converting online campaigners into donors

Converting Online Campaigners

Presented by:

Jonathan Purchase – Engaging NetworksMolly Brooks – Greenpeace UK

Eric Rardin – Care2

into Donors

#c2webinar

about

Citizens use Care2 for:

Starting or signing petitions

Volunteering

Donating $

Spreading news

Commenting on blogs

Starting group (organizing)

Joining nonprofits

Nonprofits use Care2 for:

Recruiting Donors & Supporters

Traffic/Branding/Awareness

Advocacy

Building Facebook fan base

About the speakersJonathan Purchase

Molly Brooks

Eric Rardin

is the Business Development Manager for Europe and he also has responsibility for UK operations working from the office in London. After several years with the campaigns team at Save the Children UK, Jonathan joined Engaging Networks in January 2008. He brings altogether over 5 years of experience in online organising and technology to his role. This experience is extremely valuable to clients new to using the Internet for campaigning and fundraising.

is Digital Marketing Coordinator at Greenpeace UK. Molly has worked at Greenpeace for over four years, managing fundraising through online channels, and working to integrate fundraising into all of Greenpeace’s campaigns. In total she has over seven years’ experience of digital marketing for non-profit organisations, having previously worked at international development charity Concern Worldwide.

is the senior director of nonprofit services at Care2.com where he helps hundreds of nonprofits connect with donors and supporters online. Prior to joining Care2 Eric designed and executed integrated advocacy campaigns for environmental nonprofits for nearly 8 years.

What are the benefits of connecting your campaigning and fundraising actions?

• A more committed and engaged supporter base

• Closer working between campaigning and fundraising teams

• Easier to manage your supporter data:

- everything will be in one place

- fewer providers required to process your actions

“Charities are looking for new ways to get more value from their communication and fundraising. This goes beyond joining up channels – it’s about getting fundraising, comms and campaigns to pull in the same direction, focusing on audiences and breaking down historic silos that act as a brake on progress.”

Joe Barrell, The Eden Stanley Group

The power of: branding

A consistent brand and template, from email to

campaign to donation page will engage your

supporters and lead to more money raised.

The evidence

The giving experience has a significant impact on donations: Donors who gave through branded pages by the charity started at a higher level and increased more than those who gave through generic pages.

Source: Network for Good. 3.6 million gifts to 66,470 different non profits from 2003 to 2009

An example

Also consider…

• secure templates (required for donations)

• SSL certificates to encourage donor trust

• change your branding for different campaigns or appeals

The power of: data flow

If you can pass data from one action to the next,

your response rates will increase.

The evidence

Greenpeace saw their ‘response rate’ for supporters making a donation, after taking a campaign action, rise to 1.27% for their Save the Artic campaign.

Their previous best ‘response rate’ for a similar campaign was 0.40%.

Also consider…

Greenpeace’s success in converting more

campaigners into donors is down to data

integration AND a consistent brand

The power of: thanking

Thanking your donors appropriately is an essential part of the donation process and is not something that should be neglected or considered an “afterthought.” Careful design of a thank you page [and email] should bring you many valuable benefits including repeat donations, new supporters and increased levels of engagement.

Credit: Nomensa blog post from 1st February 2012, “Why thanking donors online is powerful”

Also consider…

• Personalise the thank you• Different thank you for single or recurring gifts• A consistent thank you page and thank you email• Same branding as for all the other steps of the supporter journey• Include links to other ways to get involved with your organisation but

not too many!

The power of: mobile

As more people take action on mobile devices, the

landing pages must be optimised for mobile to

maximise conversions.

An example

• Oxfam GB launched this campaign in June 2012

• 9,610 actions were registered in the first week

• 744 actions were completed on a mobile device *

• That represents 7.8% of all actions taken

* Numbers exclude tablets

The power of: social sharing

Social networks can be effective marketing channels

for charities. The challenge is making social sharing

easy, and creating ways for people to move from

passive interest to committed support.

Also consider…

• Try embedding your campaign actions directly on social networks as a way to reach out to new supporters

• Embed social sharing icons in your emails and actions • Follow up with Facebook campaigners with a connected ask to donate

Donor conversion via Facebook

• 407 supporters took part in the campaign embedded on Facebook

• Of this number, 140 were new opted-in supporters

• PETA sent follow up fundraising appeals via email to these 140 supporters

• PETA converted 7.5% of these activists to donors including 30% as recurring monthly

• PETA converted additional activists via DM (numbers not yet final)

The power of: donor options

Don’t limit your donors to a single way to donate

online. Giving different options will lead to more

money raised.

A little surprise

•For the first integrated Greenpeace campaign, 48% of transactions were made with the‘pay via paypal’option

•Tip: make sure you give options!

Also consider…

• Recurring or direct debit options, they are your

holy grail!

The power of: an effective email tool

Email is the backbone of digital communication.

Messages should be easy to create, personalised,

and delivered to the inbox.

Again, it’s data and branding

• Your email tool should be able to prepopulate form fields on the landing page – leading to increased response rates

• As mentioned before, the branding of the email and the first landing page should be the same to engage your supporters

Also consider…

• Like all actions, testing is key: you’ll need split testing tools• Automated ‘trigger’ emails can engage your supporters on all types of

asks from the start, or re-engage supporters if they’ve lapsed. • Automate ‘unsubscribes’, bounce management and complaints• Permit supporters to customise email preferences

The power of: a powerful database

A powerful ‘database of record’ will help you to better understand your supporters. It leads to more personal and effective communication and helps you to acquire campaigners and convert them into donors.

Also consider…• Profile your supporters to tailor your communications• Track where people are coming from to see which channels are

working the best• Manage your relationship with individual supporters• Grow your supporter lists through the use of opt in questions• Report on how your campaigns are going

Treat campaigners and donors

as supporters

A final thought…

Having the tools to run integrated campaigning and fundraising is one thing. You also need a strategy to run alongside the toolset.

Save the Arctic

Save the Arctic

Greenpeace’s biggest ever campaign

Aim to sign up 1 million people globally by the end of 2012

Convert 21,400 of these to new regular givers

Soft launch – Jan 2012

Donation page

37888 actions – 440 donations – 1.16% response rate

Main launch – 21 June

Promotion

Emails to current activists

Tell a friend in thank you email

Social media

Videos

Actions

Greenpeace TV

Offline sign upsSMS

iPads at festivals

Promotion

Promotion

http://bit.ly/londonpolarbear

http://bit.ly/londonpolarbear

Promotion

Goal reached!

Converting leads to donors

34942 actions – 916 donations – 2.62% conversion

Next steps?

Convert to regular givers

Email with DD ask

TelemarketingOngoing – aim to call within a month of signing up

thank you! questions? contact us!

Jonathan [email protected]@engagingnetwork

Molly [email protected]@greenpeaceuk

Eric [email protected]@care2team