Lifecycle strategy - The power lies in localization

The goal of every organization is to strengthen the bond with as many donors as possible. The following key questions arise:

Where are our donors in the donation life cycle:

Is he or she still new, already interested, already capable of development, happily committed, already at risk again or even lost again?

But also other questions such as: What level of knowledge do they have? How do they feel about our organization? Do they know us at all? Or do we still need to make ourselves known to them? Or are they apathetic and don't want to know anything more about us? These are essential questions in modern fundraising. Because the donor is the focus here. They receive the right content at the right time on their preferred channel. Digital tools make this possible quickly with little know-how and training. But where is our donor now?

Every person who is interested in an organization or supports it with donations is in the so-called donor lifecycle. This is divided into 6 stages or phases. These broad categories can be further subdivided on an organization-specific basis. There are usually several target groups per lifecycle stage. With the lifecycle strategy, The Salvation Army now knows the respective location of its supporters and knows where - and therefore with what message - this person can be reached.

The first phase was to find out what we wanted to achieve with the Lifecycle Strategy. For The Salvation Army, the aim was to establish optimized communication across all lifecycle phases in order to meet potential donors where they are at the moment and to strengthen the bond with existing supporters.

In this phase, the concept focused on the life cycle phases ‘interested’ (potential donor/lead), ‘developmental’ (first-time donor) and ‘committed’ (regular donor). The aim was to define a systematic approach to develop these donors from one phase to the next - Lead to Donor - Donor to Regular Donor - Regular Donor to Monthly Giver.

A workshop was held to determine the status quo in the donor landscape. Together with the Salvation Army, the goals and target groups for the project were precisely defined and all the necessary information was collected. The workshop was all about „GROW YOUR E-MAIL MARKETING“!

GOAL: What is the goal of the lifecycle strategy or what are the goals for the individual target groups (interested parties, development employees, committed employees)?

REALITY: What is the status quo and how is email marketing currently working at The Salvation Army? What are the pain points?

OPTIONS: Brainstorming: What are our options for achieving the goals?

WAY FORWARD: What is the next step and what are the concrete next steps?

The getunik Lifecycle Strategy enables the organization to accompany (potential) donors through the lifecycle. In this way, the Salvation Army has managed to ensure that no contact lies somewhere „and cannot be actively retained or further developed. It knows where a person is and can - ideally in an automated way - communicate with them appropriately.

Success is not long in coming. Once the strategic work is done, all the most important journeys are tactically designed step by step. Donors are met where they are in the lifecycle and served with the information that is relevant in their lifecycle phase. They receive the right content at the right time on the right channel – and can thus become enthusiastic about the Salvation Army and those affected by it. Automation with ActiveCampaign creates an authentic closeness that comes very close to personal support.

Thanks to our lifecycle map, we always know which lifecycle phase the donors are in. It also creates a good basis for The Salvation Army to efficiently develop donor journeys that bear fruit and benefit Salvation Army projects and, above all, those affected.