How A Director of Development Uses Personalized Video To Secure In-Person Visits
Tips for using video to book more meetings
June 14, 2021 · 3 min read
With states beginning to open back up, in-person visits are becoming a thing again. People are now able to interact with one another without logging on to Zoom, Google Hangouts, or Microsoft Teams.
CASA of Northwest Arkansas was looking for a platform that would allow them to communicate directly with their donors in a genuine and customizable way.
Enter Gratavid.
Gratavid is a tool that allows organizations to create personalized videos at scale and send them via email or text. Nonprofits can use Gratavid to thank donors in a personalized way.
CASA of Northwest Arkansas partnered with Gratavid at the beginning of the pandemic as an alternative to engage with their donors outside of phone calls and zoom meetings. Now that the state of Arkansas is opening back up, correspondence from the donors led to in-person meetings.
Challenge
After more than one year of no in-person visits, Colleen Smith, Director of Development at CASA of Northwest Arkansas didn’t want to jump through 1,000,000 hoops to coordinate a meeting with her donors. She wanted her invite to be personable and genuine and not come off in the wrong way. Cutting through the clutter and standing out in a personal way seems like it can be tough, but it doesn’t have to be.
“So often, 'getting the visit' requires jumping through a lot of hoops: gatekeepers, voicemail, unanswered letters. By using Gratavid, you can bypass all of that if the donor watches your video, gets excited by your message, and hits reply!”
Solution
Colleen had direct communication with her prospect through the utilization of Gratavid to send invites for in-person visits. She asked the recipients if they would be willing to meet in person and if so, what a good date and time would be. Those people are now able to see Colleen’s smiling face and other nonverbal cues that you can’t get through an email or phone. It adds a personal touch.
Results
Colleen has been successful in securing in-person visits with Gratavid!
“In response to a pledge payment yesterday, I sent a personalized Gratavid to another very loyal donor and mentioned in the video specifically wanting to have a porch visit. She replied back and said she'd love to meet up.”
She stood out in a personal way. She showed that she cared. She cut through the clutter. See, we told you it didn’t have to be difficult.
“One of my general notes (a program update) prompted a lovely (yet very brief) note from a major donor. I wrote back and asked for a walk with her and she agreed. Gratavid cut through the gate-keeper and endless phone messages to get a stewardship visit.”
Colleen's Tips
Just do it. I think, in the beginning, I really wanted to put our best foot forward and make every video perfect. That mindset was debilitating and took all the fun out of it. People respond really well to more genuine (less scripted) messages. So, don't think too much!
If people aren't using Gratavid as a way to invite people for (or a means to secure) an in-person visit, they should.
Be intentional about asking to meet in the video itself.
Brittany Nardi
Customer Success Coordinator @ Gratavid
Ready to stand out with personalized video?
Check out our favorite Gratavid testimonials below, and visit Gratavid.com for examples and to learn more.
