In order to optimize your hybrid auction approach, you’ll need to assess your event performance to determine whether or not you’re on track to meet your fundraising goals. This will help you adjust your strategies in real time to produce a greater fundraising ROI and improve your auction plan for the future.
Follow the following steps to measure your hybrid auction’s performance.
- Invest in auction software
- Track key metrics
- Send out surveys to attendees
- Reflect and revise your strategy
You’ve already done the hard work in planning your hybrid event. Now, you just need the right tools and strategies to assess fundraising progress and determine how you can optimize your event approach for the future. Let’s begin!
Invest in auction software
Tracking your event’s performance without the right technology solutions is time-consuming and can easily get overwhelming. To save your team time and streamline the process, invest in a comprehensive auction software solution.
The OneCause guide to fundraising platforms recommends looking for an all-in-one solution so you have every marketing, fundraising and engagement tool you need under one roof. Invest in comprehensive software that offers features such as the following.
- Mobile bidding and alerts. Lose the paper bids and streamline your event with mobile bidding. Mobile bidding makes the bidding process more engaging for your remote attendees and simplifies the bidding process for your in-person attendees. From their phones, your guests can submit bids, receive outbid notifications, purchase raffle tickets and complete an instantaneous checkout process when the auction timer runs out.
- Live streaming and live chat. Intuitive live-streaming and live-chat tools immerse your remote supporters in the moment and help them feel more connected to your event. This way, they’re more likely to submit bids and push your nonprofit past the fundraising finish line.
- Text-to-give. Want to inspire even more donations to fuel your fundraising progress? Work with software that offers user-friendly text-to-give tools so you can easily collect mobile donations before and during your event.
- Real-time analytics. Fundraising software can help you generate real-time data reports so you can assess progress towards your fundraising goals during your event and see whether you reached your goals once the event is over.
Armed with the right fundraising software, your nonprofit can accurately collect fundraising and engagement data and use these insights to hone your strategies.
Track key metrics
Fundraising performance metrics reveal areas of strength that can be retained for future auctions and areas of improvement that can be workshopped. When you evaluate your nonprofit’s performance data, your team can easily identify what you are doing well and what elements of your fundraising efforts need additional attention.
Key metrics to have on your radar include the following.
- Number of bids placed
- Average bid amount
- Number of registrants versus attendees
- Acquisition rate
- Retention rate
- Fundraising ROI
You can also look at these metrics separately for both your virtual and in-person audiences to assess differences in engagement. For example, if the number of bids placed was vastly higher among your in-person attendees than your remote attendees, you need to consider how you can better mobilize your virtual attendees to give. You might incorporate gamification, live streaming and group breakout sessions into the remote portion of your hybrid event.
Send out surveys to attendees
Surveys are a great way to collect feedback from your community of supporters. With these insights, you can hone your auction approach and drive even more event success at your next hybrid auction. Plus, asking donors about their opinion shows you care, which is a great starting point for any relationship!
A few tips for conducting surveys:
- Keep your surveys short, 10-12 questions max.
- Make your prompts clear so supporters understand exactly what you’re asking.
- Share your findings so your supporters feel heard.
Consider asking attendees the following questions:
- How would you rate the quality and variety of auction items?
- What items were you interested in bidding on?
- How would you rate the quality of the hybrid experience?
- Did you receive enough communication about the auction before and during the event?
- How would you rate your level of engagement with the event?
- How likely are you to participate in another hybrid auction hosted by our nonprofit?
Email out a survey to all of your attendees right after your event concludes so attendees can provide feedback while the auction is still fresh on their minds. Kwala’s guide to donor communications also recommends thanking supporters for attending and helping your nonprofit advance its cause. Recap your fundraising progress and whether you were able to hit your goals to your supporters.
Reflect and revise your strategy
When your hybrid charity auction is over, use the information you’ve collected from your supporters to assess whether or not the experience met your supporters’ needs and expectations. You’ll also want to take a deep dive into the metrics you’ve tracked using your auction software to assess whether you hit your fundraising goals, and if you didn’t, how you can improve your strategies.
Follow these tips to launch the review process:
- Read through all of your performance and supporter data again. Summarize the key themes.
- Evaluate supporter satisfaction and your key metrics and determine if your event was a success.
- Share your findings in a report with your team, your board and/or your committees.
Taking the time to bring all your data and survey feedback together can help you clearly see where you can improve and how to optimize your strategy for the next hybrid event.
Wrapping up
The data your organization collects from your hybrid auction can be used to strengthen relationships with your supporters, inform your future fundraising strategies and so much more. Draw from your metrics and feedback to make your next hybrid fundraiser even more successful!
