What is a digital transformation anyway?
If you’re like me, you hate phrases like this. Buzzwords that could literally mean anything. So I’ve personally interpreted ‘digital transformation’ as improving digital platforms and online user experience, and getting more of our organisation to understand the value that digital brings.
It’s important for any charity to keep in mind that there are charities that have been ‘born’ into the digital age and so naturally put digital first when planning communications, fundraising and even service delivery. Not having a ‘digital-first’ mindset therefore puts you and your organisation at risk of losing out to these whizzkids.
I started the digital transformation journey with Mayhew in 2018 with the launch of our new website. From there, we’ve put a digital strategy on paper.
Where to start your digital journey?
You can’t decide where to go without first understanding where you are as an organisation. Before doing any future planning, take time to look at how your digital channels are currently supporting your organisational goals, what your peers are doing, and how your digital content has been performing. This will give you great insight into what is working and what isn’t - the perfect jumping off point for making improvements. To support this work, I would recommend using two tools - the Digital Maturity Matrix and a good old-fashioned SWOT analysis.
Where do you want to be?
Now comes the exciting stage - thinking about what could be and what digital can do for your charity. How can you use digital to reach more service users, and get your supporters engaging and donating more? I would recommend creating specific KPIs for digital that can support different areas of your charity’s work. Then you can use these to brainstorm digital projects for each area. You can then take these project ideas and build out a Transformation Map that can guide you over the next few years.
Case study: Mayhew - increasing donations by 13%
Whilst working with Mayhew, I created and implemented a digital strategy using the process above.
One of our KPIs that we introduced was simply to “encourage donations and keep supporters engaged with Mayhew’s work”. So improving the website donation experience for donors was the first big digital project from this new strategy and digital roadmap.
Previously, their online donations consisted of multiple single-page forms with lots of steps and clicking for the user. As part of this project, we worked with our external digital agency, adaptable, to create a simple, multi-step bespoke donation journey with an improved user interface. We wanted to make it as easy to give as possible.
As the backend of their website is powered by WordPress and donations are processed by Gravity Forms, a challenge for adaptable was finding a way to create a completely bespoke donations funnel with dynamic elements and page splitting, without altering the way that donations are handled internally by the fundraising team.
The new product
Everything the new form does, it does without reloading the page. No waiting around staring at a screen, no filling in the same details twice if something isn't quite right – it will give feedback as the user is acting. adaptable have used modern industry-standard tools to achieve this.
The main addition to the journey was an upsell component, allowing Mayhew to present options to donors such as an additional ‘treat a pet for £3’. Donors now also have the option to cover the fees set by the payment processor (e.g £0.26) in order for Mayhew to receive the full intended donation.
adaptable have also drawn more focus to gift aid in the journey, better communicating to donors how Mayhew will benefit by opting in, and added a few feel-good touches such as a confetti animation once the donation is complete.
The results
In the first month of going live, 35% of donations included at least one of the ‘treat a pet for £3’ upsells, with some donors adding several of these, adding up to more than their initial donation!
We also saw 48% of donors choosing to cover the payment processing fee, which will add up and save financial costs long term. So far, the upsell updates have increased total donation value by 13.94%
Here are my top tips for getting started with your digital journey:
Understand your channels and do more of what performs well
Get buy in from senior level - get a digital leader in place at senior level and upskill your senior team with their support. If you can get a digital trustee on your board - even better!
Map out your journey with a Transformation Map - the visual guide will help you other departments on board.
Do it for your service users and supporters - make your transformation about helping these people, rather than your organisation.
Most importantly…
Don’t be afraid to reach out for help and support if you need it. If you’re overwhelmed or don’t have the internal capacity to do a strategy properly then get in touch. I would love to help you get started on your journey!