In 2021, it was found that while fewer people were giving to charity, those who were making donations were giving more than previous years. It shows the importance of building and strengthening relationships with existing donors and customers could actually be a better use of your organisation’s time and resources. More so than trying to build these relationships from scratch. It’s fairly common knowledge that acquiring new customers is more expensive than retaining existing ones. In some cases, up to five times more. 

By balancing your search for new customers with fostering close-knit, ongoing relationships with the donors and customers you’ve already interacted with, you can encourage repeat custom, ensuring you remain a charity retailer of choice for years to come. 

But how can you do that as a charity? By making it an even better experience that shows them they mean everything to you…

Create a seamless sales or donation process

Donors will want a simple and straightforward process for donating their goods, especially if they’ve donated to your charity before. They’ll want to save time by having their donor information pre-saved, making for the most efficient drop-offs possible. And by offering remote donor sign-ups and drop-offs on a tablet, they can bypass any till queues and save even more time.

Similarly, an efficient till process allows you to offer a seamless, premium customer service. An intuitive till system that’s quick and easy for volunteers and staff to pick up and feel comfortable with will mean fewer mistakes and greater efficiency in your stores.

Keep their data safe

While storing donor data is great for a streamlined donor experience, it also comes with its risks. By keeping hold of it for a later date, your organisation is accepting responsibility for ensuring its safety.

By performing regular software updates, you can stay up to date on any technical tweaks or fixes that may be rolled out. In doing so, you can keep donor data protected from cyber attacks and reduce the risk of financial and reputational damage as a result. 

Give them options

By offering your donors and customers more ways to support your cause, you can significantly boost their connection to your brand. You can’t expect donors to jump through hoops to support you, so making donating (and shopping) with you as convenient and accessible as possible will be great.

You could turn up at car boot sales or host pop-up shops. Or look into pushing more sales online. The more options people have, the more touch points you have for them to donate their money.

Stay in touch

One of the best ways to provide a better service is the simplest one: stay in touch.

You can send thank-you emails after donations, update donors on how much money their donations have raised, or share your charity’s updates and recent victories with your mailing list. Anything that lets them know where their donations have been going. This is about simply staying present in their lives, and communicating on a human level with those who have contributed to your success. 

Furthering that connection with donors can have such an astounding impact. With some small changes that show you how much you value them, you can ensure their patronage for even longer. But doing that can seem like an investment of time and money. It’s one you don’t have to do alone though.

CHARiotWeb makes building solid, close-knit relationships with donors and customers simple. With a streamlined, cloud-based retail system that improves their experience and keeps data safe, we help you do more. If you’d like to find out more, get in touch on 01204 706 000.