Rethinking estate donations - automated and yet personal

With digital estate fundraising, your organization faces challenges that need to be overcome. The topics of estates and donations are sensitive and require a thoughtful approach.

 

The key challenges that need to be overcome include:

 

• Limited budgets , as acquisition costs are higher in bequest fundraising than in broader individual giving.

• High technical complexity in implementing marketing automation tools.

• Resistance from donors who find it difficult to engage with the sensitive subject of estate planning.

• Need to build trust with potential legacy donors .

• Personalized engagement is essential to build a relationship with donors.

 

A successful strategy will take all of these aspects into account and help your organization to be an effective estate donor.

The subject of wills requires a cautious approach, as your own death is not exactly one of your favorite personal pastimes. For this reason, you should avoid opening the door. Ideally, you should reach your target group at the right time via the right channel. To ensure this, it is advisable to approach the topic of wills as part of a larger strategy - the lifecycle strategy (LCS). Instead of segmenting contacts only by age, they can also be divided into lifecycle phases. These phases result from the answer to the question of how strongly my contact is tied to my organization  

 

For example, a lead generated via a Facebook campaign may be interested in the work of your own organization, but is by no means firmly tied to the organization. Here, it is important to consider measures to develop the contact into the next phase and warm them up to the topic of will donations. Permanent donors, on the other hand, can be approached more directly on the subject of "donating to an estate" as they are already familiar with the organization. 

 

Another important step is to implement will scoring, which allows you to target potential legacy donors. Award points for interactions to identify the optimal time for personal contact. Lead magnets also help to attract new contacts and arouse interest. Whether informative guides or invitations to webinars - these tools help to build trust and create the basis for a lasting relationship, which increases the chances of estate donations.

 

To make effective progress in digital estate fundraising, you need to take concrete steps to help you sensitize and attract donors to the topic of estate donations.

 

The individual steps for implementation: 

 

1. Create awareness:  Use emotional videos or themed newsletters to generate interest in the topic of estate planning. The content should be appealing and appeal to the target group emotionally. Experiment with different formats to find out what works best.

 

2. Generate interest: Use lead magnets that offer real added value, such as informative guides or invitations to special events that bring the target group closer to the topic of estate planning. These resources should be easily accessible.

 

3. Trigger a wish: Incorporate an automated email journey that includes additional informational materials and offers to encourage contacts to learn more about estate giving. Provide valuable content that supports the decision-making process. (z.B. Inheritance calculator)  

4. Action please: Digital estate communication is less about direct results and more about starting to build relationships. The brave ones will dare to make a will online in the final step of the journey (for example via portals such as DeinAdieu) and will take an organization into account. Others, on the other hand, will need more time and may benefit from a personal consultation. This is exactly what can be offered in the final step to dispel any final doubts. 

 

All in all, marketing automation helps to simplify communication, save resources, reach a larger target group and increase loyalty. This retention is an investment in the future of the organization.

 

 

In digital estate fundraising, organizations face challenges such as high acquisition costs and technical complexity. A well-thought-out strategy is crucial to overcoming these hurdles. Marketing automation optimizes processes and makes it possible to target potential donors. With a lifecycle strategy (LCS), you can segment contacts and address them individually, which increases the chances of success.

 

Use lead magnets, emotional videos and themed newsletters to generate interest and build trust. An automated email journey supports the transfer of information. Personal conversations help to dispel any last doubts. Implement these recommendations to be successful in estate fundraising.

Would you like to find out more about estate fundraising? Then we recommend our case study. In it, we report on our joint project with the Swiss Red Cross Canton of Zurich, in which we were able to implement such automation.