Case: Cordaid
After uniting 4 sub brands into one consistent & resonating message, donation ratio has grown with 500%.
Cordaid invited us to help create a website that would merge their four sub brands into one website with one clear message. Their new website primarily aims to attract new donors and to keep in touch with existing and previous ones.
We created customer journeys to understand the needs and goals of potential and existing donors. And we designed various content blocks so that editors have ample flexibility. Cordaid’s editors are now able to create pages that help visitors relate on both an emotional and a rational level and persuade them to action. As a result the number of sessions grew with 40%, the bounce rate dropped substantially and the donation ratio grew with a whopping 500%.
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The Project
Cordaid is the Catholic Organization for Relief & Development Aid. They see it as their mission to reduce fragility and vulnerability of people where it is most needed and most difficult: in fragile and conflict-affected societies.
One unified brand
When Cordaid approached us, they were working through a repositioning of their brand for the Dutch market. Up until then, efforts and communication were spread out over 4 funds.
Their previous site targeted a widespread audience including institutional stakeholders such as governments requesting help. Most content was more targeted to institutions in need of data and did not persuade private donors to start contributing. With this new website, Cordaid aimed to build relations with (potential) private donors.
The goals
To ensure a successful relaunch, we teamed up to define several goals for Cordaid’s new website:
- Make sure the website unifies the messaging of all four sub brands.
- Structure the website in a way that supports the defined customer journeys and persuades to take action.
- Offer Cordaids’ editors ample flexibility in structuring pages. So that they’ll be able to create content that connects with both people who tend to be more driven by reason and with people who are more likely to act upon emotion.
- Design the website in such a way that it appeals both to new contacts and existing contributors.
The Approach
Customer journey scenarios help segment visitors and boost conversions
Our first step was brainstorming potential touchpoints and drafting several customer journey scenarios. So that most visitors find next steps that appeal to them at first glance. Whether that appeal happens on an emotional level, a rational level or by a combination of both. If you’re not able to persuade visitors to take some sort of action in a few seconds, you’ll lose their attention and they’re gone.
Photos help visitors connect to stories
Our next step was designing mockups. A lot of the content Cordaid publishes, is story based content. Photos help visitors connect to stories on a deeper emotional level, but only if the photo that supports a point is placed nearby enough to make sense. Therefore, editors and administrators needed ample flexibility to structure pages as needed.
“Cordaid aims to serve both new contacts and existing contributors within this new website. New contacts will probably come from external channels. Loyal contributors are more likely to enter from our own channels. The website has been structured in such a way that it will meet the needs of both groups.”
The solution
Customizing pages using flexible content blocks
To help editors customize a page to support its goal more easily, we have created a variety of content blocks. There are, for instance, blocks for paragraph copy, blocks for testimonials and blocks for pictures. Editors can add as many blocks as they need and drag them from one place to another. Using content blocks instead of page templates gives editors more flexibility, and makes them less dependent on development capacity.. This flexibility also makes the project more future proof.
A magnetic site structure
The site is structured in a way that nurtures visitors in all stages of their journey.
Some visitors land on Cordaid’s site as a result of a promotion, or while looking for charitable organizations to donate to. Therefore, pages targeted to people who don’t know, like and trust Cordaid yet, contain lots of options to move onwards to related content. This helps them to get to know, like and trust Cordaid.
Other visitors may already have decided to allocate some funds to charity. They have done their research and have grown to know, like and trust Cordaid. This group of people oftentimes feels the need to check out some of Cordaid’s projects to help rationalize their decision. To support them, we have recommended to add a link to Cordaid’s projects right in the main navigation.
The result
One brand, one resonating message
The new site radiates the new, unified brand. The combination of story based content, background information and facts & figures helps visitors connect on both an emotional and rational level. Based on previous choices, visitors are served related content that is either more emotion-based or more fact-based.
Donation ratio grew with 500%
Since the launch of the redesigned website, the number of sessions has increased with an impressive 40%, the bounce rate has decreased substantially and the donation ratio grew with a whopping 500%.
“The new Cordaid website allows us to better share our stories. Because all content has a clear location within the site, there’s plenty of space to use copy and images to spotlight the emotion behind Cordaid’s work.”
“To us, this journey felt like a true partnership. We experienced ample flexibility to tweak things along the way and Level Level always clearly explained how these tweaks would impact both turnaround time and budget. We felt well cared for, from briefing to implementation.”
Ongoing Development
The launch of this Cordaid website was the start of a partnership. Following the launch of this website, we agreed on a fixed number of hours to be used on a regular basis for a continuous optimisation of this website. We regularly meet to analyze data, brainstorm improvement opportunities and to prioritize next steps in a project backlog. During these meetings, we agree on the steps we take next within the hours available. As a result of this continuous partnership, of performing user tests and closely watching statistics, we have, for example, been able to optimize and automate content blocks. Also, our Service & Support team keeps the site safeguarded, up to date, closely watches the sites response time and takes action when needed.
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