Impact experiences are interactions with your brand that connect with culture, move people to action and directly support your organisation's mission. Impact experiences are also an organising idea that provides strategic direction for brands that understand the importance of becoming future fit to maximise its impact in an interconnected world. A strategic focus on delivering impact experiences results in sustainable funding, social change, operational excellence, and innovation in service delivery.
Let’s take a closer look at what makes an experience an impact experience:
An impact experience connects with culture
Impact experiences start with a connection to people, your audience. And the best way to develop and sustain a connection to people is through culture. You see, culture influences us in predictable ways––it shapes our identity, beliefs, and behaviours. If you want to connect with people, there is no vehicle more powerful than culture.
Brands that successfully connect with culture understand that they are not just providing products or services. They are creating experiences that tap into the emotions, identities, and shared experiences of their audience. In this sense, connecting with culture is not just about messaging. It’s about embodying the values, beliefs, behaviours and artefacts of a community in a way that fosters deep emotional engagement.
For example, Movember was founded in 2003 when a group of friends decided to grow moustaches for charity to raise awareness for men’s health issues. The movement spread like wildfire as the brand connected with young Australian men (and later men globally). Being a young Australian man in the mid 2000’s meant having a laugh, being self deprecating, and mateship. It was also a time when facial hair was less common and moustaches were the relics of the prior generation. And if a young Aussie wanted to grow a moustache, even if just for fun, his partner or employer would likely veto the decision. But growing a moustache in aid of charity represented the perfect excuse to have a laugh with mates and get away with growing a rude moustache. The Movember brand was one of us and connected with culture and growing a moustache during Movember became a way to signify one’s membership as a young Aussie male.
The value and power of connecting with culture holds true for any individual or group whom it's important to establish a relationship with. This includes beneficiaries, employees, donors, volunteers and partners. After all, when given a choice we choose to interact with those we know, like, and trust.
An impact experience influences action
Every interaction with your organisation should be designed with intentionality and aligned with a specific outcome. Whether the outcome is to work more effectively, secure sustainable funding, drive social change or improve outcomes for beneficiaries, every experience should result in some type of action in aid of the organisation's mission.
In his discussions on culture and influence, Dr. Marcus Collins highlights that people don’t just buy products or ideas. They buy into the meaning behind them. This is where quality experiences become catalysts for action. A well-designed experience that resonates with a person’s identity or values can lead to deeper engagement, whether it’s donating, as an employee, volunteer, partner, or adopting a new behavior.
I remember being responsible for leading a large charity call centre earlier in my career. Our goal as an organisation was to reduce regular giving cancellations. When mapping the employee experience for call centre staff, we observed that high performers ignored their conversation scripts in preference of having more meaningful conversations. We also heard many employees hated using scripts as it made them feel like robots. So, we ditched the scripts. These were replaced by five behaviours we wanted to see on every call, including telling a values-based story and asking the caller for an additional gift. In doing so we created an impact experience for our employees and donors. These respective experiences influenced action in aid of our goal, which was to grow fundraising and improve employee retention.
An impact experience directly supports the mission
As a not-for-profit organisation, the mission is our reason to exist. It’s why we choose to work in the sector and it’s why people and partners support the organisation. This is why I firmly believe that every single interaction with the brand ought to directly support the mission.
This means there should be a clear and direct line between every capability and activity within the organisation and the mission. For some organisations this comes to life via the implementation of the business plan. For most however, there is a massive gap between intention and what actually happens.
To deliver upon the mission, an organisation must attract and retain talent, set their teams up for success by deploying the right skills, processes and systems to deliver the plan. It must also secure sustainable funding, advocate for change, and continuously improve service delivery. Doing so requires a whole of business commitment with controls in place to monitor and optimise progress.
Benefit of impact experiences
Experience is also the ultimate way for organisations to differentiate themselves and become better known, liked and trusted. Brands that can deliver impact experiences consistently will run more effectively and efficiently in service of their mission. Because impact experiences result in sustainable funding, social change, operational excellence, and innovation in service delivery.
A business strategy centred around impact experiences also provides a beacon to guide the organisation through continuous change and disruption that will continue to impact the not-for-profit sector. Leaders will no longer need to ask how we should use AI, but rather explore how emerging technologies can be used to create impact experiences.
Ultimately, impact experiences will minimise risk and unlock opportunities that will result in your organisation becoming future fit in an interconnected world.
