tanked! and that's a good thing

TANKED! Online campaigns that should have performed…but didn’t Madeline Stanionis, M+R Ben Simon, Greenpeace Thursday, August 1, 2013 Bridge Conference

Madeline

Been around. Donordigital, Watershed, M+R

Tanking is hard.

Most organizations are really bad at admitting

failure…

…including mine!

1. The one where…

…We fell in love with our super cute, meaningful, catchy campaign. But donors…didn’t.

It went like this…

• Great client • Timely project • Receptive audience • Utterly delightful theme

And…

• Typical open rate • Few clicks • Few gifts • Why?

Too silly ?

Maybe it’s a program you can sign your kids up for?

Are these people too happy and healthy?

Maybe people don’t believe this ?

So…

• Dialed back the cute (WEEP) • Amped up the seriousness

It still tanked

And what’d we learn?

• High concept…didn’t seem to matter

• Education about hunger is still needed

• Their fundraising is largely holiday-oriented. Should we bother any other time?

2. The one where…

…We launched a great big important initiative, and people didn’t want to fund it.

Sounds great, right?

Who wouldn’t want to support that?

Attempt #1: Straightforward

Not so much. Why?

• Narrative and Buy-In Around Webmaker Weren’t There Yet

So, let’s change it up. • Everyone loves kids, right?

Well, Again, not so much.

WHAT HAPPENED?!

The video didn’t do it.

• No emotional pull. • No immediacy to the ask.

So, we tried something Else: • Long-term, political theory of change.

Basic idea:

• Webmaker Success -->

• A future where those in power knows how the Web works -->

• A future where something like SOPA/PIPA is unimaginable.

And it worked!

• But, we can’t quite use that every time.

So, what’d we actually do?

• -Tried a bunch of different things (good!)

• -Didn't really think through what people's frames of mind would be (bad!)

• -Got carried away with video (bad!)


• -More work to do to build up a donations narrative around Webmaker

• -People don't immediately see it as worthy of support

• -But the case *can* be made

3. The one where… …We thought it was entirely possible that lightning would strike twice.

Some background

• Another warm and fuzzy client • A surprise hit • Aha! The key to success! • Let’s do it again!

The first round

• Grew our client’s list by 15%! • Holy crap! • Picked up by other venues • Those kids…loved it …so we did it again…

And…

• Tanked! Tankity, tankity, tanked. • Why?

“Tattoo Day” …is, umm, not a holiday.

Fulfillment was, shall we say, a Giant Pain In The Ass.

And what’d we learn? • It worked because it was a holiday.

• DUH.

• We let the gimmick get in the way

• Oh. We did it again the next Valentine’s Day. It

worked again.

4. The one where…

…We jumped on the bandwagon.


• Great client (I KNOW, RIGHT?) • The tools had finally arrived • Lots of enthusiasm. Demand, even!

And…

• An enthusiastic core group responded! Yay! • About 60 pages created • They averaged about 2 gifts per page. • I KNOW. SAD FACE.


• Peer-to-peer doesn’t work for everyone. OBVS.

• Sometimes we shouldn’t listen to a couple noisy board members, eh?

• But…they still like having it. And that’s not a bad thing!

5. The one where... …no one wanted to donate after getting a sticker.

-Past experience was that after a sticker giveaway, it was normal to raise ~$1/signup from donations

-Enough to pay for the campaign, or a little more,

while also providing some engagement and fundraising

So we did that, but with a twist:

you could get a sticker after taking a "quiz" to get a set of webmaker projects best suited to

your interests

Campaign GOALS:

• 1) Engagement

• 2) List growth

• 3) Fundraising

Results: • 1) Engagement! Lots more people tried out Webmaker

projects

• 2) List growth! There were more than 18,000 signups.

• 3) Fundraising? Not exactly.

Results (Continued):

From more than 18,000 signups after the initial promotion, we raised only $2,000. So, we pulled the plug, and stopped promotion on other channels before it could go any further.

What we did:

• -Designed a great campaign! Lots of engagement (good)

• -Assumed something would work based on past results from other organizations (bad)

• -Laid the groundwork internally for the fact that we couldn't predict the results (good)

• -Stopped it before it got too out of hand (also good)

Why’d it tank? • -Broader issues at play

• -We still hadn't successfully woven a donations

narrative around Webmaker

• -Recipients didn't connect Webmaker as something needing their support

What’d we learn?

• -Still had more work to do to build donations narrative

around Webmaker

• -Mozillians like free stuff, but it didn't make them want to give

• -Tactics that work for other organizations won't always work for us

6. The one where...

…we let the cool tools screw everything up.

6. AHEM. The oneS where...

…we let the cool tools screw everything up.

What’d we learn?

• Start simple. Stay simple. Almost ALWAYS. – What’s the easiest way for my constituent to

participate?

• Don‘t let the salespeople sell you stuff. Except for when you do. – Research the orgs they’ve worked with. Call up the ones

who they didn’t tell you to call. – Show me the data!

• Try try try not to let “what other orgs are doing” send you down the rabbit hole.

7. The one where...

…we thought the people cared.


• Big, important and (really) terrific organization • International humanitarian crisis • Critical organizational issue • Passion, priority, story, meaningful way for

donors to help…etc!

What’d we learn?

• If the news isn’t cooperating, it might not work.

• If the issue isn’t one we’ve talked about, it might be hard to generate concern.

• What’s critical on the inside may not be critical on the outside.

In summary...

…five signs you should pull the plug on your campaign...

1. It isn’t performing. 2. It is tanking. 3. No money. 4. No actions. 5. No money OR actions.

Building a culture of failure in your organization

Well... Maybe building a

culture *accepting*

of failure

1) DON’T pretend to be the 0racle from on high

2) Try lots of things!

3) Establish metrics & benchmarks

At OFA, we watched the Donations : Unsubscriptions ration. If subject line tests were worse than 2:1 for donors, of 1:2 for non-donors, we wouldn’t send (under normal circumstances).

4) Be open & transparent

Go forth fellow losers! Be

proud!