Fundraising Detective

My worst customer experience for a while: can you top it?

Although this isn't strictly about fundraising, I thought you might be interested in a comically bad experience a colleague had with a company in the last week.

He wanted to get in touch with the company to discuss potentially working with them and asking them to come in and have a chat (the company concerned was in the fundraising sector) about their services.

This is where the fun and games began...

First step, was checking out their website for further details and a contact number.  Unfortunately you needed the latest flash player and our IT team hasn't upgraded our browsers yet so we couldn't access the site.

Lesson 1: Make sure your site is accessible to people with older web browsers.

Second step, he decided to give them a call to speak to someone.  He got through to reception, explained what he was after and asked for a contact name in the sales team.  The receptionist refused to give out a name, contact number, e-mail address or put him through as it was against company policy and asked him to e-mail a generic e-mail address and that the e-mail would then be forwarded on.

Lesson 2: Ensure your reception team is trained in basic customer relationship skills and you are prepared to take calls from prospective customers!

My colleague is a determined fellow though and duly sent the e-mail, asking for a response by the end of the last week.  No e-mail was forthcoming...

Lesson 3: Respond to e-mails (basic I know, but these people seem to need such advice!)

Now by this point, he'd already decided that we'd never use this company, but he wanted to see just how high the level of incompetence went in the organisation.

He used a contact he has to get a number for one of the directors and decided to give him a call. Now to be fair, the director was highly apologetic and was embarrassed by the level of service we'd received.  He promised us he'd look into it and get back to him by the end of the day. 

That was Monday, my colleague is still waiting...

Can you beat that for a bad customer experience?

Bad fundraising: No call to action!

Howard Lake praises a couple of charities for capitalising on the recent MP's expenses scandal.

Whilst I agree with Howard that they've produced a couple of humourous, timely and creative campaigns for me they both lack a clear and direct call to action.

In the Centrepoint ad they give a website and text number and ask people 'to be part of this work', but for me that is far too vague.  Do they want volunteers?  Monetary support?  The clearer and more succinct with your call to action you can be, the more effective it will be.

In the second action the photo and caption are large and capture the eye, but the call to action (which is for potential beneficaries to get in touch) is small and hard to read.  A small reduction in the photo and caption size would have allowed an easier to read message and so a clearer call to action.

Bad Fundraising: Not making the most of your opportunities

Took this photo on a recent trip to Lands End. The Cornwall Air Ambulance have an eye-catching replica model of one of their helicopters on display, which attracts lots of attention and even on a wet Wednesday had loads of tourists taking photos.

They have a collection box for donations (the red and white box above), but completely miss the most of the opportunity to raise funds for their cause. There are a couple of main reasons for this:

• The box has no sign on it asking for donations, so I’m sure most people don’t know what it is for.

• The information board explaining the Air Ambulance is a charity and needs funds is hidden away behind the helicopter.

In the 20 minutes I was observing (over a lovely warming hot chocolate!) 16 people took a photo of the ambulance, not one person donated and only one person had a look at the board.

By making a few low cost changes I’m sure this site could be a real cash cow for them and raise tens of thousands of pounds for the cause.

Here’s what I’d do differently:

• Clear signage. A picture of one of the crew (preferably a close up showing the eyes, as studies have shown people are more likely to be honest and pay up when there is someone watching them) with a message clearly calling for people taking a photo to make a donation. Also, draw people’s attention to the info board showing the difference there donation will make.

• Make it obvious that the collection box is a collection box and that donations are encouraged.

• I’d also investigate getting a couple of face-to-face fundraisers there on weekends or during the holiday season.  I’m sure the visitors would be interested in contributing to them and they could present a compelling story for support.