Donor CRM Wireframes
Product
Date
Objective: Completely redo our Donor CRM so that it is not only more modern, but adds more useful information partnered with a recommendation engine that helps clients manage their donor relationships. We wanted DonorPerfect to be more than just a database to store donor information, but rather to be more like a smart assistant that helps them every step of the way.
This project entailed a lot of research, from reading through feedback that amassed over the years to observing conversations in social media fundraising groups to direct communications with clients. What information did they want to see when landing on a donor’s main page?
To help answer these questions I created a set of very basic cards in Illustrator representing segments of information that one could potentially see on a donor’s page. Then, the plan was to have the client sort these into sections within the donor record so we could get a better feel for where clients would expect to see this information. We also had them add a “star” for items that were more important. I tested the exercise out first on internal staff, made some adjustments to simplify the sort (too many sorting options ended up confusing people) and then printed out the cards and instructions to use during that year’s annual conferences. My team mates participated as well. The challenge here was data collection - we ended up just taking photos and reviewing the results later since timing can be interesting during a conference.
I began by creating a donor page that focused on the individual and added in features I thought would be useful to the client, as well as examples of how a recommendation engine might work within the product.
If a user forgot to add important contact information like a zip code, the product could remind them. If there was an upcoming event, which is important to forming donor relationships, the product could let them know that they haven't RSVP'd yet and suggest that they invite them with a letter or email.
We could use 3rd party information from places like LinkedIn to show affiliations to give clients a more wholistic view. We could show donor relationships with other donors in the database (a kind of abstract universe-themed idea I had in my head, but hadn't fully sorted out yet). As you can see, plenty of ideas, but would any of them be useful?
Meanwhile, the business was interesting in adding a "householding" function where, rather than just one person's donor information, some information was combined into a household view. This definitely complicated matters - when you search for Jennifer Williams, you definitely want her information to have primary focus. But you also want to see some information about her wife April, if they have children, or perhaps if they have other relatives living with them.
So what started out as a profile of a single donor needed to expand to incorporate more information about the household.
The more I added to creating a view of the household the more overwhelmed I started to feel with my own design. I felt like I was cramming way too much in simply because I "could". This just wouldn't do. Also, some information was clearly more important than others - so a content shuffle needed to happen.
Round 3 and 4 saw me shifting information around and changing how the navigation system could work, while also removing information that was less important - at least for this area of the screen. Of course, I couldn't help but try to add in some new functionality like a collapsible side panel containing a to-do list that dynamically updates based on which donor you're currently on, and perhaps even a commenting system.. something to explore at a later date.
This wireframe is where I last left off on the project.
I simplified the information further to reduce the amount of reading that needed to be done and focused more on lining things up for easy skimming.
I would have loved to get these wireframes in front of clients, however the project was put on indefinite hold while the business worked out how, or if this rework can be accomplished -- and if they decide whether or not it's a worthy investment to completely redo everything vs. facelifting pieces of the old system one at a time.
Of course, you likely already know my answer to this - you can only fix a beaten down car so many times before it becomes easier to cheaper to just get a new one.
Regardless of the outcome, I really enjoyed this project - from card sorting (a new and fun exercise to me), to flexing my creative muscle to explore different ways of showing (or hiding) a ton of information, to thinking of interactions with our software in a new way -- all centered on the needs of our clients. I loved thinking about the proposed CRM in this new, wholistic way rather than working on isolated features in an existing fragmented system based on tech over 20 years old. Constraints like that certainly keep you on your toes in a challenging way, but every once and a while it's nice to play.. "what if I could do anything I wanted?".
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