Why Customer Feedback Software is Essential for Nonprofits.

Imagine knowing exactly what your donors are thinking and being able to respond immediately. As a nonprofit organisation, wouldn’t this just make life so much easier?  

At XP, it’s our goal to do just that! To make life easier for nonprofits so you can focus on your mission. For this reason, we want to talk about how you can make your donor feedback count.  

I know what you’re thinking... impossible – my nonprofit has limited resources, I have no time, and I have thousands of donors, how am I supposed to be able to respond immediately/make changes accordingly?  

That’s a great question, and hopefully, after reading this article, you will understand why customer feedback software is the solution and get answers to some of your questions about time, resources, and capacity. Then you can make an informed decision about whether or not customer feedback software will be valuable to your organisation.  

The success of any non-profit depends on donors, funders, and their giving community. This makes it incredibly important to put the needs of donors at the front of their decision-making processes.  

But how do you do that practically with all the challenges you may be facing as a nonprofit organisation?  

In this article, you're going to learn about Microsoft Customer Voice and how it solves this problem. You’ll also find out why and how your nonprofit can proactively integrate it into your systems. 

We will discuss: 

1.  The Challenge Nonprofits face
2.  An Important Metric, Customer Feedback
3.  How can Customer Feeback help your Nonprofit?
4.  Dynamics 365 Customer Voice
5.  How can Xtreme Productivity help?

What is Customer Feedback Software?

Customer feedback software is a platform that helps gather real-time feedback from customers through surveys, reviews, and other channels. Feedback is then categorised into distinct groups, and relevant teams can then work on developing solutions and business improvements. Microsoft’s creation in this area is called Customer Voice, and it integrates seamlessly into Dynamics 365. 

Let’s explore the challenges and benefits of customer feedback, and learn how, when done in the right way, feedback can lead to outstanding performance in your Nonprofit.  

The Challenge Nonprofits Face

Nonprofit organisations have historically struggled with measuring their true success. As you would probably know, nonprofits are increasingly needed to respond to performance measurement mandates issued from multiple external stakeholders.  

We all know that understanding what leads to success is important, especially when that knowledge is a condition for receiving funding from government and private sources. It is also important for keeping competent staff, addressing outcomes relevant to other stakeholders, and informing decisions, leading to long-term sustainability of your organisation ¹.  

However, many of the recommended strategies have been developed for the for—profit and public sectors, not considering the different challenges that nonprofit organisations face, and how they may need different processes and metrics for measuring success.  

So how do you get a proper understanding of what is leading your nonprofit to success? And how do you measure this and implement a performance measurement strategy that is going to work?  

According to research by Carnochan & Samples (2013), for performance measurement, it is important that nonprofits draw on the best forms of evidence available, which includes external research as well as data generated within the organisation. And, to use internal data, your organisation must engage in data mining – having staff and a high-quality data system which can analyse data and use this in decision making processes about donors and programs ². 

Okay we can see a few challenges pop up here, and you may have some questions and concerns. Firstly, how can I know what the best form of evidence is? Secondly, to use internal data, they’re saying I need a high-quality data system? And I need staff who can decipher the data? All I see is extra costs for both technology resources and staff capacity, with no guarantee that this process is even going to help.  

But there’s no need to stress - the answer here is to take it a few steps at a time. Firstly, you can start by measuring data relating directly to your donors, because we know that donors are one of the most integral parts of your mission. You can also create metrics and key performance indicators that will tell you if you’re on target or not.  

A survey conducted among nonprofit managers found that organisations that create key performance indicators to measure their progress in achieving the goals of their mission will perform better ². These metrics will provide a more accurate representation of your organisation’s success, and will be helpful for mangers, donors, foundations, and boards. Some useful KPIs (key performance indicators) or metrics for your nonprofit could include donor retention rate, impact measurement, donor acquisition, and growth of services. We believe that one of the most important metrics that you can track is donor happiness. 

The Donor Happiness Metric

According to the Forbes Nonprofit Council, the most important metric that can play a role in the success of a nonprofit is Donor Happiness ³. 

They say that:

“Donors (customers) are the most important part of the mission. They are both the fuel, and an important marketing team. If donors aren’t happy and don’t feel very connected, they may give, but they will not promote your work. Hence, the best way to know if your donors are happy is simple: Ask critical questions and listen to feedback!” 

Customer feedback management is therefore vital to an organisation’s success, and surveys are a great way to collect feedback. Every point of contact with a donor is an opportunity to improve the organisations reputation with them and increase the likelihood of further support4. 

Plus, when organisations take feedback to heart, it shows that they care about their donors’ needs and are willing to adapt and address them ⁵.  

We have first-hand experience of this at XP. In the past, before managing our own customer feedback, we were very reactive to complaints. We were only in the know if something major had gone wrong. At this point, we could only fix things once they had been escalated, as we didn’t have an in-depth knowledge of our customers perspective. Since we started asking the right questions in our customer surveys and sending them out regularly, we’ve gained a comprehensive view of how everyone is feeling – not just the top-level management. This has led to a considerable decrease in complaints because we now respond to people's feedback and suggestions immediately. This builds trust as our clients know we really care about how they are feeling and are responsive to their needs.  

How customer feedback can help your Nonprofit:

• Improved donor relationships 
• Understand donor needs 
• Strategic decision making 
• Allow for continuous improvement 
• Grant and funding opportunities 

The case for gathering feedback and actionable insights from donors seems obvious, however, the practice is still rare. According to one survey,

"Out of 1,986 nonprofit leaders, only 13% have been able to turn customer feedback into actionable changes ⁶."

In addition, two-thirds of the respondents said that the greatest barriers to implementing feedback systems was limited staff time, resources, and/or it being “too complicated” or “too costly.” 

But you know this already. The question remains – How do I overcome the  cost, staff capacity and seemingly complicated technology of collecting feedback and gaining actionable insights? 

From our 12 years of experience in working exclusively with nonprofits, we know that it is paramount that nonprofits have customer feedback software that is efficient, gathers data all in one place, and is user-friendly for both staff and donors. It also needs to be cost effective and offer a return on investment.  

XP has found that Dynamics 365 Customer Voice answers all these needs and is the most efficient solution for nonprofit organisations. 

Benefits of Customer Voice for Not-for-Profits:

We spoke with Andriena from Aktive – a nonprofit focussed on getting Aucklanders more active and participating in sport and recreation.

We asked Andriena about her experiences with Dynamics 365 Customer Voice, and how it has helped their organisation. 

It’s more efficient than other platforms

“Before we moved to Customer Voice, we were using different platforms for different surveys and applications, for example, we had TypeForm and Jotform, and it was constantly a struggle to streamline the information. Now we just use one platform – Customer Voice, and all the data is in one place”

It eliminates manual processing

“We can now easily integrate the survey results with our workflows, and into the CRM to create our grants, whereas previously we had to manually enter it, which took up a lot of time.”

It’s user-friendly

“We have four staff that are currently using Customer Voice, and we haven’t really found it difficult at all to use. It’s definitely made our lives easier.”

It’s functional

“I like using Customer Voice because it has a backend that’s quite easy to use. It can export to excel, and you can also get graphs from the different answers on the survey you’ve sent out.”

It’s customisable

“There are lots of features, and you can ask various kinds of questions in many formats. This means it’s easy for us to get the information we need.”

Other Benefits of Customer Voice:

Automatic Alerts:

if a donor’s satisfaction goes below a certain level, you can set up an automatic notification which allows you to respond promptly and effectively to their feedback.

Contact Centre (formerly Omnichannel):

Dynamics Customer Voice gives you new ways to survey donors and reach them through many different channels - email, SMS texts, QR codes, web, social media, mobile, and more.

So, is customer feedback software essential?

After reading all that, you should now have a comprehensive understanding of the benefits and practicalities of this type of software and the importance of addressing the unique challenges faced by nonprofits in collecting and using donor insights efficiently.

But you may still have the question, how valuable is customer feedback software? Is it really that ‘essential’ - because my nonprofit has been doing okay without it so far.

Well – we're going to pose a few questions back to you. How valuable is knowing what your donors want? And how essential is your time? Remember when we asked you to imagine what it would be like to know exactly what your donors were thinking and be able to respond immediately? How great did that seem?

We are here to tell you that it isn’t impossible, and well, to put it simply, it’s really quite easy.

If you’re ready to continue the conversation, get in touch, we’re standing by.

How can Xtreme Productivity help?  

What sets Xtreme Productivity apart is our exclusive focus on nonprofits and the problems they face. We have the experience to solve those problems quickly. Our partnership with Microsoft ensures our team, equipped with Microsoft certifications, can seamlessly integrate Customer Voice in a way that suits any nonprofit organisation.

But our support doesn’t stop at implementation. Integrating new software can be a challenge, so we also provide comprehensive training and support . We stay at your side, offering ongoing consultation and advice, ensuring that you continue to use Customer Voice effectively, even as technology evolves, and new features emerge.

Resources

1. Van Steenburg E, Anaza NA, Ashhar A, et al. The new world of philanthropy: How changing financial behavior, public policies, and COVID ‐19 affect nonprofit fundraising and marketing. Journal of Consumer Affairs. 2022;56(3). doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12461 

2. Carnochan S, Samples M, Austin MJ. Performance Measurement Challenges in Nonprofit Human Service Organizations. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. 2013;43(6).

3. Panel® E. Council Post: 13 Metrics Every Nonprofit Should Be Watching. Forbes. Accessed December 10, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesnonprofitcouncil/2021/06/22/13-metrics-every-nonprofit-should-be-watching/?sh=69fdbc3f64fe

4. Customer Feedback Management | For the Non-profit Sector Board Management Software. boardmanagement.com. Published June 23, 2014. Accessed December 10, 2023. https://boardmanagement.com/blog/customer-feedback-management-for-the-nonprofit/

5. Xu K. Council Post: Why Feedback Isn’t Limited To For-Profit Companies. Forbes. Accessed December 10, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesnonprofitcouncil/2020/11/02/why-feedback-isnt-limited-to-for-profit-companies/?sh=4556bf016fb2

6. What Social Sector Leaders Think About Feedback (SSIR). ssir.org. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/what_social_sector_leaders_think_about_feedback

 doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764013508009

7. Corporation M. Customer Voice | Microsoft Dynamics 365. dynamics.microsoft.com. Accessed December 13, 2023. https://dynamics.microsoft.com/en-us/customer-voice/overview/