Have you ever heard of something called the ‘honeymoon phase?’
In marketing, the term ‘honeymoon phase’ refers to the period (usually one to two weeks) following a customer’s purchase.
They’re in love with the product or service. And the savvy business builds on that relationship. Right from the start.
You’ve probably seen honeymoon phase influence used a lot. Particularly in direct marketing, like infomercials, for instance.
Somehow you started watching that Shark commercial and you HAVE TO HAVE IT. You’ve called in to place your order and you’re offered an upsell to additional products or services. Usually several.
Or you buy a product on Amazon. And a few days later you receive a coupon in your email for something from the same product line.
In fundraising taking advantage of every potential opportunity for cultivating relationships is essential! Consider the honeymoon period as the two to eight weeks immediately following a donor’s gift (or expressed interest).
While this window is open, your opportunities for relationship-building are ripe for the picking…
You’ve rolled out a new donor acquisition mailing that exceeded projections.
The event you labored over for months came in at 12% higher than you anticipated.
You did a crowd-funding campaign and raised enough to fund your new program.
Your Facebook ads campaign resulted in over 6,000 new email addresses
Time to kick back your heels for a bit and relax, am I right?
Wrong. This is the worst time for you to step back and enjoy the victory. You can’t hang in that moment forever.
In A True—and Heartbreaking—Tale of Not Being Asked for a Donation, Megan Contakes writes: “Yes, it is counter-intuitive. Yes, asking immediately after the donor has been properly thanked can feel rude and pushy. But it remains one of those unlikely fundraising truths the data force us to accept.”
No, I’m not advising you to include an ask in your thank you letter (for more on that, see An “ask” in a thank you? It depends… But I do want to ask you:
Are you taking advantage of the honeymoon phase, particularly with your new donors?
Here are some examples:
- A donor has decided to make a gift to your organization. Before they complete the process, they’re redirected to a monthly giving-upsell page or lightbox. (See this in action.)
- Create a monthly giving ask for your follow-up welcome kit, sent to new donors 2-6 weeks after the thank you letter.
- Get in the habit of making that thank-you call, especially immediately following a first-time gift.
- Create a warmly inviting welcome (or better yet, a welcome email series) for those individuals who have signed up for your enewsletter
- Develop the processes to follow up with event attendees — and turn ticket buyers into donors.
These are just a handful of my ideas to get you thinking about how you can grow your donor relationships during the ‘honeymoon’ phase.
What are yours? I’d love to hear about them.
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I can’t wait to meet with you personally.
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