Recent research found that charities leave much to be desired when it comes to contactability. Chris Robinson, CEO of Yonder Digital Group, looks at how charities can restore their tarnished reputation by improving interactions with clients and donors…
The ability of charities to secure funding hinges on a strong relationship with donors and a public image that inspires confidence. However, in a 2018 survey commissioned by the Charity Commission, almost half (45%) of respondents said that their trust and confidence in charities has decreased in the last two years, compared to 18% in 2014. Multiple factors have contributed to this decline; in particular, regulatory fines and behavioural scandals have grabbed headlines, severely damaging public perception of charities’ internal operations, and undermining the values that charities stand for. In order to remedy this situation, charities must act without delay to improve their reputation.
Ease of contact
It should be a given for clients and donors to be able to get in touch with charities with ease, especially considering that these interactions are vital for the causes that charities support. Yet a recent survey of UK consumers found that charities are perceived to be slacking when it comes to ease of contact and query handling. Yonder Digital Group surveyed 2,000 respondents across a range of sectors, asking whether organisations were easy to get in touch with and resolved queries rapidly and effectively. Charities managed a mid-table ranking, with only 17% willing to rate charities’ contactability as ‘excellent’. On the other hand, over half of respondents selected ‘basic’ or ‘poor’, ranking the sector below banks, hotels and supermarkets, among others. This is a surprising result for a sector that is expected to have high standards.
Seamless Integration
Anyone wishing to get in touch with a charity must be able to get hold of contact details easily and resolve their queries via the channel of their choice, whether it is over the phone or through webforms, chatbots, email, mobile apps or post. Organisations should be aiming to provide a seamless experience across these channels so that donors receive the same level of service no matter how they get in touch, and that they are able to find the answers they need.
Creating an integrated and seamless contact management experience may require a large capital investment when dealing with legacy systems, but IT directors are now evaluating how they can use internal resources, or they are looking to cloud platforms and/or third-party outsourcers for support and advice on cost-effective solutions with rapid return on investment. It should be noted that implementing best practice processes is only effective if they are built into systems and across all channels. For instance, a robust system generates audit trails automatically, which can then be used for management information or regulatory reporting, ultimately improving transparency at a low cost.
Full-time support
In an age where we can access information at the touch of a button and at any time of day, donors have higher expectations; charities that are available 24/7 are therefore more likely to improve satisfaction with their service, especially if this includes live agent interaction at key times of the day and night. To gain a better understanding of how to provide optimal support, automation can be of assistance by providing insights from across different channels to live agents, allowing them to develop the service provided. Furthermore, automated query handling, such as chatbots driven by artificial intelligence, can offer additional capabilities. However, live support cannot be dispensed with completely, as research shows that for some queries, only the human touch will do.
Looking ahead
According to the Charity Commission’s research, two fifths (41%) of those whose trust in charities has decreased say they donate to charities less as a consequence. It is clearly crucial for the charity sector to distance itself from the bad press it has received of late, and to do this, charities must rebuild relationships with their donors. When donors are willing to donate to a worthy cause, but require further information, charities should be equipped to resolve queries quickly and efficiently. If they are not able to do so, donors will simply choose another charity, or worse still, stop giving to charities altogether.
About Yonder Digital Group
Yonder Digital Group www.yonderdigitalgroup.com leverages over 20 years operational experience in outsourced contact centre delivery and technological innovation. We service clients across a range of industries with our 24/7 omni-channel approach rooted in expert analysis of customer behaviour and optimising returns from every brand touch-point.
Yonder boasts 700+ advisor seats across two UK centres-of-excellence in Bristol and Ipswich powered by cutting edge technology, data analytics, tools and insight, helps its clients to create seamless brand interactions, meaningful and memorable contacts across multiple channels and to drive a measurable ROI alongside uplifts in revenues and customer satisfaction.