The Basics of Personalizing Digital

Donor Communications

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Let’s Get Personal :

What is personalization?Personalization is everywhere! If you’ve ever gotten an email from Amazon about an item you might enjoy, you’ve experienced personalization. If you’ve ever logged into Netflix and seen recommendations for a movie or show you might like, you’ve experienced it. If you’ve ever scrolled through Facebook and seen recommended videos, you’ve experienced it. Today, personalization is everywhere. People expect customized experiences, product recommendations, advertising, and marketing. Personalization is the norm for most industries.

But how can nonprofits personalize their communications? How can we tweak our messaging to appeal to individuals when we’re so used to writing mass communications that’re sent to thousands of people at a time?

If you’re new to fundraising, you may not know what personalization is and what it entails, at least from a fundraising perspective. For nonprofits, personalization involves using information about your donors to communicate in a way that shows them you know who they are, that you understand their motivations, and that you appreciate their relationship with your nonprofit. You use their data to create a customized giving experience that connects them to your mission and reinforces their decision to give.

Why does personalization matter?

Adding personalization to your digital communications to donors, volunteers, and supporters is important to your organization’s health! Donors demand personalized experiences. Think about it: these days, donors are accustomed to nearly every digital experience they have being tailored to them. After years of immersive, personalized digital experiences, a generic giving experience will fall flat.

Personalizing your donor communications will have a major effect on your bottom line. In fact, a study by Accenture Consulting found:

• 55% of donors would give (or volunteer) more if they were given a personalized experience

• 59% of respondents said they’d give up to 10% more

• 25% said they’d give up to 25% more

• 8% said they’d give up to 50% more

Those are some serious numbers! Personalization works in fundraising for two reasons: donors want to feel like they’re recognized and needed, and they want to connect on a personal level to the work your nonprofit does. If you can use personalization methods to meet those two needs, you’re well on your way to increasing fundraising, donor engagement, and donor retention.

Why are donors so willing to give more in exchange for a personalized experience?

• Donors want to know that THEY made a difference. Referring to them as an individual (say, addressing the letter to “Michael” instead of “Dear Donor”) reiterates the impact they made as a single supporter

• People pay attention to their name. We’re inundated with messages and commercials that are sent to people en masse. Personalized information grabs our attention more.

• We’re becoming accustomed to personalized experiences. Amazon predicts what we want to buy. Spotify predicts what we want to listen to. Netflix predicts what we want to watch. Facebook shows us ads based on our data and browsing history. Personalization is expected! Not personalizing your communications can make you come off as tone-deaf or uncaring.

• People give to other people, not causes or organizations. The more you can make a donor feel like you (a real person, not a faceless organization) are asking them (a real person, not a faceless record on their email list) for help for a real cause, the more likely they are to give.

Your donors want to feel connected to your nonprofit’s mission. Acknowledging them by name and being able to reference their history with your organization shows your supporters you notice them and value what they’ve done for those your nonprofit serves.What should your nonprofit personalize?

Nearly every type of communication you send directly to your donors should contain some level of personalization. This includes:

• Appeals

• Receipts

• Thank-you notes

• Follow-up information and communications

• Future appeals (tailored to your donors’ unique motivations)

Does personalization sound daunting? Don’t worry! This guide will help you get started personalizing your donor communications by providing practical suggestions you can put in place right away. Personalization is a logical step in improving your fundraising: it makes your donor relationships more of a friendship than a mere transaction. The best way to build trust and affection in your donors is to get to know them and tailor your communications to their wants and needs. If you look at your donor data, you’ll discover that you know what your donors need from you. Personalization is your tool to meet their individual needs.

Qgiv can help you personalize your digital communication! Visit our website to learn more about how we can help you tailor your online giving forms, receipts, and more to make your donors feel like the center of attention. We’d love to help you raise more money and save time so you can focus on what matters most: your mission.

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EventRegistration

TextFundraising

Peer-to-PeerFundraising

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Table of ContentsSection 1: Tools to Personalize Your Communications

Section 2: How to Personalize Appeals

Section 3: Receipts and Thank-You Notes

Section 4: Follow-Up Communication and Future Appeals

Conclusion

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Tools to Personalize Your CommunicationsIf you want to start personalizing your donor communications, you need to start by obtaining tools that make personalization possible. It’s hard to insert your donors’ names in place of “Dear Friend” if you don’t have the tools to export those donor records or, worse yet, no way to capture that information in the first place!

To personalize donor communications, nonprofits need well-built donation forms, a thorough reporting system, solid donor data, a good customer relationship management (CRM) tool, and communications tools that work with your organization’s CRM and donation tools.

Start with a well-built donation form

To start gathering information that allows you to personalize your donor communications, you need to ask the right questions when your donors make a gift.

An outstanding donation form does two things: it obtains basic information about your donors, and it does so without making the process laborious. To get the best results, limit your required fields to include only what is necessary to process the gift and send further communications to your donors. However, you may want to create an optional field that allows donors to choose which program or project they want to support with their donation. This will help you tailor future communications to your donors’ interests! Knowing what motivates your donors to give, whether it’s a new capital campaign or a specific program, will help you target future appeals.

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The only required fields on your donation forms should be personal information (name, address, phone number, email address) and, of course, the donation information itself. Your donation form isn’t necessarily where you’ll discover the most information on your donors. What you do obtain, however, is still valuable: the contact information donors willingly give you opens the door to learn more about them. The way you use that information in future communications can mean the difference between proper donor stewardship and poor stewardship. If you want to retain the donors you have, make sure you get the important information first!

Collect donor data with a thorough reporting system

Your donors gave you accurate contact information when they made a donation. What good is that information if you can’t analyze the data and put it to use to personalize future donor communications? You need a reporting system that collects information from online donations that you can enter into your CRM and donor database.

Your reporting system should be able to export donation details, donor contact information, and any custom fields you included on your donation form. With this information, you’re able to determine what programs or projects individual donors support and tailor communications to their interests. You’ll also have their name, which you can use for personalized salutations in future appeals, updates, or thank-you notes. Taking note of which restrictions your donors are giving to lets you put them in specific groups that will only receive messages aligning with their giving history with your organization.

Coordinate donor communications with your CRM

A good customer relationship manager (CRM) is imperative to your personalization efforts. This tool is where your donor data lives and is updated. A good CRM will allow you to track what appeals your donors receive, when your donors give, and the timing and results of all in-person and written contact you have with your donors. Often, CRM software also allows you to query your data and build donor lists based on a set of criteria.

How would this work in practice?

Imagine you’re starting a new capital campaign, and you want to send a direct mail appeal to local donors who have given to past capital campaigns. A good CRM will allow you to query donors to capital campaign restrictions. It should even let you segment your list even further by searching within that restriction for donors from certain zip codes, cities, or states. From there, CRM query results can be exported for mailings and email campaigns using your organization’s communications tools.

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Once you have your segmented list of donors, you’ll use your email platform or other tool to build personalized communications that will go to each list. Using your email provider’s tools, you can track donor responses, returned mail, and undeliverable emails, then update your donor data within your CRM. You’ll use tools like UTM codes to track how many donors land on your donation form, make a gift, or share your page. Then, all that information will be fed back into your CRM, which will make future segmentation even more effective.

Being able to use the information from your CRM is an important part of effectively communicating with your donors. Understanding what motivates your donors and knowing where they see your messaging is equally as important!

Understand where donors see your messaging

A powerful way to personalize your communications is knowing where people see the messaging that inspires them to give. If you know that a large number of donors respond to appeals you post on Facebook, you can focus your time and energy on making more (and better!) appeals on Facebook. If you notice that nobody donates from Facebook, but that most people respond well to emails, you can use that information to adjust where you post appeals.

You can gather that kind of information by using UTM codes on your online donation forms—it makes getting to know what motivates your donors an almost automated process! To do this, you’ll create a UTM code (interesting bit of trivia: UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module), which is a small piece of code you attach to a URL. You choose the link you want to track, embed the UTM code in the URL, and send it to your donors. If you wanted to post a link to your donation form to a Facebook Page, you’d include a unique UTM that’s specifically tied to Facebook. From there, you can monitor your results; you’ll be able to see how many people landed on your donation form because they saw your post on Facebook.

Interested in learning about the CRMs Qgiv has integrations with? Head to our website to find our more and request a demo!

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Build (and automate!) personalized emails

You can use UTMs in emails, too! The right email service or other communications tool can help you create an entire series of emails that will send tailored messages to different groups of donors at a pre-determined pace. If you wanted to show recurring donors what they’ve accomplished with their gifts, you could build a series of emails to send monthly updates to recurring donors.

When you’re setting up emails, make sure they’re as effective as possible by using A/B email testing with some communications tools. Testing your emails in smaller email tests will show which version performs best. The version that performed best in the small test pool can then be sent to your larger email list. Using A/B testing to see which language performs better can help you nail down your donor language preferences so you can make future emails just what your donors expect and appreciate.

Now combine UTM codes, personalized emails, and your donation form

If your emails will link to a donation form, make sure that the page you’re directing donors to has an embedded UTM code. This code will allow you to track which campaigns led your donors to make gifts. Knowing which campaigns work and which ones fell short will make you more informed when coming up with future campaigns. If donors make unexpected gifts to a different restriction than you expected, your UTM tag will show this and you can begin sending your donors communications promoting this additional program. When you start sending communications through your communications tools, you’ll want to check in with your CRM regularly to make sure that you aren’t reaching out to donors too often.

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How to Personalize AppealsYour first foray into personalization should be attempted with your appeals. An appeal can be a good way to test out what you know about your donors while also testing out whether this personal donor information makes a difference in the amount you receive (and trust us, it definitely will!).

Use donor-centric language to make your appeals more personal

The simplest way to start personalizing appeals is to shift focus away from your organization doing all of the work and onto who makes that work possible—your donors!

In his 20-question donor communications test, Tom Ahern advocates moving from “us/we” language to “you” language. When your appeal focuses on your nonprofit (and not the donors), you run the risk of not keeping your donors’ attention. Make donors more receptive to your appeal by talking about them and the difference they make! People want to feel like heroes—make your donors feel powerful by focusing on them and their accomplishments, rather than framing your nonprofit as the hero.

If you’re reaching out to individuals who haven’t supported your organization yet, focus your appeal on connecting them to your mission, not your nonprofit. People want to connect to the people your organization serves, not your organization itself. They’re much more likely to donate to Sandra, the single mother of three kids, than they are to donate to a food pantry. It’s a subtle difference, but it’s an important one.

This rule holds true for established donors as well, but it’s especially important when trying to form a new relationship through an appeal. Use storytelling to give donors a glimpse into the lives of the people they’re helping when they give and show them what their gift can accomplish. The focus of your appeal’s messaging should never be your own fundraising goals. The community doesn’t care about the numbers in your fundraising goals! Instead, focus on the good donors will do by giving. Donors care about what their money will accomplish and who it will help.

YouYou

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youyou You

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Make your ask specific and the benefits tangible

When you make your ask, ask supporters to make a difference by donating. Volunteering and advocating for a nonprofit is rewarding, but you still need donations to make it work!

You need to ask specifically for monetary support and explain what donors will make possible with their gifts. Many organizations break down their asks into different giving amounts and show donors how each amount accomplishes different things. Letting donors choose their gift amount with the knowledge that those funds made a tangible difference for those you serve goes a long way with your donors.

Go back to the appeal for your food pantry. You know you need to ask your donors to support families like Sandra’s. You can make your appeal even more appealing (get it?) by showing donors how their gift will help Sandra and her children. For example, you could say something like:

Every donation makes a difference! Please make a gift that will help feed families like Sandra’s.

• $20 will buy a “Basics Box,” which includes rice, beans, flour, sugar, coffee, and a variety of spices.

• $30 will buy a “Produce Box,” which includes tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, zucchini, corn, and strawberries

• $50 will buy a week’s worth of groceries for a family of 4

This way, donors feel that they’re making a real-life purchase for a real-life family. Instead of donating $50 to a food bank, they’ve bought Sandra and her children groceries for a week. That’s the kind of personal connection that makes for a powerful appeal!

Check out this article in the Qgiv blog on Why You Should Be Super-Specific in Your Year-End Appeal.

Tell a story that will motivate donors

Reinforce your ask by telling a personal story that illustrates how donors can help a real person by making a gift. Mention how donations make it possible to address a need in your community. Tell them that without them, others in need won’t be able to receive help. Tailor the stories used in your appeals based on donors’ past giving or expressed areas of interest. If groups of donors are giving to your nonprofit for very different reasons, your

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donors won’t be as motivated by a generic appeal or an appeal to a restriction they don’t care about. If a donor specifically wants to support a capital campaign, tell a story about how the last campaign created a program and focus on an individual that benefitted from the resource the capital campaign donor’s gift made possible. People give to the programs that speak to them. Your stories need to reflect the myriad motivations your donors have for giving and the ones you send need to be relevant to your recipients.

Personalize your appeal letter’s salutation by using the donor’s name

Once you have the first level of personalization in place, there’s an additional level of personalization that you can put into your appeals. This second level of personalization is based on the information gleaned from your donation forms and CRM as well as any mailing lists your nonprofit purchased. The easiest second-level personalization task is using your donor’s name in the appeal. Address them as “Dear Name” rather than a generic “Dear Friend.” Addressing your subject by name shows you intended on reaching out to them specifically and need their help.

Mistakes do happen! Sometimes donors can get around entering a first name when making a donation, or maybe there was an error during your export. Consider replacing your default salutation text with something more relevant to your donors. Instead of “Dear Friend,” try “Dear Animal Rights Advocate” or “Dear Conservation Warrior.” It’s more personal than “friend” and shows an awareness of your donors’ interests!

For appeals you send to donors who’ve supported your organization previously, tailor the appeal to their past experiences with your organization. This can be as simple as including a line like, “We know you’re passionate about feeding local families because of your past support” before making your ask. You can also try adding special language for monthly donors, or you could try writing a special appeal for donors who have given large gifts.

Dear Marcus

Dear Conservation Warrior

Dear Friend

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Add greater personalization by segmenting your appeal lists by past giving

That last part—the one that focuses on personalizing appeals based on a donor’s giving history—is especially important. Remember, donors want to feel that their individual gifts matter. Referencing past gifts makes them feel like their gift was recognized and appreciated! Segment your appeals by sorting your donors based on restricted fund or gift size.

For donors that give to specific funds, it’s easy to guess what their motivations are and what projects excite them. Armed with that knowledge, you can send them appeals relevant to their interests. If a donor has historically restricted their gifts to an after-school work program, you can deduce they’re interested in helping train and educate students. They’d be a great candidate to receive an appeal for a summer camp campaign that focuses on teaching students valuable life skills.

Segmenting your appeal list by gift sizes allows you to earn larger gifts by asking donors to give amounts that line up with their past gifts. For example, you’d ask a donor who gave a $1,000 gift to consider giving another $1,000 or upgrade their giving to $1,200. But you wouldn’t want to ask a $20 donor to give that same amount!

A one-size-fits-all appeal can easily shortchange your nonprofit by asking those willing to give more to give less. It can also alienate smaller donors by asking for amounts they couldn’t possibly donate. Tailor your asks based on your donors’ past giving. This will ensure you ask for an appropriate amount and invite people to give to programs they find interesting.

Another nice touch when it comes to higher level personalization is thanking the donor for their last gift. Adding a sentence like, “Your last gift of $100 to the Foster Dog Placement Fund helped place a shelter dog with a foster family until they can be adopted. Thank you for helping improve the life of a shelter dog!” This reminds donors about how much they gave, where they asked their money to be used, and that their gift was put to good use.

Qgiv offers integrations with some of the top email marketing software providers used by nonprofits! Head to our website to learn more and request a demo.

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Personalizing ReceiptsPersonalizing your donation confirmation page

Before we get to your emailed receipt, let’s talk about one piece of content that is oft-neglected: the confirmation or thank-you page your donors land on after making a donation on your online form. This is a valuable piece of real estate! Here are a few things to try that will make your donation confirmation page a little more human:

• Tell donors about the impact the donation they completed only seconds ago will make by adding pictures or linking to a video.

• Preview future communication by telling donors they’ll receive an emailed thank-you or a card in their mailbox.

• Thank your donor! It IS a thank-you page, after all!

• Give them something to do next by providing options for sharing your donation page on social media.

• Put donors’ minds at ease by providing information about tax-deducibility.

To read more about how you can spruce up your donation confirmation page, check out 6 Ways to Customize Your Thank-You Page in the Qgiv blog.

Personalizing receipts

You may be surprised to hear that your online donation receipts should be personalized! You may even be wondering what information to include on the receipt to personalize it. Your nonprofit’s receipt doesn’t have to be the same as your local grocery store’s.

Think of your receipt as a brief letter thanking your donor and providing transaction details. It’s the first step in the thank-you process. Personalization on the receipt can add a friendly touch to what is often a transactional-feeling experience.

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Thank your donors and address them by name in the short thank-you note included before the transaction details. Donors are more likely to pay attention to things that address them by name! By contrast, a generic receipt with nothing more than transaction details is easy to overlook.

To personalize the emailed donation receipt, consider adding content that will thank donors with specific information related to their gift. Elements you might want to include are a note about the fund to which they donated, a sweet note if someone dedicated their gift to someone, or an impact statement about how their money will be used. Your donation receipt is often the first interaction a donor will have with your organization after they give. Make the most of it! Use your receipt to show donors that they matter, that they make a difference, and that you value their support.

You can read more about making your donation receipt great by reading Anatomy of a Great Donation Receipt in the Qgiv blog.

Conditional content for donation receipts

Adding content that will only appear based on actions your donors take during the donation process is dependent upon your online donation platform’s receipt personalization capabilities. If you’re a Qgiv customer, you can easily add language tailored to your donors by including information tags that populate with transaction information and by using the Conditional Content tool. With conditional content, you can

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include messaging to donors thanking them for giving to a certain restriction, dedicating a donation, and assisting with transaction costs!

You’ll need to pull your donor’s salutation and first name for the thank-you section. If you want to thank your donors for giving to a specific fund, include the restriction name and gift amount and thank them using the specific details of their gift. Depending on the level of personalization available to you, you may be able to insert sections into your receipt in response to giving to specific funds or registering for events. If this is possible using your systems, those inserts allow you to express exactly what your donors made possible by giving to those funds.

If donors set up a recurring gift or gave as part of a dedication, show donors you’re paying attention by automating your receipt content to include a sentence or two mentioning their recurring gift or dedication. In Qgiv, you have an entire set of customizable recurring donation receipts dedicated just to your recurring donors! One thing that should be present in receipts to first-time donors is a note that they should be on the lookout for future communications. Excite your donors by giving them something to look forward to. This also increases the chances that they open your next communication!

Even if you’re able to automate the process, personalizing your receipts to the point you’re able to mention the donors’ fund, recurring gift details, and dedication information in your receipt makes it look like you put in tremendous effort to prepare their receipt. You’re also showing donors that their gift matters to you. Giving your donors that warm and fuzzy feeling can only improve your relationships with them and help you raise more money. It’s also a powerful donor retention strategy.

To read more about personalizing receipts, thank-you pages, and using conditional content, head to the blog to read How to Add a Little Donor Love Language Using Qgiv.

Make thank-you notes more personal

What’s more personal than a handwritten note? A handwritten note full of details about you and the effect you’ve had on others!

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If you’re not sending handwritten thank-you notes to your donors, you’re missing out on a great way to make them feel amazing and to show them their gifts were noticed and appreciated. Do you send a formulaic thank-you that says the same thing for each donor? If so, you’re missing a great opportunity to show your donors how much their gifts matter!

In your handwritten thank-you notes, personalize the message so that it’s unique to each donor. Be specific about the fund the donor supported and how their donation will be used. Go the extra mile and add a personal note about how that donor is making an impact on those you serve. Finally, show your donors how much they matter to you by having a real person sign the note.

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Follow-Up Communication and Future AppealsSend personalized updates to your supporters

Your donor stewardship strategy shouldn’t stop at the personalized thank-you note. Your donors want to know how their donation impacted those you serve. After some time has passed and thank-you notes have been sent, reach out again to inform donors about what’s happened because of their donations. Don’t just send a vague update, either! Make it a point to update donors by restriction so they’re getting updated on the capital projects and direct service programs they care about.

In your update, report on the impact the donor’s favorite program(s) had on those you serve or update donors on the progress of their capital campaign. You can tell a success story or provide statistics on the number helped by this program. A word of warning: one or two stats can enhance a story, but an update that’s all numbers-driven (and not story-driven) is boring!

This example is from The Humane Society of Greater Jupiter/Tequesta, Inc.

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Reference how much the donor gave to this program to make these results possible. If the gift amount they gave allowed your nonprofit to serve a certain number of people or purchase important supplies, tell them that! If they’ve set up a recurring donation to that program, give them a special thank-you. They’re a valuable partner in your work, and they should know that! This is also a great place to send a special thank-you to donors who dedicated their gift to a loved one.

You’ll want to acknowledge the donor’s history with your organization here, too. Personalizing your donor updates will show your donors you’ve noticed their gift and are expressing your continued appreciation for all they’ve made possible. You’re also building trust with your donors by showing them what their donations achieved. Having a tangible record of the work your nonprofit did with their funds is important. Your updates show donors your nonprofit uses donations to make a real difference; regular updates also reinforce the fact this work can only be accomplished because of their support, which will make future asks more successful.

Personalize future appeals to create a custom experience for each donor

When you’re ready to send the next round of appeals, be sure to make it as close to a personalized, custom experience for your donors as possible. You have a wealth of donor data regarding what programs motivate each donor to give. You also know the amount that each donor typically gives. Armed with that donor data, you’ve got the power to make your appeals speak directly to your donors in a way that shows your donors you truly “get” them. More importantly, a high level of personalization in your appeals should show donors how important they are to your nonprofit and those you serve.

Remember to start your appeal letter by calling the donor by their name. You should have their preferred salutation in your CRM after getting to know them. If your donors gave you a nickname to use, use their nickname to give your letter a sense of warmth and familiarity (when appropriate).

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Thanks for donating $58 to buy school supplies and a backpack for a local student!

In your letter, reference your donor’s past gifts. You can add copy to an appeal template that discusses their giving history. A nice touch could be to include a total of all gifts they’ve given to your nonprofit if they’re a long-time donor.

Have these donors attended your fundraising events? Are they volunteers? Reference their involvement with your nonprofit outside of simply referencing donations made. If they were ever served by your nonprofit, this could be a great time to thank them for giving back.

Tailor your appeals to your donor groups. Your message should request support for programs and projects that your donors love. You know the restrictions your donors give to! Ask them to support those programs and projects in future appeals.

All this requires segmenting a large donor list into smaller groups so your appeals can focus specifically on their areas of interest. It’s a lot of work! That extra work is worth it; your donors won’t receive a generic appeal. Instead, they’re asked again to donate to something they’ve proved they value and believe in. Use what you know about your donors to continue motivating them again and again. Keeping your asks relevant keeps your donors giving!

Lastly, consider further dividing your mailing lists into donor gift-size pools. From there, ask donors to slightly increase the level of their support. For instance, if you make a list of donors who give $25.00 or less for each gift, send an appeal asking them to give $30.00. This is a small increase many of those donors will be able to manage without overestimating their ability to increase their gift size. As you build those relationships, increase the ask amount incrementally. This allows your donors to grow their support as their relationship with your nonprofit grows.

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ConclusionPersonalized communication is key for getting attention from your supporters. With the average person being inundated with marketing messages every waking hour, tailoring your communications so they speak directly to your donors’ motivations and history with your organization is your best bet to get results!

Personalize all your digital and print communications to donors by referencing their past donations, their history with your organization, and your donors’ personal information. Use “you” rather than “us” language and refer to your donors by their names (or nicknames, if they give you them)! Show your supporters you’re paying attention and that you appreciate their support. Donors want to feel needed. Show them that you see them, need them, and appreciate them!

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