Campaign Type:  Special Appeals

Background:  A politically-oriented nonprofit wanted to support an important bill before Congress by mobilizing its constituency quickly to help with its passage.  The campaign both solicited contribution and instructed the individuals to contact their representatives in Washington.

Since the nonprofit was already a SIGNIA client and the state registrations were current, SIGNIA was able to begin the campaign within 96 hours.  SIGNIA constructed the case statements, trained the communications and proceeded with the task at hand.  SIGNIA even transferred to calls to the individual’s representative.

The bill passed and the metrics for the program were outstanding.

Results:

Benefits to client:  Major events can cause a sudden need for support and a direct one-on-one personal appeal conveys the urgency and is an efficient tactic to generate donations quickly.

Campaign Type:  Monthly Giving Program

Background:  An environmental charity looked to expand its monthly giving program.  The charity had relied solely on mail to solicitate the donations.  The mailings were generating lower than projected pledge amounts and fulfillment rates.

SIGNIA added telefundraising to the promotional mix.  The tactic produced a higher response rate, higher pledge amounts and improved pledge fulfillment.  As a result, the charity increased its return on investment.

Results:

Benefit to client:  The 1-on-1 conversation provides the opportunity to explain the need for monthly gifts and overcome objections to making a more substantial commitment to the charity.  The results deliver high-value donors with strong connections to the organization.

Inbound Donor Care for a Large Nonprofit Public Policy Group

Background:  The client was looking to partner with an inbound donor care provider to better serve and improve relationships with its donors across the full donor lifecycle.  The client’s objective was to provide a world-class supporter experience across multiple channels of engagement.  In addition to exceeding the identified call metrics, the client was looking for the provider to implement a saves program to keep donors or manage the downgrade of the individual’s giving.

Approach to Providing Services: 

SIGNIA’s Operations and IT Teams met with the DofH staff to understand the current challenges and the objectives the departments wanted to achieve:

• • • SIGNIA developed a support program where the client redirected its inbound call traffic to SIGNIA.  Scripting and messaging were developed jointly with Client.
    • The Agents’ duties included:
      • • Updated donor records
        • Handled donor inquires
        • Implemented a Donor Saves program to retained donors looking to adjust their giving.
        • Escalated calls to client outside the scope of the standard responses as needed
        • Supporters will be engaged as critical members of the Client’s community and thanked for their valued support.
    • Communications with the client’s supporters took place across multiple platforms — voice, email and text

Results: All KPIs (AST, Speed to Answer, Abandon Rate) showed marked improvement. CSAT scores increased to over 95%.

Benefit to Nonprofit Partner:  SIGNIA Agents receive and respond to inquiries across multiple communication platforms – voice, email and SMS/text.  SIGNIA also executed post-call surveys to measure CSAT.  SIGNIA Agents also interact with customers to retain their service levels. 

COVID Contact Center for two Western State Department of Health

Background:  During the COVID outbreak, the respective Departments of Health (DofH) realized their internal customer support operations were not adequate to handle the increasing volume of calls.  Rather than cobble together applications to manage the rapidly increasing volume, the DofH decided to outsource the support operations to a partner that could handle the fully breath of citizen inquiries, using the latest technology to support the communication process. 

Approach to Providing Services: 

• • • SIGNIA’s Operations and IT Teams met with the DofH staff to understand the current challenges and the objectives the departments wanted to achieve:
      • • Citizens must be able to reach the DofH during and after normal operating hours
        • Effectively respond to requests of public health that require timely response, service and, where required, escalate to public health officials.
        • Communicate and response to citizen inquiries on multiple platforms (i.e., voice, email, etc.)
    • SIGNIA built a time of full and part time Agents, moving to a team of 40 full-time Agents during the period of peak inquiries.
    • Agents practiced in the knowledge management system practicing standard responses and data searches for possible inquiries. Both SIGNIA Supervisors and Agents became very familiar with the DofH’s applications and knowledge management system to be able to navigate both systems quickly and effectively, providing an efficient experience for citizens.
    • Once operational Citizens could call or email the DofH for information regarding the nearest location to receive a COVID vaccine or for a COVID testing center. SIGNIA Agents answered call and responded to emails, using the respective DofH database to research and gather information to respond to questions. Services SIGNIA Agents provided were to provide locations for vaccines sites and testing centers, schedule vaccine appointments and escalating citizen sessions to a DofH staffer where required.

Results: DofH goals were to handle all communications quickly and efficiently.  SIGNIA exceed the goals set:

Average wait time:  less than 1 minute
Average speed to answer:  less than 30 seconds
Average handle time:  5 minutes
CSAT score:  over 95%

Benefits to DofH Partners:  SIGNIA scaled the number of Agents needed quickly to support the project.  SIGNIA Agents accessed the DofH databases and/or applications to research citizen questions and provide the appropriate response.  SIGNIA Agents managed communications via phone and email.