How can you treat the volunteer Network as a customer segment - should you?
Treating volunteers as a customer segment is unconventional but can be strategically useful—if their needs, motivations, and behaviours are distinct enough to warrant tailored engagement. Here's how to think about it:
When you might consider treating them as a customer segment:
Volunteers:
Engage regularly with the business.
Contribute value (time, effort, expertise).
Have expectations around recognition, inclusion, and communication.
Can influence reputation and retention through their interactions with your paying customers.
If you treat them as a segment, you might:
Design experiences that keep them motivated and loyal.
Tailor communications (e.g. updates, thank-yous, invitations).
Offer perks or recognition that reinforce their value.
Track satisfaction and engagement like you would with paying customers.
When you might not…
If volunteers:
Are few in number and informally involved.
Don’t require distinct engagement strategies.
Are better managed through internal operations or partnerships.
Then it’s more appropriate to treat them as:
Key Resources (if embedded in operations).
Key Partners (if their involvement is conditional or external).
The Middle Ground
You could treat volunteers as a “community segment” - not quite customers, but deserving of structured engagement. This might include:
Volunteer onboarding and training.
Recognition events or awards.
Feedback loops to understand their experience.
Opportunities for growth or leadership.
if you did treat them as a 'community segment, where would that go on the canvas?
If you treat volunteers as a “community segment”, they don’t fit neatly into the traditional Business Model Canvas (BMC) categories—but they can still be meaningfully integrated. Here’s how:
Customer Segments (with a twist)
You can include “Community Stakeholders” or “Volunteer Contributors” as a non-paying customer segment. This is common in mission-driven or community-based organisations, where not all “customers” are revenue-generating.
Customer Relationships
You can also reflect the engagement strategy for volunteers here:
Recognition and appreciation.
Inclusion in events and decision-making.
Feedback and communication loops.
Key Resources / Key Partnerships
As discussed earlier, volunteers can still appear here depending on how embedded or external they are.