An Engaging Experience Designing a customer-centered online fundraising program Meg Houston Maker Director of External Information Services Dartmouth College site: megmaker.com blog: engagingexperience.com email: [email_address]

About me

Fundraising sites: Campaign and Funds

Fundraising Sites: GTD

What is good design?

Good design is not…

Bad design: Weather channel

Bad design: Weather channel

Bad design: AIGA not found 1

Bad design: AIGA not found 2

Bad design: Cooper Hewitt online tix 1

Bad design: Cooper Hewitt online tix 2

Bad design: LinkedIn

Bad design: LinkedIn

Bad design: Dell

Bad design: Dell

Bad design: Dell

Bad design: White House (old) Hat tip to Rex Sorgatz and his flickr photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fimoculous/3213257378/

Maybe nobody…

Good design is…

Good design: Veer

Good design: GE

Good design: Google maps

Good design: iGoogle

Good design: Integrated with everyday life

Good design: Integrated with everyday life

Good design: White House (new)

“Design identifies and builds value based on a deep understanding of customer needs… When we speak of design, we are talking about a mechanism for consciously creating value based on truly understanding customers as people. ” Diller, Shedroff, and Rhea, “Making Meaning: How Successful Businesses Deliver Meaningful Customer Experiences”

“Design identifies and builds value based on a deep understanding of customer needs… When we speak of design, we are talking about a mechanism for consciously creating value based on truly understanding customers as people. ”

Design is a noun…

Design is a verb…

“ Customer-centered” design An approach that puts the customer’s needs at the heart of the design. It “tries to optimize the user interface around how people can, want, or need to work, ” not how we think they should work. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User-centered_design

An approach that puts the customer’s needs at the heart of the design. It “tries to optimize the user interface around how people can, want, or need to work, ” not how we think they should work.

Customer-centered design is also called: User-centered design Experience design Interaction design Visitor experience Interface design Information design Information architecture Brand experience Product design Visitor experience Look and feel Goal-directed design Defensive design End-to-end experience Human factors Human-computer interaction Usability User-friendly design Contextual design Consumer experience design See: http://www.adaptivepath.com/blog/2006/09/12/what-term-do-you-use-for-user-experience/

User-centered design

Experience design

Interaction design

Visitor experience

Interface design

Information design

Information architecture

Brand experience

Product design

Visitor experience

Customer-centered design is also called: User-centered design Experience design Interaction design Visitor experience Interface design Information design Information architecture Brand experience Product design Visitor experience Look and feel Goal-directed design Defensive design End-to-end experience Human factors Human-computer interaction Usability User-friendly design Contextual design Consumer experience design See: http://www.adaptivepath.com/blog/2006/09/12/what-term-do-you-use-for-user-experience/

User-centered design

Experience design

Interaction design

Visitor experience

Interface design

Information design

Information architecture

Brand experience

Product design

Visitor experience

Customer-centered Design and Usability

Customer-centered Design and Usability

Customer-centered Design and Usability

Customer-centered design is holistic : aesthetically pleasing delightful meets the user where he is accessible talks with—not at—the user interactive good data, good tools useful easy and intuitive usable

usable + useful + interactive + accessible + delightful = an engaging experience

“ This is where branding comes into play; by identifying all the points of contact between the consumer and the site and defining how to deliver the right emotional experience at each one of those points of contact.” Marc Gob é, Emotional Branding

“ This is where branding comes into play; by identifying all the points of contact between the consumer and the site and defining how to deliver the right emotional experience at each one of those points of contact.”

Marc Gob é, Emotional Branding

Design impact is measurable For example… Factors contributing to sales (or donations): • Sales conversion from the search function • Cross-sell conversion that occurs between web pages • Increase in percentage of completed transactions • Decrease in abandoned shopping carts Source: Scott Hirsch, “User Experience Accountability: Assessing Your Impact on Business Results” http://adaptivepath.com/publications/essays/archives/000276.php

For example…

Factors contributing to sales (or donations):

• Sales conversion from the search function

• Cross-sell conversion that occurs between web pages

• Increase in percentage of completed transactions

• Decrease in abandoned shopping carts

Staples.com after a redesign • 67% more repeat customers • 31-45% reduced drop-off rates • 10% better shopping experience • 80% increased traffic • “ Increased revenue” Source: Human Factors International, 2001

• 67% more repeat customers

• 31-45% reduced drop-off rates

• 10% better shopping experience

• 80% increased traffic

• “ Increased revenue”

Fine, but what’s that got to do with fundraising?

Old DCF - 1

Old DCF - 2

Old DCF - 3

Old DCF - 4

Old DCF - 5

New DCF Gift Form - 1

New DCF Gift Form - 2

New DCF Gift Form - 3

GA: DCF Before

GA: DCF After

28% reduction in our abandonment rate … instantly

28% reduction in our abandonment rate

… instantly

The rules

1. Copy online shopping

GTD - “gift list”

GTD - “cart”

Jakob Nielsen’s Law of Web User Experience: “ Users spend most of their time on other websites.” http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html

“ Users spend most of their time

on other websites.”

2. Give the user what she wants… and don’t get in her way

“The $300 Million Button” The problem: Shopping cart abandonment “I’m not here to be in a relationship.” Source: Jared Spool, http://www.uie.com/articles/three_hund_million_button

The problem: Shopping cart abandonment

“I’m not here to be in a relationship.”

“The $300 Million Button” The solution: the Continue button “ You do not need to create an account to make purchases on our site. Simply click Continue to proceed to checkout. To make your future purchases even faster, you can create an account during checkout.” Source: Jared Spool, http://www.uie.com/articles/three_hund_million_button

The solution: the Continue button

“ You do not need to create an account to make purchases on our site. Simply click Continue to proceed to checkout. To make your future purchases even faster, you can create an account during checkout.”

Talbots “Continue button”

Princeton “Continue button”

“The $300 Million Button” The results: 45% more customers $15 million in the first month $300 million in the first year Source: Jared Spool, http://www.uie.com/articles/three_hund_million_button

The results:

45% more customers

$15 million in the first month

$300 million in the first year

3. Integrate across media

June Challenge

June Challenge integration

4. Use targeted calls to action

Bonfire Video email

December 30 email

5. Instrument and analyze

Google Analytics tracking

Google Analytics Campaign tracking

Appeal codes + Google Analytics javascript:__utmLinker('https://www.dartmouthcollegefund.org/dcf.php? apc=A09HR ’)

javascript:__utmLinker('https://www.dartmouthcollegefund.org/dcf.php? apc=A09HR ’)

5. Provide exclusive content

Honor Roll

6. Build a customer-centered culture

Think like a donor Use customer-centered terms, not jargon: ?! gift planning major investment leadership customer service rep gift officer thanks, feedback, closing the loop stewardship goal, achievement campaign client relations, donor experience donor relations

Use customer-centered terms, not jargon:

Integrate customer-centered design into your organization • Understand the business value • Create a cross-functional web team and make them accountable for success • Collect good baseline data • Look for indicator metrics tied to the actions you want • Measure outcomes and continue tweaking • Evangelize success Sources and hat-tips: Scott Hirsch, http://adaptivepath.com/publications/essays/archives/000338.php; Scott Hirsch, Peter Merholz, http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/report_review_nielsen_norman_groups_usability_return_on_investment

• Understand the business value

• Create a cross-functional web team and make them accountable for success

• Collect good baseline data

• Look for indicator metrics tied to the actions you want

• Measure outcomes and continue tweaking

• Evangelize success

Discussion Meg Houston Maker Director of External Information Services Dartmouth College site: megmaker.com blog: engagingexperience.com email: [email_address]