Welcome to your weekly Boomer Women Inspiration Series
Chapter Ten - The Big Reveal: Welcome to the last of our weekly insight inspiration newsletters! Just like that, 10 exploratory, insightful and engaging weeks have flown by with our Boomer Women sharing their thoughts, experiences and lives with us. As you are aware, they will now spend the final 2 weeks focusing on your co-creation tasks that you've set them!
For this final newsletter edition we asked our audience to get stuck in by taking digital safaris across not just your websites, but other charities, too. In addition, we revealed to them who's behind this wonderful community to get their thoughts and to prepare them to tackle your co-creation weeks.
As we prepare the materials that will be used to build your Innovation Toolkit, let's take one last look at a few tasters of what they shared with us, with more to come in May's toolkit reveal.
Our Boomer Women want to say:
We had the great pleasure of revealing the seven special organisations behind the 'This Life' community to our Boomer Women this week, and the support and appreciation that they wanted to share back to you all was unanimous and enthusiastic!
They recognise not only the importance of the work being done in so many different areas of society, but also the great need there is that you're helping to meet, and the challenging conditions in which you all continue to deliver such brilliant contributions.
We wanted to start this week by sharing some of their thoughts with you:
Walk your final Inspiration Trail: Considerations
Over the course of various online safaris, across a collection of different websites, our women have shared many interesting and poignant reflections. As we begin bringing these together into your upcoming Innovation Toolkit, we wanted to leave you a breadcrumb trail of inspiration to wander through in this final newsletter edition.
Amongst their appreciation for personal, human stories and case studies, and providing a variety of ways to get involved with a charity, here are a few other considerations we drew from their experiences:
Being as specific and detailed as possible drives action by bringing to life how donations are having an impact.
"I particularly like the slider bar as it shows, quite easily, where the donations are going to and how they are apportioned." - Beryl
BONUS: Showing real-time donation impact can enhance donation motivation
Some Boomer Women are particularly sensitive to price anchors when the lowest pre-defined donation option is 'quite high' e.g. £25.
"In the "Donate Now" box, there is an option to make a one off amount of £25 or £50 or £100. Due to the increasingly high cost for food and energy, there are many individuals who cannot afford to pay a £25 one off payment or even donate £5 every month by direct debit. However, these individuals might be able to afford a one off donation of £5 or £7. Even though there is a box for "Other Amount", it might be assumed by some that this box is for large donations." - Sandra, 57-66, Divorced, Full-time Employed
Using the Social Proof effect encourages engagement
Social proof is a form of informational influence. When we are shown how others behave, it can help steer an individual’s decision toward a specific outcome. An example of this is explicitly telling others how many people already volunteer for your organisation:
Establishing service user benefits first, before asking for donations or assistance, is a softer sell approach that some really appreciate
When organisations leap straight in with requests, it can get some Boomer Women's backs up! Instead, they might prefer clearly establishing how you're helping those who need your services first. Providing relevant, helpful information for beneficiaries upfront creates a safer and more trusting environment to then ask for the support that will help to continue this much needed work.
"I believe that the first thing beneficiaries should see is how to access the services. I understand charities run on donations but surely they exist for the benefit of their clients." - Ann, 67-77, Married, Retired
"I felt like I was being walked through some really valuable resources presented in a way that made me realise how I could use them both at work and in my personal life. It wasn’t focused on fundraising or volunteering. It was providing a really good service as well." - Alex, 57-66, Co-habiting, Full-time Employed
"I do like the fact that the website prioritises helping visitors to the site above trying to tap their bank balances!" - Liz, 67-77, Widowed, Retired
Finding the positive - even when dealing with times of great crisis - sits well with this audience
As we've mentioned previously, Boomer Women want to find the shining lights in even the most dire circumstances. When confronted with only images of disaster, hopelessness and despair, they can disengage quite quickly. Balancing difficult environments and situations with pathways to positivity, hope and upliftment can work to drive engagement with an important issue.
"This picture motivated me to take action as it will help a child. Leaving something in your will can help their lives a lot. This made me think my support will do so much good." - Christine, 57-66, Married, Stay-at-home Parent
Remember the power of simple slogans that connect to direct action
Language is power, and bringing together easy-to-remember phrases that connect explicitly to an action or outcome is a powerful combination. A number of our women felt this impact through the Samaritans' "Small Talk Saves Lives" campaign:
"Small Talk Saves Lives: I was very inspired by these 4 words; simple, easy to quote and memorable. This is the thing which will motivate me to take action. Before seeing this I would have been afraid to speak to someone thinking that I could make thing worse as I have no training in this area. Asking them to go for a coffee would be a good idea to get them to a safe place, instead of them being next to train lines or a high bridge." - Bernadette, 57-66, Married, Retired
"I thought this was an enormously important advert. It shows that you can make a difference just by talking and not necessarily with money. It was thought provoking and showed how I could help in every day situations. It motivated me to take action." - Michelle, 67-77, Married, Retired
The power of human stories will always play an important role
While we've called out a few other tactics and strategies to consider as part of this Inspiration Trail, it would be remiss of us to not mention the power of stories. Throughout this community we have consistently seen that, when presented in the right tone and at the right time, personal stories always have the potential to be effective triggers for action:
"By personalising their appeal using "Oleksander" it would motivate me more than just generally telling me what they do." - Joy, 57-66, Married, Full-time Employed
"I was particularly inspired by Nicky in the film clip saying that her support for Oxfam means someone who benefits from it will know she cared, even though they won't know who she was. This really brought home to me the value to donating unconditionally - you know with a charity like Oxfam you are making a real difference." - Carmel, 57-66, Married, Part-time Employed
And that's a wrap!
Thank you for your input, attention and support in making this Good Conversation Inspiration Series happen!