January 2023: How to Audit your Supporter Journey

Jan 12

Happy 2023!

I hope you’re feeling rested and back in the swing of things…

without feeling like you’re back in the hamster wheel.

Meaning, I hope you’ve been able to dig deep into your year-end campaign results and 2022 performance data as a whole, to inform clear digital priorities for 2023.

Haven't had a chance to thoroughly reflect and analyze yet? Halt! Let’s do it together.

If you skip this essential assessment phase in Q1 and cruise right back into content and campaigns, you risk another year of unknowingly operating with messaging, user experience, or digital strategy problems that could be stifling your organization’s growth.

Auditing your supporter journey is a great starting point. This process is most effective when guided by an outside expert without deep knowledge of your organization. That said, if your nonprofit doesn’t have the budget to hire a digital strategist right now, here are my top tips to audit your own supporter journey.

Audit your supporter journey in 5 steps

Whether your organization is focused on generating donations, contacts, members, applicants, or sales, you can follow these same steps to audit your supporter journey.

If it's helpful to see an example, I reviewed my experience donating $100 to UNICEF back in March and it was a real mixed bag.

Ok, let’s get into it.

Step 1: List out all the ways people find your organization online. Then, open up all of these channels and platforms. These may include:

The most popular landing pages on your website
Lead magnets
Social media profiles
Search ads
Evergreen social or display ads
Search engine results for the most popular queries driving people to your website
Peer-to-peer fundraising pages
Referrals from articles or partner websites

Spend time reviewing all of these “starting points” on your phone and computer. Are there typos, old logos, or other yucky first impressions? Any misleading or inconsistent descriptions of your work? Take note of everything that isn’t clear, concise, and compelling.

Step 2: List all of the ways people share their contact information with you. Then, fill out all of these sign-up forms yourself, on your phone and computer. Take notes during the sign-up experience(s). Then, check your email. Are you receiving welcome emails right away that directly align with what you signed up for? Are they hitting your primary inbox?

Step 3: Let your email welcome series play out. Depending on the length of your welcome series, this could take a week or more. Note your gut reaction when you first receive each email. Read all of them. Are there typos? Formatting issues? Does each message build on the last and provide value? What questions do people often have about your organization that these emails could better answer?

Step 4: Convert. If a conversion is a donation in your case, make a small gift on every live donation form. Complete this step on your phone and computer. Take note of any hangups. Then, check your email. How long does it take to receive a thank you email after processing your gift(s)? Is every touchpoint smooth and clear? Do you feel personally recognized and celebrated every step of the way?

Step 5: Recruit outside testers. This can happen alongside your own audit. Reach out to a few people who aren’t on your nonprofit's contact list, and who are representative of your supporter base. Ideally, find people with a mix of phone types and email providers.

Ask them to complete a few specific actions (e.g. sign up for our email list at this link, then download this lead magnet, then complete a $5 donation on this page). Ask them to send you feedback in writing, an audio message, or a video, whatever’s easiest for them. Buy them a meal or pay them for their time.

Once you receive everyone’s feedback, assess. Are there any patterns? Or did everyone have a very different experience?

The goal is to make your supporter journey as frictionless and meaningful as possible, no matter how someone discovers your organization or what kind of device they’re using.

You can run through these 5 steps for your own organization—and you definitely should—but expert outside perspectives are essential. You bear the Curse of Knowledge and can’t unlearn what you know about your organization. This is exactly why I offer supporter journey mapping as part of my Digital Assessments.

My little family hits the road this Saturday for our big cross-country move from Bend, Oregon to Dover, New Hampshire. Wish us luck!

I’m wishing you a kick-ass start to the year,

-Caroline

P.S. Sharing a few fabulous offers from trusted colleagues in case they’re of interest to you:

Christina Edwards just launched a new email course that’s starting next week. Get $100 off Easy Emails for Impact at this link to join. You will love Christina, she’s a great teacher and she writes the best emails.

CharityHowTo has a great lineup of live webinars and workshops coming up. Head to the website and use the discount code “caroline10” for 10% off. You can use this code any time, as many times as you'd like.

We Are For Good PRO is a wonderful community and professional development hub to join in 2023. Sign up at this link and use the discount code “caroline” for a discount on your first month. You can use this code any time.