CHARITY CALLERS FACE MORE REGULATION

Because of the lower cost-per-call and potential for consistent messages to reach donors, the technology of autodialers and pre-recorded messages has gained popularity among nonprofit marketers and tele-fundraisers.

Unfortunately, for-profit companies and researchers also reap the same benefits. With this growing popularity, many states are responding with complex, contradictory and confusing rules and regulations for the use of autodialing devices (ADAD) and pre-recorded messages. While each state has unique and varying terms of use, we have compiled some general guidelines to follow:

• It is best to have recorded calls preceded by a live operator.
• You must have consent from the call recipient, either obtained by a live operator or implicitly through an established business relationship.
• Within the first 25 seconds, the call needs to identify the entity, intent, and call back number of the group behind the call. The contact number provided must be staffed with live operators during normal business hours.
• Some states require permits and/or registration with a state agency and/or the local telephone company, who might have a Do Not Call list specifically for ADAD calls. Though nonprofits are not covered by federal Do Not Call legislation and may call donors who are on the DNC list, the same is not always true of state ADAD regulations.
• Most often calls are limited to 9 am to 9 pm local time.
• Device must disconnect within 5 seconds of the call ending.
• Avoid calling sequential numbers.
• Avoid calling local emergency numbers.

It is important to note that regulations for autodialers apply even if the message is simply an affirmation, and not a tele-fundraising solicitation.

Your calling vendor should have a firm grasp of the intricacies of these regulations in various states. Be sure to check with them to make sure they will comply with state regulations before launching a campaign that features autodialing technology.

For a basic outline of state rules and regulations, visit...
www.campbellrinker.com/autodialer/

THE DELIGHTED DONOR

Does a delighted donor give larger, give longer or give more frequently than a donor who is merely satisfied?

Consider these facts from the world of consumer satisfaction and loyalty research:

• Researchers have demonstrated a radical increase in customer loyalty when the objective is customer delight rather than simple customer satisfaction.
• A quarterly survey by the National Quality Research Center at the University of Michigan demonstrates a positive relationship between measures of customer loyalty and financial outcomes.
• As customer satisfaction increases, business results improve.

And finally,

• Customer satisfaction is so important to business that the Federal government uses it to help forecast economic trends.

In the arcane world of “c-sat” research, delight is essentially the range in which a consumer’s expectations are surpassed. Simple satisfaction can be measured by several scales, including the popular five-point scale, where five represents complete satisfaction. This simple score, though, in and of itself, is not enough to signal consumer delight. Other factors – such as the likelihood to purchase again, increase the purchase amount, recommend a store or service, or tell others about a purchase experience – must be factored into a score to indicate customer delight.

There should be a comparable expression in the nonprofit world that relates to donors. If customer delight can be quantified, why not ‘donor delight?’ Nonprofits would be well-served by managing toward goals based on donor satisfaction, loyalty and even delight, as many consumer firms now do. Such a measurement would encourage nonprofits to pursue the equity in stronger donor relationships, in addition to managing toward immediate revenue goals.

The donor relationship is more complex and more difficult to assess than the consumer relationship. The clear tangible exchange found with consumer transactions is not present. Still, there are certainly ways to measure delight among donors.

We know that a donor’s first gift is usually more about emotion than it is about organizational qualities. Subsequent gift decisions are much more likely to be processed through a filter of perceptions about an organization. The donor’s process of reflecting on these perceptions – interpreting what they think you have said and how you say it – has a great deal of impact on donor actions and retention. Therefore, it is crucial for any measurement of donor delight to reflect not only the emotional aspect of giving, but the perceptual aspects as well.

From our research, study and conversations with other researchers on the subject, we believe donor delight is signaled by these key factors – though not necessarily in this order:

• Satisfaction with recent giving experiences (this is an umbrella for many separate sub-factors)
• Likelihood to give again
• Agreement with organization’s mission
• Perception of the organization as honest
• Perception of their gifts as having an impact
• The number of ways a donor interacts with the charity
• The life priority the donor places on giving
• The priority the donor places on an organization

Intuitively, we harbor no doubts that a delighted donor gives larger gifts, gives for a longer time, and will probably give more frequently than the average donor. For this reason, we are sure that measuring and acting on donor delight over time allows a nonprofit to make concrete progress toward lasting relationships with donors.

However, this area of exploration is still developing. Few nonprofit researchers have even scanned this horizon, let alone charted these waters. Campbell Rinker would like to invite you along on the journey. In our next issue, look for a continuation of this article in which we explore the dynamics of donor delight from two different angles: Donor Behavior and Donor Attitudes.

If you have questions, comments or other insights on this subject, please contact Dirk Rinker, president of Campbell Rinker at rinker@campbellrinker.com or call him at 888-722-6723. We would love to hear from you. If you have questions about a research issue you face as an organization, we at Campbell Rinker would be honored to assist you with a free consultation.