Loyalty programs are very often based on points, miles flown, or airfare paid. Not so for the Canadian Red Cross, which has a very unique loyalty program. Andrew George, National Stewardship Specialist for the Canadian Red Cross, participated in a compelling interview with Loyalty360 to discuss the loyalty program.
Can you talk about the status of your loyalty program, what elements comprise it, and what makes it unique?
Our loyalty program is focused on our monthly donors and providing high value in the first year of a donor’s gift. It is comprised of 10 multi-medium touch points that aim to establish an emotional connection with the donor’s gift and the mission of the organization. What makes our program unique inside the nonprofit sector is the yearlong strategy where each piece builds on the one prior. Many other organizations will provide excellent engagement pieces, but typically not in a prolonged, systematic way.
What factors prompted the creation of a loyalty program for the Canadian Red Cross?
The majority of monthly donors are acquired through face-to-face canvassing, which has an extremely high attrition rate in the first year after signup. The loyalty strategy was created to show donors how valuable their gift is to the people it helps and to connect them personally and emotionally to the mission of the Canadian Red Cross in hopes it would prolong their lifetime value as a monthly donor.
What challenges did you find in creating a loyalty program for the nonprofit sector?
The challenges we face are two-fold: The first is that we cannot offer points or items that appear to take away from the mission of the organization that you would see in a commercial loyalty program. The second is our budget does not usually allow us to use the newest technological programs and services meaning we need to be more creative in how we organize our data and distribute the touch points.
What are your goals for the program?
The program launched in April 2013. We have seen an average drop in attrition of 5.3% each month for the group of donors who receive the loyalty plan. Our long-term goal is to decrease attrition by an average of 10%. Our second goal is to roll out a version of our loyalty program to donors acquired from other channels such as direct mail, online. and telemarketing.
What makes this loyalty program different from conventional retail loyalty programs?
What makes the program different from a retail program is that we do not offer a points system or exclusive services benefits. A program like this would draw criticism from donors due to concerns their donations were not being used on the people they are trying to help. Instead, we offer detailed, inside information not accessible to the general public on the work of the organization aimed at making the donor feel like an active contributor to the organization’s mission. We share stories directly from beneficiaries themselves to donors and send timely, exclusive updates when the Canadian Red Cross begins work on a new disaster appeal or emergency. We also make a concerted effort to provide the donor with valuable content designed to help keep them and their families safe through disaster preparedness information and first aid and water safety courses available from the organization.