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Why charities need to care about supporter insights
07 Oct 2020by Chloe Tomlinson
Supporter insights can help an organisation develop a deeper understanding of their audience and can be a key tool for charity marketing, fundraising and much more
Image credit: Pexels
Supporter insight is a key component of an organisation’s ability to survive and thrive.
This is something charities must prioritise, especially as many charities across the UK are facing a fundraising crisis.
The rise of digital in the wake of COVID-19 has also meant that charities must adopt new practices to keep up with their donors, advocates, and volunteers. Supporter insights can help an organisation develop a deeper understanding of their demographic.
For charities this can then be used to improve how other operations are conducted, such as digital fundraising. Many charities have started this process of adaptation, integrating donation buttons into UX design to facilitate a seamless process of digital fundraising.
Charities such as The British Red Cross and Help Musicians have posted content on emerging channels like TikTok. Diversifying outreach channels can help to increase a charity’s reach.
Supporter insights can assist charities in taking more targeted action, allowing for more consistent efforts across the board. If your charity isn’t doing so already, here’s why you need to care more about these insights.
Making informed decisions
There are thousands of other charities and businesses worldwide, and making the most out of supporter insights can actually assist in improving campaigns and refining your brand. The importance of consumer statistics can’t be underestimated, with Verizon Connect explaining how businesses generate more data than a human could be expected to process in a reasonable amount of time. Any data collecting process therefore ensures that you have all the valuable insight you could possibly need. It gives everyone involved a full picture of the organisation and will help you make more informed decisions.
Data analytics can be taken from the same social channels that you use for digital fundraising. This will give you a glimpse of supporters’ behaviours, conversations, types of engagement, and needs. Consequently, you can gain a more robust understanding of how to properly execute your marketing efforts.
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Starting from the site
Since you are working with a particular community, you must be aware of their unique needs. Supporter insights give you a better gauge on what you need to iron out in terms of volunteer processes and campaign drives.
Begin by evaluating the status of your blog or website. This should cover everything that your charity stands for and does, and the content found here is pertinent for search engines. You can then advertise this site on your other social channels to reach a wider audience and gather more insight.
From here, tools such as Google Analytics will track your visitors and map out how they arrived at your site – whether this was from one of your social media accounts, an online search, an ad, newsletter, or any other avenue.
Other powerful tools such as Microsoft Power BI can provide charities with deeper insight into the latest consumer and industry trends. This can optimise both donor data and overall organisational operations. With these metrics, you can improve your organisation’s performance thereby helping you cater to your supporter’s needs more effectively.
Technology is the future of charities
The good news is that more charities than ever are prioritising supporter insights.
"Many UK charities have made a lot of investment in their technology infrastructure. Those who also invested in the wider digital fundraising ecosystem, such as paid media, are seeing the results from greater optimisation, automation and ability to report and see data in real-time through dashboards and journey integrations.”
- Lizi Zipser, Director of strategy and insights at Blue State
However, despite this only 6% of charities are using the AI tools that would help organisations reach more people. As the world has evolved to be more digital, charities are in a position to attract more donors and volunteers by analysing the habits of their existing supporters. Whether through analytics tools or social media feedback, a charity must take advantage of technology. Otherwise, they could quickly find themselves falling behind their competitors.
Although charities may have different priorities compared to traditional businesses, supporter insight is just as indispensable. Incorporating this into your strategies for the organisation’s growth illustrates how deeply you care about evolving alongside both your community and your advocacy. With the tools now readily available, you are already closer to achieving just that.
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