2-Step Regular Giver
Acquisition Campaign 2023
Overview
ActionAid Australia is a global women’s rights organisation that empowers women on the frontlines of injustice to mobilise and transform their communities. One of ActionAid’s fundraising goals is to grow its regular giving program, specifically using the channel of digital to acquire leads and convert regular givers via telemarketing – 2-step.
In the past, ActionAid had achieved some success with 2-step using petitions, however these campaigns did not achieve their objectives and the organisation knew they needed to take a different approach. This included testing out new mechanics.
When ActionAid Australia partnered with Marlin Communications, the first step was to uncover the most effective mechanism for acquiring new regular givers based on existing audience insights.
The strategy Marlin developed outlined the need to design and develop three mechanics for testing:
- a short quiz,
- a value exchange booklet, and
- a physical value exchange of free stickers.
These mechanics were tested over 12 weeks in partnership with Clever Contacts who called many of the acquired leads with the aim of converting them to a regular giving donation.
As part of the digital campaign we were able to explore different audiences, messaging and creative executions for each mechanic. After testing a series of emails, social ads and phone scripts, we found that the best performing RG conversion mechanic was a physical value exchange of stickers with an average cost per RG of $429.
Problem
Grow its regular giving program, specifically using the channel of digital to acquire leads and convert regular givers via telemarketing – 2-step.
Solution
Developed concepts for lead generation ads for the three mechanics.
Results
The results from this campaign were great! From all three mechanics tested, the final lead volume was 4% higher than the target, and the cost per lead came in 5% under the $5 target.
“Nicole and the team at Marlin were exemplary partners to work with on the two-step campaign which is really critical towards ActionAid’s growth strategy. Nicole is really responsive and Marlin brings great innovation, collaboration and expertise to leads management that contributed to the campaign’s overall success.”
Vikram Chowdhary, Individual Giving ManagerActionAid Australia
The Challenge
ActionAid Australia’s targets for the pilot included the acquisition of 4,000+ leads and the conversion of 50 new regular givers each month. To meet these targets, we needed to trial acquisition mechanisms that would reveal the most cost- effective way to grab the audiences’ attention, and cut-through with a strong cause connection.
International development can be challenging as studies have shown people tend to donate closer to home. Adding the lens of gender equality on top of this adds to the communications challenge that ActionAid faces in targeting mass audiences. In the past, 2-step petition leads had been hard to convert to regular givers in a sustainable way. So to acquire regular donors ActionAid Australia needed a lead generation campaign to make ActionAid’s work accessible, while leaving audiences feeling inspired and committed to come on board as a monthly supporter.
The Solution
Marlin developed concepts for lead generation ads for the three mechanics. The bold designs placed women’s rights front and centre, presenting attention- grabbing mechanics to relevant audiences.
After the concepts were finalised we deployed a test campaign which ran over 12 weeks that allowed ActionAid Australia and Marlin to explore different audiences, messaging and creative executions. Marlin also worked very closely with ActionAid’s telemarketing agency, Clever Contacts, to learn from the prospective donors’ feedback and anecdotes to improve on our acquisition message.
We trialled a selection of relevant audiences, including ActionAid’s Facebook and Instagram followers, lookalikes of existing regular givers, parents; and some interests based on climate or social issues.
To build engagement, we developed a selection of ads that either provided detail and interactivity (climate quiz), greater information (a parenting guide), or material fun (stickers).
Below are the best performing ads for each mechanic
The Results
The results from this campaign were great! From all three mechanics tested, the final lead volume was 4% higher than the target, and the cost per lead came in 5% under the $5 target.
- Total leads: 5,597
- Cost per lead: $4.75
- Regular givers (RG): 111
- RG conversion rate: 4.69%
- Cost per RG: $596
Additionally, we discovered that the best performing mechanic was the physical value exchange of free stickers. After one round of calls to acquired leads, Clever Contacts was able to convert 86 new regular givers from the stickers, at an overall response rate of 6% – ultimately leading to a higher annual income. The average cost per acquisition of regular givers for the sticker mechanic was just $429.
- Total leads: 3,205
- Cost per lead: $3.60
- Regular givers (RG): 86
- RG conversion rate: 6.06%
- Cost per RG: $429
Best performing sticker ads
The sticker value exchange mechanic allowed ActionAid to go to a wider audience with more general, accessible fun messaging, compared to the climate quiz mechanic, and more technical petitions ActionAid had used in the past.
We also learned a lot about relevant audiences for future 2-step acquisition campaigns. This meant that we were able to refine audience targeting down to the lowest cost per RG.
Hint: Don’t sleep on Lookalikes. Regular givers acquired through this audience had a cost of $342!
We couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome of our initial 2-step campaign with ActionAid Australia and we are confident the insights from this pilot campaign will help ActionAid grow their Regular Giving program for years to come.
UPDATE January 2024: ActionAid have engaged Marlin to run a rollout of their 2 step RG acquisition campaign in 2024. Whoop whoop!
