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Better customer-led communications for one of the UK's biggest banks.

A better welcome for new supporters, automatically.

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We really enjoyed working with Signal and were delighted by the clarity, confidence and boldness they brought to the project.

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One hundred days ago I wrote about the Post-Covid Consumer with some optimism – restrictions were easing, businesses were re-opening and consumer confidence had risen from its June low of -36 to an encouraging “high” of -27. 

Now, as we reach day 200, we’ve stalled. Consumer confidence has inched up to -25 in September and it feels like we’re holding our collective breath. Six months since lockdown, as the weather cools and the nights draw in, we’re facing an uncertain winter, with further impacts on our social, economic, and psychological lives pretty much inevitable. 

In this ever-changing context, what does it mean for charities? How does the sector energise itself and plan for the future? 

For a start, there are positives – rumours of the world becoming a kinder place are not unfounded. More than half of the British public donated to charity between April and June 2020. Over the past 6 months response rates to direct mail have beaten predictions: standard warm cash campaigns have experienced double digit increases year-on-year and emergency appeals have been smashing forecasts, both in terms of response rates and average gifts. While direct debit cancellations grew in March, they had dropped by June and are still well down on last year’s figures. 

There’s little sign of donor fatigue either – even when shops and pubs reopened, people continued to give at increased levels. In addition, Donor Pulse’s update on the Impact of Covid-19 on Donor Behaviour reports significantly increased levels of intention to give, both in the short term (next 3 months) and into the future. 

But we can’t be complacent. We know we’re entering recession and that job losses are imminent. Measures of financial resilience stuttered at the end of July and have worsened through August. While the societal mood may be kinder, people’s ability to give will inevitably be compromised in the months to come. 

Data from past recessions tells us that successful fundraising in a financial downturn is dependent on two critical factors: audience connection and innovation. Identifying and resonating with your loyal supporters is essential; as is finding new ways for people to give in a world where many traditional ones have been curtailed. 

Making the shift to a truly audience-led approach

An audience-led approach is nothing new but there is now a genuine commercial urgency to make that shift. It’s not easy – understanding the complexity of integrating data, creativity and tech, not to mention overcoming siloes and cultural resistance, are hard – but it’s essential if a charity wants to survive, and thrive, post Covid. 

There is a high probability that the generation growing up now will be more charitable than its parents. Donor Pulse reports that 84% of 18-24 year olds donated between April and June this year (73% if you exclude NHS donations) – compared with 55% of 40-54 year olds (52% excluding NHS). In addition, 50% of the younger audience say they are more likely to give in the future than they were three months ago, whereas only 20% of the older cohort say the same. 

But connecting with this younger audience is tough, as many charities know. It requires a whole new approach with very different, largely digital, strategies. Without digital transformation and innovation charities risk failing to create valuable connections with these new audiences and put their future survival in jeopardy.

In another 100 days 2020 will be over. Who knows what 2021 will bring? One thing we do know is that without doubt it will continue to be a time for fundamental change in fundraising. A time for insight to take centre-stage as charities transform and reorganise around supporter motivations and behaviours; for experience mapping that doesn’t just go from A to B but truly reflects how the supporter wants to interact; for proposition development shaped and moulded around the donor; for contextual communications that emotionally connect on supporters’ terms. And ultimately for better donor experiences that meet supporter needs while, crucially, creating lasting business value. 

As we still look hopefully towards a time post-Covid, we need to take our lead from our supporters, understand what inspires them, listen and adapt to their changing needs and offer them certainty and assurance in an unsettled world. 

If you’d like to know more about how Signal is helping charity clients make the shift to audience-led, please get in touch. 

200 days lockdown.pdf

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200 days of lockdown: The post-lockdown picture

Six months since lockdown, as the weather cools and the nights draw in, we’re facing an uncertain winter, with further impacts on our social, economic, and psychological lives pretty much inevitable. In this ever-changing context, what does it mean for charities? How does the sector energise itself and plan for the future? 

Evolving the fundraising experience to meet the wants and needs of the Post Covid-19 Consumer.

A few weeks ago Sam Poole wrote about how Covid-19 has turned our lives upside down, forcing us to re-evaluate what it means to be an employee, a citizen, a global consumer. One hundred days into lockdown and life continues to change on a daily basis. With restrictions easing, we’re starting to look ahead to what life will be like in the future, shaped by our collective experience of the pandemic.

Previously, Sam explored 5 key emerging behavioural trends that CMO’s/senior fundraisers in the charity space will need to consider when interacting with the Post Covid-19 Consumer (PCC). Times are changing fast, so how is our supporter feeling now, after 3 long months of lockdown?

Consumer confidence has taken a huge hit since the middle of March 2020. The scale of the shift can be seen in the GfK consumer confidence index below, with a drop to -34 in late March, representing the biggest fall in more than 45 years. By 5th June this had dropped further to -36, with GfK’s client strategy director reporting consumer confidence to be “battered and bruised”. However, as the UK starts to open up for business again, there are positive signs with GfK reporting a nine-point rise in confidence and a seven-point increase in consumers’ willingness to spend on expensive items by early July.

For brands, subdued consumer confidence means that building trust is more important than ever. People are contextual decision makers – after months of anxiety they will be craving security and stability. Brands will need to focus on building confidence at every touchpoint, ensuring their values match the experiences their customers expect and desire.

Consumer confidence is closely linked to charitable giving. In March, About Loyalty’s Sentiment Tracker showed that up to 30% of people intended to stop or reduce their donations since Covid-19. Similarly, Virgin Money saw a 44% decline in donation value (excluding NHS charities) on its VMG platform in the first month of lockdown with the top 50 charities seeing income reduce by 93% compared with the same period in 2019.

However, more recently there have been indications of an upturn in charitable giving behaviour – at the end of March About Loyalty reported only 9% of people said they had given to charity, but by 20th April this had risen to almost 16%, potentially due in part to the incredible fundraising effort of Captain Sir Tom Moore. Likewise, at the same time, Virgin Money saw charity donations (excluding NHS) improving to 70% of the 2019 level while nfpSynergy reported average gifts increasing from £50 in January to £67.70 in May 2020.

So while there is some way to go before consumer confidence returns to previous levels, there are encouraging signs of improvement in the sector. In their latest briefing (June 2020) CAF acknowledged that recent easing of lockdown restrictions have had limited impact on charities, but as shops begin to open and Big Issue sellers return to the streets, the charity sector is starting to see reasons to be optimistic. As a result, CAF reports, a third of charities said they are feeling more positive about the future than they did a month ago.

The ONS reports that 49% of workers reported working from home at some point in the 7 days to 14th June. Facebook announced in May that it expects half its workforce to work remotely over the next 5-10 years; Twitter has said its staff can do so “forever” if they wish.

Meantime Virgin Money reports that digital banking has become more popular during lockdown with 30% of people downloading a mobile banking app and 40% of digital banking users saying they’ve used it more during lockdown. In addition 83% of people are planning to continue using digital banking as they have during lockdown or to use it more frequently. This is even higher among people aged 55-64 with 87% intending to maintain higher usage or increase it post lockdown.

The move to virtual raises a significant challenge for the sector, with many charities still heavily reliant on older, offline and quite traditional audiences. But the sector has acted fast to adapt, embracing digital change, adopting new techniques in the most challenging of circumstances. The Big Issue’s speedy digitisation, the virtual 2.6 Challenge in place of the cancelled London Marathon and CRUK’s Race for Life At Home are all examples of nimble innovation to help recover funds that would otherwise have been lost.

Digital transformation is hard at the best of times but it’s hugely encouraging to read that, according to CAF’s June briefing, a fifth of charities say the pandemic has helped them accelerate their plans for online fundraising and another fifth say it has helped them modernise. We all wish it could have happened in different circumstances but maybe some clouds do have silver linings.

TV viewing has increased by 24% during lockdown, according to BARB, a natural consequence of people spending more time at home. In the early days we obsessively watched the news, seeking trusted sources of information: over 27 million people tuned into Boris Johnson’s addresses on 24th March and 10th May, surpassing the audience figures for the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony and Prince William & Kate Middleton’s wedding. But we also seek escape and distraction from our isolated lives: Disney+ doubled their global subscriber numbers to 50m in April thanks to a very fortuitously timed launch in March. In a world of social distancing, TV brings us closer to each other – be that families enjoying the shared viewing experience together or conversations with friends about must-see programmes.

Increased viewing, coupled with discounted rates and penalty-free deferrals, make TV an attractive opportunity for brands wanting to drive both short-term business performance and long term brand-growth. Furthermore, with many more people furloughed or at home during the day, traditional daytime charity advertising has the potential to reach a whole new audience of workers which would otherwise have been out of reach. TV offers the chance for charities to tell authentic, human stories which drive the emotional connections a distanced society needs; coupled with contextual placement it’s a powerful proposition and an opportunity too good to miss.

Health and wellbeing – physical, mental and emotional – remain primary concerns for many people. While the ONS reports that “our day-to-day emotions like happiness and anxiety have improved since the beginning of lockdown, our assessment of life overall, such as our life satisfaction and feeling that the things we do are worthwhile, have remained subdued since 20 March 2020”.

Academic evidence has shown that people can adapt to both positive and negative events, which implies we’ve adjusted to our new life, reducing our short-term anxiety a little. It’s likely that increased community spirit and appreciation of the NHS and key workers, alongside financial measures such as furlough and mortgage relief have balanced out negativity to some degree, positively impacting happiness levels.

But life satisfaction and the sense of our actions being worthwhile remain as they were at the start of lockdown, as our long-term view is clouded by the prospect of recession, job losses and unemployment. The longer lockdown has gone on, the longer people think it will take for life to return to normal.

People aged in their 60s – the UK’s Baby Boomers - are the least optimistic about how long it will take for life to get back to normal, with a higher proportion saying it will take more than a year or that life will never return to normal, than those aged under 60 years and those aged 70 years and over.

It’s a complex picture. Short-term, with anxiety levels and happiness increasing a little, there are opportunities to make the most of the improved societal mood and capitalise on people’s more appreciative sense of empathy. Longer term, there is a need to adapt to supporters’ shifting attitudes and concerns. With Baby Boomers being such an essential cohort for the charity sector, brand trust again becomes a critical focus. As their sense of life satisfaction remains low charities will need to make vital human connections and show them how their support is making a difference. Never has there been a more appropriate time to show your supporters how important they are, how much value they add to beneficiaries’ lives, and in turn give them back their own sense of worth.

Our lives have changed beyond imagination over the past 100 days; what will life be like after the next 100? Understanding your supporter has always been important but it’s essential in a socially distanced world where people feel isolated and cut off.

So, keep talking to them – connect with them and show them you’re listening. Build experiences to suit their needs; create trust and stability; and make them feel valued and worthwhile.

At Signal we have extensive experience supporting a wide range of charity clients and we are working with many right now to get ready for the PCC – so please do get in touch if you’d like more information.

The_Post Covid-19 Consumer Part 2.pdf

Life During Lockdown: What's next? The Post Covid-19 Consumer

Hysteresis. Hysteria. They look similar, but in a quirk of Greek etymology their origins are very different. However, in the post Covid world, you’d be forgiven for thinking they were closely connected.

The former, in economic terms, refers to an event in the economy that remains changed in the future even when the factors that led to that event have been removed; the latter potentially refers to how we feel after 14 weeks of home-schooling.

The key is understanding which changes to keep, and which should revert to their pre-Covid state. While economists will look to their models to make predictions, in reality we’ve never been here before, so we need to think much more creatively and holistically. We need to listen to people, recognise their changed behaviours and build better experiences for them. Take time to assess which changes should be kept, which dropped, and which adapted. Look at the short-, medium- and long term and the impact on both your business and your customers. And consider how much effort is required to lose the undesirable changes or make new ones stick, versus the long-term benefits.

Can you identify segments where customers have changed their behaviour? We’ve seen a big shift to digital interaction – be that app downloads, online account activation or a switch to paperless – and for many people this will have been a reluctant, but necessary adoption. Look to your data and see if you can identify who is more likely to continue with that new behaviour once restrictions are eased. How can you encourage them to make digital adoption permanent, what do they need to help them keep their new habit?

In the broader context, the pandemic and subsequent recession will impact everyone differently, and again, data can help you meet your customers’ changing needs. While some people have financially benefited from coronavirus (no commute, cancelled holidays, frozen gym memberships) many others will be struggling. Again, look at your data and identify who needs proactive support and flexible solutions.

One of the more constructive recent changes in behaviour has been consumers’ increased engagement with their finances. As financial situations have changed due to furlough, pay cuts or redundancy, most people have had to pay close attention to their spending and investments. They have had to interrogate where they could be making better financial decisions. Financial decisions can be difficult, especially when you’re feeling as bruised as we all are, so as we move into the new world businesses need to work hard to provide support and reassurance. With life so disrupted customers will be looking for stability, as well as the best solutions for their individual needs. Personalisation will be more important than ever – we’ve all been changed by the pandemic, so listen to your customers and adapt to their new lives. 

The world has become kinder, more empathetic and more concerned for the vulnerable; if there’s one positive to come out of Covid-19 it should be a legacy of humanity. As we emerge from anxiety, isolation and distancing we’ll be seeking out brands that make us feel safe, grounded and connected. Those brands that can reflect the societal mood and adapt to consumers’ changing needs and behaviours are likely to be the ones that fare best in the world we don’t yet know.

At Signal we are helping our financial services clients prepare for life post-Covid with data insight, strategy and behavioural economics expertise. If you’d like to know more about how we could help you, including our range of audience-led planning resources, please get in touch.

Planning Unknown World FS .pdf

Life After Lockdown: Has our relationship with money been changed forever? 

The last few months have taught us how important it is to move fast and be flexible. But we know that in the world of financial services, that’s a lot easier said than done.

The good news is, that although we’ve had our fair share of challenges recently, it’s also sparked off a whole load of questions. Questions are good – we like questions. Because now businesses are starting to question those established ways of working – once tried and tested methods and processes simply aren’t cutting it in today’s climate. Instead, there’s a focus on breathing new life into campaigns, be it digital or direct mail.

Everything can benefit from a few well-placed questions. 

Thanks to Coronavirus (Covid-19) we’ve seen an acceleration in the adoption of ‘Agile Marketing’ during lockdown. As well as an increase in intelligent, automated solutions that make data processing more efficient. And the bonus is that all this helps financial marketeers to shorten their campaign cycles and ultimately reduce costs.

Here are just two of the ways Signal are helping clients to streamline processes during COVID-19 and beyond.

How does this sound – a new, faster approach to developing strong content in short, focused bursts, that doesn’t cut corners Welcome to Sprints.

Developing campaigns in Sprints doesn’t require Agile training, it’s more about borrowing some ways of working that are commonplace in digital:

Planning: Agree on a block of time, perhaps a week or fortnight, and ensure a cross-functional team of specialists, brand folk, planners, creatives, and a project manager can come together to plan the creative process and commit to tasks.

Doing: Speak to each other on a regular basis during the Sprint and set up tools (you have them already or they’re free) to enable real-time collaboration. Now more than ever, close collaboration and being in the development of the work together is key.

Deciding: Ensure that decision-makers are in the team, so when the work is done it moves straight into deployment.

Learning: Track what works and what doesn’t. Which templates and audiences are working better than expected, and what isn’t cutting it. The team can use this information to make each sprint more successful than the last.

Depending on your project, you can cut your lead times considerably. Not only that but there is a greater degree of flexibility, making the mobilisation of integrated campaigns easier to manage. 

Agility benefits aside, everyone we’ve worked with in this way has hugely enjoyed the process and said that it produces better work. No great surprise when this process neatly circumnavigates those cumbersome decision-making and approval cycles.

Automate. Automate. Automate. We hear it everywhere. And here at Signal we’ve seen how data processing automation has the potential to not only improve efficiency, but also improve customer experience and reduce costs.

The tasks that we automate sit at the heart of major communications programmes. And by connecting data and content, intelligently and at scale we are able to:

Speed up and de-risk the marketing communications process.

Simplify multi-channel campaign management.

Increase levels of personalisation and improve customer experience.

Make it easier to switch vendors downstream in the supply chain.

Let’s face it, there’s no better time to try this approach, so pick a campaign and go for it.

Maybe choose one that you want to mobilise quickly due to Covid-19, or a campaign you want to delay starting because you’re busy on more urgent work in progress.

You may also want to kick off an audit of your established programme and process, to define the change that is required to migrate to a format and data driven set of BAU products. The key is to start experimenting, after all, the most effective transformations are iterative and incremental.

At Signal we have extensive experience in both digital and direct mail, and we’ve helped a range of clients apply digital skills and practices to their BAU programmes. So please get in touch if you’d like more information, or a more detailed deep dive into streamlining your processes, be it creative, data, or customer experience.

StreamlineDM FS.pdf

Life After Lockdown: A perfect time to streamline

Thanks to Coronavirus (Covid-19) we’ve seen an acceleration in the adoption of ‘Agile Marketing’ during lockdown. Here are just two of the ways Signal are helping clients to streamline processes during COVID-19 and beyond.

Fundraisers, things just got interesting. Because moving fast has never been so important – which can be quite an ask in the traditional world of direct mail.

The good news is, that although we’ve had our fair share of challenges recently, it’s also sparked off a whole load of questions. Questions are good – we like questions. And fundraisers are now questioning established ways of working for direct mail, which aren’t cutting it in the current climate.

Thanks to Coronavirus (Covid-19) we’re seeing the adoption of digital skills and practices to improve fundraising agility across the board. 

And this includes direct mail where the opportunity for individual giving fundraisers is to shift to ways of working that radically shorten campaign cycles as well as improve campaign performance.

We’ve broken down the shift into three connected steps - that you can take to streamline and improve your direct mail activity during Covid-19 and beyond.

Templates are ace when it comes to getting things done quicker. Using pre-defined templates and formats can reduce DM campaign cycles by weeks.

Think of agreed templates and formats as ‘production containers’. Using this approach, you can drop in relevant topical content developed for specific audiences, but content that’s designed with the template in mind. For example, you wouldn’t have to start planning for a Summer Appeal now, when you could give yourself the opportunity to select the most topical and appropriate proposition and content nearer the time (but in tightly planned production parameters).

“It’s not controversial to say that audience, context and timing matter more than format.”

After all, we wouldn’t try to manage a very dynamic website without a pattern library, or develop an always-on email or digital advertising programme without an optimised set of templates to support rapid content deployment. But somehow for direct mail teams still work to painfully long lead times, with format often falling out of the end of an elongated content process.

Adopting pre-existing templates and formats is simply about reversing the order of play. You’ll get back weeks of your life and have far greater control over your budgets. Both of which sound like winners.

The BHF’s Appeals, Newsletters and Raffles were all produced one campaign at a time, with campaign cycles typically being 6–10 weeks.

By creating templated formats for each of these campaign types, and working in sprints on the content, BHF have been able to dramatically reduce overheads and lead times.

Fundraisers have been able to shift their focus from onerous campaign management tasks to activities that will drive performance like audience planning and testing.

They have taken things a step further with their raffles, and are now producing content for multiple campaigns using a single content platform and sprint process.

There are two reasons why high-speed digital printing for direct mail (also known as ‘white paper’ production) has been a game changer for direct mail:

It allows content to flex by audience within a single campaign.

It speeds up production by negating the need for pre-printed stationery and overprinted personalisation.

So why hasn’t this adoption for mainstream high-volume charity campaigns been faster? It used to be that the price point was a barrier, but not anymore. Arguably it’s because the established process is a barrier to change – with audience, data planning and selections happening too late. It’s still common for content to be developed ahead of the data planning – resulting in some crude mail merge process where content is generic and personalisation limited just to prompts and variable paragraphs. Not really the best supporter experience.

We call the shift to upfront data planning ‘design by data’. Connecting upstream data planning with the personalisation possibilities of digital printing opens up a new frontier for direct mail – and a much more personal experience for the reader.

The last piece of the direct mail transformation jigsaw is a new faster approach to developing strong content in short, focused bursts.

Planning: Agree on a block of time, perhaps a week or fortnight, and ensure a cross-functional team of fundraisers, brand folk, planners, creatives, and a project manager can come together to plan the creative process and commit to tasks.

Doing: Speak to each other on a regular basis during the Sprint, and set up tools (you have them already or they’re free) to enable real-time collaboration. Now more than ever, close collaboration and being in the development of the work together is key.

Learning: Track what works and what doesn’t. Which templates and audiences are working better than expected, and what is falling flat.

The team can use this information to make each sprint more successful than the last.

Depending on your project, you can cut your lead times considerably. Not only that but there is a greater degree of flexibility, making the mobilisation of integrated campaigns easier to manage.

When Covid-19 undermined carefully laid plans, the team at Brooke were faced with the challenge of dealing with the disruption, whilst maintaining relationships with supporters, and protecting income to fund their important work.

An integrated emergency appeal including Social, DM, email and DRTV was conceived and created in record time using a streamlined approach and daily stand-ups. Concepts were created and delivered in a day, digital went live within 48hrs.

Direct Mail was the central pillar of the campaign and followed quickly behind the digital activity rather than a channel that lagged behind the rest of the campaign.

Let’s face it, there’s no better time to try this approach, so pick a direct mail campaign or an integrated campaign with a direct mail element - and go for it. and go for it.

Maybe choose one that you want to mobilise quickly around Covid-19, or a campaign you want to delay starting because you’re busy on more urgent work in progress. You may also want to kickoff an audit of your established programme and process, to define the change that is required to migrate to a format and data driven set of BAU products.

“The key is to start experimenting – after all, the most effective transformations are iterative and incremental.”

At Signal we have extensive experience in direct mail and helping a wide range of charity clients apply digital skills and practices to their individual giving programmes. So please get in touch if you’d like more information, or a more detailed deep dive into template adoption, shifting to data driven or working in sprints.

Streamline DM.pdf

Life During Lockdown: Streamline your DM campaigns in 3...2...1...

How the fundraising experience needs to evolve to meet the wants and needs of the Post Covid-19 Consumer. 

In only a matter of weeks Covid-19 has turned our lives upside down, forcing us to re-evaluate what it means to be an employee, a citizen, a global consumer. When we eventually do return to our ‘day-to-day’ lives, we’ll be returning to a new normality, shaped by changing behaviours and attitudes born from this crisis. 

As part of our ‘Life During Lockdown’ series, we explore 5 key emerging behavioural trends that CMO’s/senior fundraisers in the charity space will need to consider when interacting with the Post Covid-19 Consumer (PCC).

Consumer confidence has taken a huge hit since the middle ofMarch 2020. This erosion of confidence is going to make brand trust more important as people crave security and look to avoid risk. Brands will need to focus on building confidence through every consumer touchpoint while finding new ways to reach those audiences most impacted. 

The scale of the shift can be seen in the GfK consumer confidence index below, with a drop to -34 in late March 2020. This represents the biggest fall in more than 45 years.

GfK’s research also shows that households’ willingness to make major purchases has deteriorated sharply, this is despite a spike in demand for freezers, televisions and home office equipment as consumers prepared to spend most of their time at home.

With more than 6 million on furlough, rising job losses and working hours being slashed, measures of personal financial health have also taken a tumble. 

The Guardian identified the harsh reality of the economic fallout as far back as late March, when half a million people put claims in for universal credit in only 9 days. 

How deep and for how long these economic issues will last is unknown, but it will be the young and low earners who will almost certainly be hit hardest. Lower earners have so far been twice as likely to lose their jobs as high earners, while 12% of under-30s report being unemployed because of this crisis, against only 6% of those aged 40-55.

Consumer confidence is closely linked to charitable giving, About Loyalty’s Sentiment Tracker shows that up to 30% of people intend to stop or reduce their donations since Covid-19. This is driven largely by younger age groups, with half of under 35-year old’s looking to reduce or stop their charitable donations. This reduction in giving from under 35’s will likely be further compounded as these younger cohorts continue to face the brunt of reduced income and higher job losses. Those affected will likely be as much in need of support themselves as they will be in a position to continue to give.

Be it remote working from your garden, video-calling the grandparents, or home-schooling the kids, the UK lockdown has brought a return to the home as the epicentre of day-to-day life and ignited all areas of virtual living.

As the Nielson’s study on ‘Stability after Covid-19’ outlines, much of this shift to virtual is here to stay: “Most manufacturers will strive to reposition their offering to cater to the new needs emerging in their markets. These new consumer needs, or accelerators, will increasingly require localisation, quality, efficacy, transparency and technology to be part of their product offering.” The signs are that retailers will need to continually embrace this virtual world and increase their digitised presence to ensure future sustainability.

This move to virtual raises a significant challenge for the sector, with many charities still heavily reliant on older, offline and quite traditional audiences. It will be crucial to develop an integrated strategy with a greater emphasis on digital engagement, which drives more relevant content and experiences to younger groups. Many charities are beginning to embrace this change – as shown by the virtual 2.6 Challenge in response to the cancellation of the 2020 London Marathon. With a broad digital and social aspect, this concept represented a fast and effective pivot to help fundraisers recoup some of this otherwise lost income.

A foundation for all charities weathering this crisis will be in tracking and reporting, ensuring you can monitor your performance against revised COVID-19 targets as well as any shifts in supporter sentiment. This will ensure you can isolate and manage those areas most impacted by the crisis over the longer term. 

Social listening and panel research are also great ways to tap into the feelings and attitudes of supporters, whilst deeper insight and research will help you unpack problem areas and fast-track new activities, products and propositions.

Whilst the sustained impact of the current crisis on print advertising is still unclear, John Arlidge in The Sunday Times highlights that certain sections of traditional print media are heading for very rocky times.

“Consumption of news and entertainment has soared since the lockdown with most media websites reporting between a 100% - 500% increase in traffic. Consumers are also watching a third more TV; viewing is topping at Christmas levels. 

The problem though is with advertising, which has plummeted. Print media is set to drop by 30% and TV by as much as 40% by

Whilst broadcasting could recover thanks to streaming services, the hit to magazines and newspapers could be much harder – potentially pushing many titles off the cliff for good.”

It will be survival of the fittest in print media, especially for some of the niche titles that charities historically might have turned to for inserts and print ads. Whilst all should be branching further into digital media, charities will need to keep an eye on the health of certain titles and focus on those most resilient to downward shocks.

Despite Joe Wickes workouts, record levels of joggers and wellbeing app downloads, the Global Web Index April Health survey results show the current crisis has brought a worrying wave of health concerns.

Two thirds of all respondents remain worried about becoming sick, whilst just over half are very worried for loved ones.

When it comes to age, younger groups are seeing the most dramatic changes to their health behaviors at this time. They’re more likely than their older counterparts to be sleeping less, eating less healthy and less regular meals, as well as keeping in touch with their loved ones less often.

The report also highlights growing mental health concerns, particularly around anxiety, depression and issues fueled by

prolonged isolation. The NHS has launched a range of tips for supporting those at home, and the good news is that many people are aware of the impact that the crisis is having and they’re taking active measures to mitigate against it.

Nine in every 10 surveyed adults have taken up some kind of activity to look after their mental wellbeing while at home, with looking for the support of friends and family topping the list among all demographic groups and segments.

Where possible, a renewed focus on events and fundraising initiatives that ensure experiences that compliment this renewed focus on health & wellbeing will be a must. Editorial content and stories about helping those in your community weather this crisis will be well received.

Everyone is being impacted so any content around mind and body wellbeing for your supporters will be universally well received; consider tips around cooking, meditating and journaling to resonate with younger groups, while decluttering, gardening and reaching out to friends/family (as well as the community) for older groups.

While your nearby high street chains (think Oasis, Warehouse and Debenhams) tip over the edge, there is some good news for local retailers, YouGov notes a 23% increase in purchasing at corner stores and a concerted shift with consumers to home grown, home-made or locally sourced goods and services. For local retailers to prevail a community outlook and giving back approach will be well regarded and, likely, well rewarded.

Nearly a quarter of Brits have used corner shops more since the lockdown

Since the start of the Government-imposed lockdown (23 March), have you visited/used the following more or less frequently than you normally would? %

You only have to poke your head out of your front door every Thursday at 8pm to see the renewed appreciation for those in key-worker sectors of the economy and to witness a renewed wave of community spirit.

About Loyalty’s Sentiment Tracker highlights that charities not associated with Covid-19 might be deemed of lower importance, with elderly, community support and health deemed of greater importance across all age groups.

Irrespective of your cause, PCC charity shoppers will be looking for an interaction where they are ‘helping me to do my bit and give back’. For those charities with a retail presence, signposting local community work as well as re-educating around charitable roles in the UK economy will be essential.

Hopefully this outline provides some inspiration on what’s ahead and where and how you can evolve to meet the needs of the PCC.

A good place to start is to gather an understanding of the implications of Covid-19 on your business now and in the near future. You can do this through a process of listening, pivoting, learning and reassessing.

You can then kick-start your PCC response by running a Scenario Planning & Response Workshop that’s cross functional, so you can gather inputs and information from a wide range of sources.

Make an assessment of a reasonable worst-case scenario across your fundraising operation.

Identify key potential risks and impacts around: income, retention, governance, reputation, fulfilment, people and technology and then prioritise where the efforts are going to have the most impact.

Complete rapid response planning to work out the actions required and owners of delivering the priorities.

Set up the measurement and tracking of what KPIs you want to report on.

We hope this article has also highlighted that now is a critical time to start accelerating your post crisis planning.

The Post Covid 19 Consumer .pdf

Life During Lockdown: The Post Covid-19 Consumer

Boardrooms may have been replaced by kitchens, spare rooms or even sheds, but there’s no reason why remote meetings can’t be more efficient than face-to-face meetings. After all, they can promote a sharper focus and a more disciplined approach. Our tips should help you do exactly that – some of these techniques apply to physical meetings too, so they could help as a good reminder of best practice.

All meetings need preparation, but virtual catch-ups add a layer of complexity. It’s worth spending a bit of time thinking about the structure and mechanics in advance:

• Circulate an agenda – give people enough time to prep and remember that not everyone’s working hours and patterns are the same.

• Allow breaks – remote meetings can feel intense, so give people time to move away from the screen for a while.

• Keep energy levels up by never going longer than five minutes without a discussion or group activity. Use breakout groups to get people working together in smaller teams.

• Keep things tight and interactive – focus on the quickest, simplest and most effective ways to share information, promote discussion and make decisions.

Working from home makes for all sorts of distractions but encourage everyone to be present and stay “in the (virtual) room”:

• Clear your work space. Have pen, paper and the agenda in front of you but nothing else; put your phone on silent and out of view; close the door.

• Encourage everyone to have their cameras on (but stay on mute when not talking). This helps you all stay focused and fosters a team spirit.

• If it makes you feel more comfortable, stand up when you present (although remember where the camera is!).

Start the meeting by bringing everyone into the “room”. Connect as human beings – we need that right now – and help colleagues get into the right mindset by welcoming them in.

• Do a tech tour so everyone knows how to participate. Ask people what room they’re in or what they can see from their workstation to break the ice and introduce the chat function.

• Agree the purpose. As for all meetings, remote or otherwise, if there’s no purpose there shouldn’t be a meeting. Why are we here? What do we want to achieve?

Everyone has a shared responsibility to engage, rather than watch from the sidelines. Make sure everyone feels willing and able to participate fully:

• Set expectations of engagement from the start. In your tech tour, remind people about functionality like chat and hand-raising.

• Remind people that everyone has a voice – frame your meeting as an open forum where everyone’s point of view is valid.

• Try to prevent people talking over each other. As you can’t read the body language this can be tricky, but try to keep control of the meeting by asking people to speak in turn.

Video conferencing platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams have excellent additional functionality to help your teams collaborate remotely:

• Zoom enables a facilitator to split the meeting into up to 50 separate breakout sessions, which is useful for workshops; you can also create polls for instant feedback

• Miro offers digital whiteboards and includes some useful templates

• Google docs allow you to co-create, edit and share easily. 

One benefit of lockdown is that it’s forcing us to learn fast, improve our working practices and think more about how work and life co-exist. And in the post Covid-19 world, remote meetings may well remain a core part of our working lives. Companies will invest more in enabling tech and less in office bricks and mortar; we’ll spend more time working from home and less time travelling.

With the right tech and tools to hand, there’s nothing to stop us connecting to tackle problems and explore opportunities, productively and effectively. And if we can do so in our slippers, then what’s not to like?

Objectives.pdf

Empathy Map.pdf

During lockdown we’ve worked with clients who are looking to re-pivot quickly on existing activity or do new activity in response to COVID-19 and these are a couple of the templates (Objectives & Empathy Map) that we’ve found most useful for this – feel free to use yourself

Virtually Better Meetings.pdf

Life During Lockdown: Better Remote Meetings

In our last bulletin, we looked at the toolkits that are out there to enable virtual collaboration in these disrupted times. Now we’re going to focus on how to deliver focused, effective meetings in the virtual world.

Life During Lockdown: Better Remote Meetings | Signal Blog

Teamwork is tough during lockdown. It can be tricky to kick around new ideas, get a game plan together, or have a group round up when you’re all flying solo at home. A few weeks in, and we’re starting to get to grips with the new realities of remote working. True, most of us have had the inevitable interruptions from partners, pets and children (my two-year old sitting in on my meeting was especially memorable). But it’s also given us a great chance to trial out some of the new collaborative toolkits out there. It’s true that Zoom and other video hangouts have already become a mainstay for many teams. But we’ve found that the teams that have adapted most seamlessly and efficiently to the new normal are the ones using more sophisticated options.

An Agile approach to managing work is becoming mandatory for marketing organisations. The teams that are seeing the most success are the ones that are purposefully building a “stack” of complementary collaboration tools that allow them to work together effectively and efficiently.

But it can be a challenge to pick the right set of tools for your team. Your options might be limited – either by the company you work for or the technological parameters you’re working in.

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