The Ask
An International Aid Organization commissioned Phase 5 to conduct research into the experience journey of their major donors. The client assumptions were that major donors might want, need and deserve an experience different from other donors and that there might be differences among major donors. They were also concerned about the large number of touchpoints directed at this audience and wanted to ensure the quality and consistency of the experience at all touchpoints.
Our client wanted insights into what donors were doing, thinking and feeling. They also wanted to learn more about their donors’ desired experience and pain points related to giving at different stages of their journey. The desired outcome was a series of design workshops with internal stakeholders to craft successful experiences for the different types of donors.
The Approach
- Phase 5 consultants conducted in-depth contextual interviews with individual donors by telephone:
- To learn about their experience and compare it to their expectations and/or other experiences.
- To test hypotheses about their journeys
- To identify different donor personas
- Phase 5 consultants then held design workshops with stakeholders:
- To ensure that everyone understood the personas (audio recordings from the interviews helped amplify their perspectives)
- To identify and prioritize problems that affects the persona along the journey
- To analyze all components of each problem in order to collaborate on ideas for problem resolution
- Finally, we created storyboards that summarized each persona’s characteristics and experience in order to enable our client to share the findings throughout their organization.
The Outcome
- The client gained a clear understanding of their major donors along three critical dimensions:
- Desired level of engagement
- Goals for giving
- Commitment
- That understanding led the client to creating experiences tailored to each persona.
- The storyboards enabled our client to share the findings throughout their organization and guide the development of successful communications programs and fund raising initiatives.
