A major UK charity has a strategic goal to become more ‘supporter centric’. Its aim is to become as relevant as possible to the needs of its supporters and its beneficiaries. 

The identification of different attitudinal types amongst its supporter base will support the charity’s plan to develop a targeted and more relevant communication strategy. If the Charity can deliver more highly targeted communications this will result in:

'Better supporter engagement; Higher levels of supporter retention; and greater levels of fundraising'

As a result of the activity the Charity hoped to understand their supporter’s feelings towards charities and charitable giving, their attitudes to the Charity itself and the supporter’s moral and ethical beliefs. 

Timescales for completion of the survey were tight so a multi-channel approach was deployed. The activity was completed principally by telephone but an e-survey was also distributed to maximise the chance of achieving statistically robust results.

The Solution 

Maygenta worked with the Charity and Arthur to finalise the survey methodology. Communication was to be across six distinct data pools e.g. regular givers. It was important that sufficient surveys to ensure statistical robustness were completed for each of the six data pools. Results had to be monitored on an ongoing daily basis because different groups exhibited different levels of responsiveness. In light of this the calling had to be managed carefully to ensure that the results were statistically robust. 

Maygenta provided a ‘homeshored’, highly skilled, fully trained researcher base, built a robust questionnaire and deployed the research campaign all within 10 days of being appointed.  Using hosted software the surveys were completed by the home based researchers. Importantly the software used means the activity levels of the home based team can be monitored and controlled by a central operational team.  

Given the tight timescales and the age of the audience, many were over fifty; the calling was conducted between 9am and 8pm during the week and between 10am and 4pm at the weekend. The Researchers worked in 2 hour shifts, and often in split shifts to ensure they remained ‘fresh.’  Homeshoring is ideal in this respect because staff can work in short, flexible shifts and be available on demand if needed.  In order to go to work a Researcher simply logged in from home and started making calls. 

All calls were recorded and some were monitored in real time to ensure that the delivery of the survey calling was appropriate and consistent.  Reports were sent to the Charity on a daily basis. These reports were used to agree which data pools required further calling.  This information was also used to measure the effectiveness of the questionnaire.

Changes were made to the questionnaire throughout the campaign as areas that required improvement were identified. Maygenta were able to make these changes within hours of the need for a change being identified. Qualitative and quantitative feedback was supplied throughout. 


The Result 

Across the course of the campaign Maygenta achieved 2,170 completed telephone surveys. These surveys were completed as a result of 709 hours calling, giving a cumulative completion rate of 3.06 surveys per hour. The average call length for completed surveys was between 9 – 10 minutes.   

The project was delivered quickly, effectively in so much that it achieved its objectives and importantly was delivered within the Charity’s budget.

Maygenta’s homeshored model is very flexible, offers a skilled workforce and is managed with know how and proactivity.    

Nick Whillis, Managing Director, Arthur (London) Ltd