Drive Better Supporter Engagement with Nonprofit Surveys
Engaging with supporters in meaningful and actionable ways is key to building long-term loyalty to your organization. We asked our friend Hannah Leigh-Brown, Associate Director of Client Services and Digital Marketing at Interactive Strategies, how nonprofits can connect more deeply with their audiences by using nonprofit surveys to ask the right questions at the right time.
Q: How can my organization use surveys to connect with our audiences and drive supporter engagement?
A: One of the best things you can do is zoom out and go really broad with questions that are applicable to your mission.
If you’re a human rights organization, your first question could be something as easy as, “do you think human rights are important? Yes or no.” That’s a great tactic on social media like Facebook, but it also works on email. It gets people to respond because they think, “obviously, I believe human rights are important,” and they want to click on that “yes” button. Answering that initial question gets them involved and they’ll be ready to answer your survey’s follow-up questions.
While you kept it simple and broad in your first question, in the following questions you can get more detailed. Ask about their opinions, or about topics related to your mission that continuously get them more involved throughout the survey. Then, once they’ve answered your questions, they’ll get to that final question, which is often, “will you make a donation today in support of our mission?”
Using tactics like nonprofit surveys can help you engage your supporters to remind them that you share their values and want to hear their opinions. More engaged supporters tend to develop and maintain stronger relationships with you and your mission, which means stronger advocates, more active volunteers, and more committed donors.
