Tobi's Volunteer Management Blog

Cool Tool: Map Your Customer's Journey

Lately, I’ve become really interested in human interactions, how they work, and how to improve them for the good of the community and causes.  When we touch the lives of others, whether through work or friendships, we have the profound ability to change lives or, at the very least, make someone’s day a little better. 

But, I think in our busy days we take that for granted.  I’m preparing a training on this topic and thought I’d share a tool I borrowed from the business world and tweaked for nonprofits.   Download Customer_Journey_Worksheet.

Customer Journey Mapping can help you take a closer look at your regular customer interactions in order to improve your relationships with key stakeholders. 

I know a lot of nonprofit people get hung up on the term “customer,” but don’t.  For our purposes, I use it as a generic term that can refer to any number of people you interact with.  They can be internal to your organization or live outside it; they can be the primary person your organization exists to serve, or they can be a secondary person who also merits your attention.   Your customers can be your your service beneficiary, staff, volunteers, funders, legislators, community partners, etc.  The beauty of this exercise is that you can pick any customer with whom you want to strengthen your relationship.

Customer Journey Mapping can actually make your job easier.  Really?  Really!  Through this process, you can identify ways to create an exceptional experience for your stakeholders.  These are rare, so when you do it your organization really stands out.

Customer Journey Mapping Simplifies Your Life

• You’ll have to spend less time on advertising. -- When customer interactions are exceptional, word of mouth advertising spreads like wildfire.
• You won’t waste time on things that don’t matter or are redundant. -- If you’re more efficient, you waste less time, leaving you more free time to spend elsewhere.
• Simplification of your customer processes will make your customers happy. -- Leading psychologists have found that, contrary to popular opinion, more simplified choices inspire increased human follow through.  Too many choices either paralyze us or lead us to regret the choice we made, imagining we could have done better.
• You’re volunteers will be happier because your customers are content. -- This will lead to greater volunteer retention and less effort on volunteer recruitment.
• Your staff morale will increase. --  Ultimately, everyone likes to be part of a well-oiled machine.  It gives us a great sense of satisfaction.  Even more so if your team is in on developing the architecture of your success.  So, map the journey as a team.
• You’ll beat the competition. -- Plain and simple.  And, you have competition, right?  Even if what your competing against is your client’s unwillingness to contact you.

 Customer Service Mapping Step-by-Step

1) Choose one customer group you’d like to focus on (you can only do one at a time).

2) Download the free worksheet and map their experience.  It doesn’t have to be a situation where direct service is offered; you can also use this to map advocacy, volunteer, or partnership engagement.  Download Customer_Journey_Worksheet.

3) Identify the key points where you interact with the customer pre-service (outreach & marketing) during service (or collaboration, meetings, etc.), and post-service (follow up & referrals).  This can be in person, over the phone, online, or via communications materials.

4) Then really analyze what happens at each step of the way.  Take a good look at:

• Team Tasks -- What are your staff and volunteers doing at each step of the way?  Who does the client come into contact with?
• Customer Actions -- What are customers doing at each step of the way?  What decisions & actions are they responsible for?
• Questions/Barriers -- What uncertainties does the client face?  Is there language or jargon does the client not understand?  What gets in their way?
• Motivations/Needs -- What will keep people moving through the process?  What information, benefits, motions, values, etc. will help them move forward?
• Gaps -- What’s missing right now from the process for the client? For the team?

When you’ve finished, areas for possible improvement will become clear.  Consider how to improve your process, structure, or the information you share to address the gaps and barriers you discover.  Then prioritize which ones you want to tackle first.

Finally, feel free to share this tool with others.  If you do, all I ask is that you credit me.

Download Customer_Journey_Worksheet.

And, if you use the worksheet for your own work, let us know how it goes and what you learned!

 

Only 20% of You Will Read This: Free Tips for Writing Headlines

According to Copyblogger, a well-regarded blog for copywriters, on average 80 out of 100 people will read the headline of an article only; only 20 will actually read the main body of text.  Truly astounding, but not surprising really.  You’re all busy and focused on what’s important at the moment (so thank you for clicking on my headline and continuing!).  

If you’re writing content for supporters, staff, or clients you can live with this low click-through rate...or you can beat the odds by writing better, juicier (and shorter) headlines that will entice people to read and share your valuable news.

Yesterday, I joined Kivi Leroux Miller’s webinar “9 Tips to Improve Your Small-places Writing: How to Compose Better Microcontent and Social Network Updates” for Network for Good.   Kivi has also written an eBook, Big Impact in Small Spaces: 9 Ways to Write Better Email Subject Lines, Headlines, Tweets, and Facebook Updates you can download for free.

Here's some sage advice on writing microcontent from Kivi, who is a seasoned pro:

• The first 30 characters are the most important of an email subject line; keep most under 65 characters.
• Use colons to separate the most important content from the secondary info (put the most important first.)
• Highlight important content (5 words or less at a time), so your reader can scan blocks of text easily.
• Layer information by including links to more detailed info that not everyone will want to read.
• Include only one (or two at the most) topics in the subject line of your eNewsletter; don’t include a bunch of topics separated by commas.  
• When sending an email that lists multiple events, highlight the one that is occurring within the next week in the subject line. 
• Use “response words” in your headlines (save, money, free, results, love, new, easy); use the more emphatic words sparingly (right now, today, urgent).
• Also, research and use words that your specific audience relates to; if you don’t know, you’ll need to test different words and analyze the results.
• Don’t give them the wrapper, give them the candy.  In other words, don’t waste your headline on the issue number and date or name of your organization; talk about the content inside.
• Personalize by using you, your, my, and our or by asking a question.
• Use better nouns and verbs instead of adding adjectives and adverbs (i.e., use dogwood versus tree, and instead of flowering tree).
• Avoid overselling; it burns your readers out (i.e., This is the last chance you’ll have to donate.)

Do you have any tips you’d like to share?  Click on the comments link below and let us know.

Access the webinar recording and slides for free here. 

 

Five Documents Your Organization Shouldn't Live Without

Most people understand that you’ll get more done if everyone is rowing in the same direction, however, it’s amazing how many organizations neglect to provide key documents that can point the way.  Below are five tools that every nonprofit should have in place and why.  Over the next few weeks, I’ll dedicate a blog post to each that will describe in more detail what should be included.

 1) Updated Mission Statement -- If your mission statement is old and tired, it’s time to refresh it.  Your mission statement is the foundational building block of everything you do.  It can act as a fantastic litmus test when you must prioritize and decide which critical projects to focus your attention on.  If you stay true to your mission, you’ll stay on track.

 2) Volunteer Handbook -- If you have volunteers or interns, they deserve to have the rules of the road spelled out for them in one, easy-to-access place.  Volunteer handbooks are also part of your organization’s risk management plan.  They help volunteers understand their rights and responsibilities to the organization and draw a clear connection between the your mission and the reason volunteers are part of the mix.

3) Employee Desk Manuals -- Not to be confused with employee manuals, desk manuals contain info about a specific staff or volunteer position.  They include information about the step-by-step processes used to get tasks done.  If you have individual people performing a specific job, the desk manual acts as a back up, if that person becomes ill or leaves the organization.  It’s your insurance against the loss of valuable institutional knowledge.

4) Communications Style Guide -- Your organization may suffer from a split personality in terms of what you communicate to the public.  Any inconsistencies undermine the effectiveness of your outreach and marketing efforts.  Make sure you give your team clear guidelines about how to represent your organization visually and verbally.  A communications style guide is a simple tool that keeps info about your logo, chose of language to use, etc. in one place that everyone can reference when they have questions.

5) Social Media Policy -- Even if you’re not using a lot of social media yet, chances are some of your staff and volunteers are already sharing, chatting, posting, tweeting, etc.  A social media policy gives common sense guidelines about what can be communicated about your organization using which channels.  It should also detail what to do if something is inadvertently shared that shouldn’t have been.  When these small crises are figured out ahead of time, you can address the issue with ease and move on.

Looking for templates and samples to create these yourself?  Check out IdeaEncore, an online resource center for sharing nonprofit tools and templates.  Many of the documents that can be found there are either free or low-cost.  Don't have enough time?  Consider hiring a consultant to get them done with less stress.  Check out my website for a more comprehensive list of documents you can get help with.

 

The Internet May be Your Greatest Ally: New Research Makes the Case

Nonprofits are on a constant search for donors, volunteers, and supporters.  We rely on them to keep the doors open and mission activated.  The work of finding highly-motivated people is hard, made more difficult by the fact that we may be spinning our wheels looking in the wrong places.  The Social Side of the Internet, a new study by the Pew Research Center, provides some pretty good clues about where we should focus our marketing efforts and meager budgets.  Yep, you guessed it.  It’s the internet.

The Pew researchers took a look at the activity of people across a wide variety of social groups -- from clubs, to fan groups, to sports leagues, etc.  Here’s what they learned and my take on it: 

75% of all adults are using the internet. -- If you are not communicating with potential supporters via the internet, it’s a huge missed opportunity.  That goes for seniors, too. According to the most recent census, only 12.8% of all American’s are age 65 and over.  That means seniors are surfing, too.

80% of internet users participate in voluntary groups (vs. 56% of non-internet users). -- Go where the party is!  The internet should be a key part of both your fundraising and volunteer recruitment strategies, no "ifs," "ands," or "buts" about it.

35% of active group members say the internet has had a major impact on their ability to invite friends to join their groups (29% say the internet has had no impact). -- Since word of mouth advertising is the most effective marketing tactic, we need to provide engaging online user content that makes it easy for friends to share.  Each one reach one is made easier in the digital age.

33% of active group members say the internet has had a major impact on their ability to find groups that match their interests (29% say the internet has had no impact). -- We need to be sure that we include easy-to-find online information that helps visitors decide whether our organization is a good fit for them.  That means photos, testimonials, videos, or whatever shows the true spirit of who you are.

64% of internet users volunteered their time to a group they were active in within the last 30 days (vs. 54% of non-internet users). -- People who use the internet are more deeply engaged in their respective groups.  The use of the internet as a tool to stay connected may have positive implications for volunteer and donor retention.  

To read the Summary or download the entire report, click here.

Photo Credit: Flickr/Mike Baird

Nonprofits on the Federal Chopping Block? Strategic Questions to Ponder Locally

There’s lots of talk out there about tightening belts, trimming budgets, making do with less.  Although, there’s plenty you can do internally to make things more efficient, more drastic measures may be called for.  In President Obama’s recent State of the Union speech, he mentioned several possible budget cuts, including the elimination of a long-standing, federally-funded anti-poverty program.  These cuts may or may not happen, but what the discussion signals is a willingness (on both sides of the political spectrum) to make some tough decisions.  In the process, it It looks like some sacred cows may get slaughtered.  What’s worse, aid to our most vulnerable populations may evaporate. 

For more background, The Stanford Social Innovation Review posted a recent article about the possible demise of the federally-funded and chartered Community Action Programs (CAPs), which provide direct social services to low-income people.  The Nonprofit Quarterly, posted a direct response to the President’s address, which inspired a slew of comments.  In another NPQ article, proposed federal cuts to legal aid programs are discussed.  And, take a look at Governor Nikki Haley’s proposal to eliminate the South Carolina Arts Commission.  If you haven’t figured it out yet, we’re under siege.

If nonprofits don’t get proactive, we may find ourselves out of a job.  That’s fine if what you offer isn’t of that much value or duplicates what others are doing.  It’s not OK if what you’re doing changes lives and, without your help, clients will suffer undue hardship. 

If you rely heavily on state or federal funding, it may be time for some seriously strategic thinking about what’s ahead for your organization.  I don’t think we’re anywhere near feeling the final affects of the recession.  In fact, I think the impact on the nonprofit sector will lag behind what’s felt in the private sector.  We need to get ready for the next big waves that are bound to come.  

 It's going to be about perceived value and political will, and it’s probably going to get ugly.   Below are some things you may want to think about.

Getting Proactive About Support: Some Questions to Ask Yourself

• Do the decision-makers at my organization and in my community understand the concrete value we offer the public?  Are they unabashed fans of what we do?
• Do our clients strongly believe that our services meet their needs in a way that makes sense?  Do they send others to us for help?
• Do we offer a good return on investment?  Can we describe what it is, specifically and succinctly?  Can we describe what would happen if we didn’t exist?
• Do we leverage community support though volunteering and in-kind donations?  Is this leverage documented and communicated publicly?
• Are we responsible stewards of the funding we receive?  Are we radically transparent about how we administer our funds, and is their disbursement directly tied to our core organizational goals?
• Are there ways we can diversify our funding base, so that we are less vulnerable?  Are there ways we can join ranks with others to merge services or back office functions?
• Do we have “friends in high places” who can go to bat for us, if we are threatened?  Is everyone who works with us trained to speak on our behalf about the difference we make?
• Are we in coalition with other community-based organizations who can band together for strength?  Are we active in associations who regularly communicate with legislators in Washington and in our state’s capital about how critical we are to the nation?

If you discover any weak areas, take steps to address them.  Don’t get caught flat footed and then wonder what hit you.  And, if your organization is weathering the storm just fine, count your blessings.  You probably have a broad base of support for many of the reasons listed above.  If so, reach out to others who aren’t faring as well.  They will likely need your help.

 

Do Your Communications Resonate? One Quick Way to Improve What You Share

It seems like connecting with people is a lot harder lately.  People complain about information overload, however, I think that’s just a symptom.  It’s really not about too much information.  It’s about getting the right information, messages we can truly identify with or care about.  

This affects our work in communities, too.  With a growing need for nonprofit services and shrinking or static budgets and resources, it’s critical that we be able to reach people in the most effective way possible and in a way that can be heard.  People need help, and we just don’t have enough time in the day to spin our wheels on communications that don’t work.

So ask yourself -- Does my organization communicate in ways that truly resonate with our audiences?  Do we touch people’s souls?  Or is our material filled with jargon and acronyms that regular folks just don’t get?  If you’re not happy with what you discover, take heart.  It's never too late to make a change for the better.

Here’s a fun exercise you can do with your team.  It’ll help you cut through the jargon and insider-speak and get in touch with your organization’s core purpose.  You’ll then have fresh ideas and a new perspective that will help you craft messages that real people can connect with...something with soul.   

1) Think about your core mission.  Ask yourself: What’s different about what we do?  What is the change we make in the world?  What does the journey look like for the people we serve?  What would happen if we weren’t here?  Write any and all ideas on a flip chart.

2) If you get stumped, think about what your clients, members, and/or supporters say about you.  What are common statements people make?  This will give you clues. 

3) Now find photos that illustrate the items you have identified.  If you don’t have any good photos on hand, check out flickr or Microsoft office’s clip art gallery.  Print out the ones that really work well to illustrate your ideas.

4) Next, choose five images that, side by side, create a visual story about your organization’s purpose and impact.  Be disciplined and limit it to only five -- it’ll force you to keep focused on what really matters.

5) Finally, revisit your current materials and communications.  In what ways can they be improved to better reflect what’s pictured in your photo story?  How can they be simplified to focus on your core mission?  What words can you use to replace that boring jargon?

Want to see examples of interesting stories?  Check our flickr’s Tell a Story in 5 Frames group.

And, the next time you are creating a program brochure, grant proposal, volunteer recruitment flier, donation solicitation, or any other communication about your work, take a look at your photo essay.  What does it say about you?  How can you use it to describe the difference you make, so that everyone understands and can connect?