First Timers
If a new constituent arrives in your database because he or she made a donation to a friend or family member participating in one of your peer-to-peer fundraising events, they might not know anything about your organization. Use your welcome series as an opportunity to educate that new constituent about your organization’s mission and convert that one-time donor into a long-term supporter of your cause.
Early Action-Taker
If a new constituent arrives in your database because he or she took action on a Care2 or Change.org petition, they may already be passionate about your cause but know little about your organization and the programs and services you provide. Use your welcome series to ignite that grassroots passion and translate their support for your cause into support for your organization. These constituents are already active, so why not give them other ways they can get involved?
Email Signer-Upper
If a new constituent arrives in your database because he or she entered their email address on your quick email signup form on your website homepage, you know they are interested in hearing from you (but that’s about it). You don’t know anything else about them. Use your welcome series as a way to learn more about these new constituents by sending them to a survey where they can complete their profile by providing additional demographic information, complete some questions about what aspects of your organization or mission most interest them, and find out what types of communications are they interested in getting from you.
These are just a few scenarios that ring true for most organizations. There are likely many, many more that are unique to your nonprofit. Determining your organization’s audiences and primary engagement pathways will help you design an effective strategy for taking your welcome series to the next level.
Keep in mind this can be a complex undertaking—it involves multiple message streams, data flow mapping and complicated queries. That’s where Firefly can help! Get in touch and let us help your organization take it to the next level, leaving your supporters asking for seconds!
