Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Towards Customer Focus

CharityComms Conference 2 Dec 2014

Ciara Smyth, Deputy Director, Insight & Strategy

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Presentation

• Share the journey the Stroke Association has gone on to

become customer focused

• Change programme – winning hearts and minds

• Share some reflections – lessons – including elements of

storytelling and principles of persuasion

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Question

• What is the first thing you have

to do to become a customer-

focused organisation?

• ….if colleagues aren’t

convinced?

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Stroke Association in 2012

• Dramatic growth and success over

the previous 20 years

• Funded research which was

instrumental in halving numbers

dying of stroke

• Campaigning led to national stroke

strategies throughout UK

• Developed FAST Campaign –

adopted by the Dept of Health

• Doubled the number of people we

directly support

• Doubled income

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Fit for the future?

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Messaging

• The Stroke Association is the only charity solely

concerned with helping everyone affected by stroke

across the UK. Our vision is to have a world where there

are fewer strokes and all those touched by stroke get the

help they need.

• A stroke is a brain attack which happens when the blood

supply to the brain is cut off, caused by a clot or bleeding

in the brain. Around 150,000 people have a stroke in the

UK every year and it is the leading cause of severe adult

disability. There are over 1million people in UK living with

the effects of stroke.

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Where to start?

Insight

External drivers

Audience Messaging

Positioning

Offerings

Stewardship Processes

Promotional activity

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Our audiences/customers

Researchers

Health professionals

Social care professionals

Influencers

At risk of stroke

Families & carers

Supporters

Stroke survivors

Businesses

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Get appeal letter

Read external blog

Read Stroke News

Attend conference

Our customer journeys are complicated and not linear

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

You have to find a group that really, desperately cares about what it is you have to say. Talk to them. And make it easy for them to tell their friends.Seth Godin

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Who cares?

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

StrokeAssociation

Asthma UK BHF CRUK Macmillan Scope Diabetes UK MS Society

18-24

25-34

35-44

45-54

55-64

65+

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Stroke – a cause I care about

• Age is a key factor.

• 32% of 18-35 year olds say

they care about stroke vs 58%

babyboomers

• About a third of our supporters

have had a stroke

• Significant proportion of our

supporters are carers or people

with close family member who

has had a stroke

• Our greatest source of

unprompted donations come

from higher and older socio-

economic groups

Source CBI 2013

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Baby boomers

• Attitudes shaped by post war optimism

• They were the generation who believed

they could create a better society – the

changes they were part of convinced

them they can get what they want

• They strongly defend the principles of

welfare and free healthcare

• Sandwich generation caught between

caring for children and parents

• They fear for their own health

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Next?

Insight

External drivers

Audience Messaging

Positioning

Offerings

Stewardship Processes

Promotional activity

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

“A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to

them…”

Steve Jobs

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Messaging

• We believe in life after stroke. That’s why we support

stroke survivors to make the best recovery they can.

It’s why we campaign for better stroke prevention

and care. And it’s why we fund research to develop

new treatments and ways of preventing stroke.

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

• Is it awareness?

• 4 in 10 people have heard of us.

• Is it understanding of stroke?

• No longer. 7 in 10 can now accurately

describe a stroke

• Is it because people don’t think it’s

treatable?

• No, because 8 in 10 now think it is

• Is it because people don’t think it’s

preventable?

• No, because 7 in 10 now realise it is

What’s the problem?

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Comparing how much people care about supporting our cause

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%This is one of a few charities I would donate to (%)

This is one of many charities I would considerdonating to (%)

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Why do people give to health charities?

• Motivating factors

• Because they were asked

• Personal connection

• Because they think these are big problems – they hear

about them all the time

• Because they dying or pain

• Because they hope their donation will benefit themselves

or a loved now or in the distant future

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Our communications problem

Stroke isn’t in the ballpark of the big killers

in people’s minds…

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Putting us in the ballpark

• Position stroke relative to

other LTCs and killer

diseases

• Dial up the emotional

connection

• Focus on collective action

• Think BIG!

• Focus on what’s unique

about stroke

• Make the supporter the hero

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Examples of new messaging

• Stroke is cruel. It can hit you out of nowhere and rob you of your

speech, your ability to walk, your memory, your independence and your

dignity. It can kill you in an instant. And it’s more common than you

might think. Stroke is the UK’s third biggest killer. It kills more women

than breast cancer and more men than prostate cancer every year.

We’ve been leading the fight against stroke for over 20 years. Together

with our supporters, we’ve provided direct support to hundreds of

thousands of people and funded breakthroughs in medicine that mean

the number of people dying from stroke has halved.

• Someone dies every 10 minutes of a stroke in the UK. Join with us to

stop stroke FAST. Together we can conquer stroke.

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Focus on the person not the medical condition

• When a stroke strikes everything changes. It can affect you in very different

ways…..After a stroke you might not be able to walk…. You might struggle

to get the words out….. Unsurprisingly you might be wracked with grief,

depression and financial worries and, on top of all that, that another stroke

might be even worse. Stroke is cruel.

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Focus on success

• But we’re not powerless in the face of

stroke. Over the last 20 years we’ve

turned the determination of people

affected by stroke, the expertise of our

researchers and the generosity of

donors into a revolution which has

transformed stroke. The numbers of

people dying from stroke has halved.

More people than ever get emergency

treatment thanks to our F.A.S.T

campaign. And tens of thousands of

people make better recoveries as a

result of new ways of treating stroke.

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Next steps

• Ongoing insight

• Target supporter-focused

portfolio of products

• Stewardship and processes

Stroke Helpline 0303 3033 300

stroke.org.uk

Lessons

• Lesson 1 - appeal to people’s desire for meaning

• Don’t tell people what they want – show them

• Colleagues need to see where they fit into the story as much as

external audiences

• Lesson 2 – clarify the problem

• Do we have shared understanding of the communications problem

here?

• Lesson 3 – focus on the big goal

• Be OK with messy – does each step move me nearer my goal?

• Lesson 4 - Use the principles of persuasion

• Social proof - Show what the competition are doing

• Commitment – small steps help people to commit step by step

• Authority – use data and insight to back up your recommendations

Visit the CharityComms website to view

slides from past events, see what

events we have coming up and to

check out what else we do.

www.charitycomms.org.uk

CRM for charity

communicators:developing excellent customer

experience

Conference

2 December 2014

London

#charityCRM