MARKETING

How The Humane Society Makes Emotional Connections

Published

1 month ago

October 19, 2023

How The Humane Society Makes Emotional Connections

Balancing the cuteness of puppies with hard-hitting advocacy to shine a light on animal suffering and inspire people to drive meaningful change takes real content expertise.

Emily Hamlin Smith, senior editorial director of the Humane Society of the United States, and her team have done that with their quarterly print magazine All Animals and other digital content. This year’s editorial coverage of the society’s rescue of nearly 4,000 beagles from a breeding facility earned a finalist nod for Best Use of Photography in the 2023 Content Marketing Awards.

And All Animals won Best Nonprofit Publication this year and in 2022, 2021, and 2020. All that award-winning work earned Emily a nod as a 2023 B2C Content Marketer of the Year finalist.

CMI spoke with Emily to learn about her content strategy, the stunning use of visuals in the magazine, and the important role print still plays in an increasingly digital world.

It starts with a unified team

In addition to the 500,000-circulation magazine, The Humane Society powers content on HumanePro.org, a hub for animal welfare groups, pet professionals such as shelter workers and veterinarians, wildlife rehabbers, etc. The editorial team also has hands on the society’s external communications, email campaigns, social media, and more.

Emily oversees five senior editors who have a specialty area. For example, one mainly handles All Animals content, while another oversees HumanePro.org. Her team also includes two dedicated writers.

“We all collaborate across things,” she explains. “The goal of that is to keep everybody engaged in all of the work, and it also helps us have a consistent tone across all of our communications because we’re all on the same page.”

Telling the animals’ story

The society sends All Animals magazine to donors who give a one-time gift of at least $25 or monthly recurring donations of at least $10. The goal is to show donors how the society puts their contributions to work through the lens of individual animals.

“I think that every animal has a story, just like every person does. They can’t tell it in their own words, so they need us to do that for them,” Emily says. “You can do it in multiple ways, either through words or visuals, and I think that when you put the two together, it can be incredibly powerful.”

Combining words and visuals lets the @HumaneSociety tell incredibly powerful stories on behalf of animals, says @Emilyrhsmith via @DawnPapandrea @CMIContent. #ContentMarketing Click To Tweet

Telling the animals’ stories can create an emotional response that triggers the viewer’s response to the call to action – to prompt readers to keep donating.

Turning pictures into more than a thousand words

The story of the beagle puppy rescue, which involved over 120 shelters and rescues in 29 states, lived on all of the Humane Society’s digital channels and the CEO’s blog. It also had immense media pickup, including coverage from The New York Times to The Washington Post.

When the print magazine went into production, Emily and the team faced a challenge – giving something new to the readers who also followed them on their digital channels. They accomplished that by visually telling the story of the entire rescue with many previously unpublished images.

“Part of that feature was a two-page spread image of the dogs being loaded into an air transport. We could really give that big picture perspective of what it took to bring this historic transportation project together,” Emily says.

They also shared the story of one animal in the rescue. “Fin was the last dog who came out of the facility in Virginia. We were able to follow up with him in his new home and kind of close the loop for the supporters who had been following us on digital channels,” Emily says.

The rescue story also involved more than the work of the society. “It was our shelter and rescue partners; it was volunteers. We wanted to give a comprehensive look at what they made possible, and our goal with that is to make the supporters feel like they were a part of it, too. Because we’re not able to do that work without their support,” she says.

The issue’s visual storytelling approach made an impression on readers who donated more than $57,000 via the magazine’s business reply envelope alone. “They let us know that the story opened their eyes to the reality of testing on dogs, something that many people aren’t aware happens in the United States,” Emily says. “It was a prime example of what can happen when you collaborate as a whole team, and everybody brings their ideas forward.”

The @HumaneSociety received over $57,000 in donations from the envelopes in one issue of its #print magazine All Animals, says @Emilyrhsmith via @DawnPapandrea @CMIContent. #ContentMarketing Click To Tweet

Making the case for print in a digital world

The shuttering of so many print magazines each year naturally weighs on the mind of a print magazine editor. But Emily says All Animals still proves its value. Leadership buys into the content tactic because they hear from donors who say the magazine resonates with them.

One donor made a $1 million bequest because of what she saw in the magazine about how the society used the contributions. “She knew that she was putting her investment and her legacy in good hands. We were all smiling ear to ear for weeks after we heard that because that’s what we want to do,” Emily says.

Still, Emily doesn’t take their success for granted. Her team ensures that every magazine issue counts by prioritizing the society’s key campaigns. They also do readership surveys regularly to gauge donors’ responses to their work. Among the findings: More than half say they’ve changed one of their eating habits because of what they’ve read. Many say they now take the time to look for cruelty-free cosmetics. And 80% say they share something they read with a friend or family member.

“When we can illustrate that to the decision-makers at the organization, it really shows our value and how the touch points that we have through the magazine extend far beyond that envelope that’s inside. That people really connect with it,” Emily explains.

Digital content is still necessary to keep different audience demographics engaged. The society will launch a digital version of All Animals this fall. Emily says, “As we see how that performs, then we’re going to start looking at how people interact with it. Can we add some more interactive features that make it a little bit more exciting and enticing than just flipping through a PDF?”

Blending advocacy, journalism, and service

Emily doesn’t believe in relying on shock value or anger to motivate people to act. “We want to be showing the reality of the situation, but also showing the donors how there’s hope and how we’re helping and how they’re helping. Some of those images are really tough – dogs in cages on farms or in a market – but we want to be sure that we’re balancing that for readers with how these dogs are getting a second chance at life,” she says.

That’s why each issue contains light-hearted, feel-good, and victory stories like the beagle rescue, along with the more challenging reports on topics like animal testing in cosmetics or the dog meat trade.

The back of the magazine gives readers service content, too. They’ve published features on how to make changes in your backyard to help protect urban wildlife, tips for caring for a pet, and advice on helping outdoor animals such as community cats.

“I want to give them a way to help, whether that’s writing a letter to their lawmaker or sending in a donation. I want to make sure that we’re inspiring people, educating people, and then giving them an action step,” Emily says.

That matches her personal content philosophy: “Tell a story, engage, educate, and then give something to do to make them a part of the solution.”

Achieving everyday content victories

Though the Humane Society editorial team has earned some amazing content wins this year, they are more motivated by the smaller wins, like one-off emails from readers or comments on a story. Emily says, “That doesn’t translate directly to dollars at that moment, but to me, providing that awareness, the inspiration, and the education is the first step to bringing them into the organization’s work. That tells me that we’re doing our job.”

Couldn’t attend Content Marketing World in person this year? Register for the Digital Pass to access on-demand session recordings from the live event through the end of the year. Use promo code BLOG100 to save $100.

MORE EXAMPLES FROM 2023 CONTENT MARKETING AWARD FINALISTS

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

Source link

Related Topics:Connections Emotional Humane seo Society

Up Next

Which AI Chatbot is Better for Automating Marketing Tasks?

Don't Miss

How to Use SEO to Build Long-Term Brand Recognition and Visibility

MARKETING

How to Increase Survey Completion Rate With 5 Top Tips

Published

15 hours ago

December 1, 2023

Entireweb News Bot

How to Increase Survey Completion Rate With 5 Top Tips

Collecting high-quality data is crucial to making strategic observations about your customers. Researchers have to consider the best ways to design their surveys and then how to increase survey completion, because it makes the data more reliable.

I’m going to explain how survey completion plays into the reliability of data. Then, we’ll get into how to calculate your survey completion rate versus the number of questions you ask. Finally, I’ll offer some tips to help you increase survey completion rates.

My goal is to make your data-driven decisions more accurate and effective. And just for fun, I’ll use cats in the examples because mine won’t stop walking across my keyboard.

Why Measure Survey Completion

Let’s set the scene: We’re inside a laboratory with a group of cat researchers. They’re wearing little white coats and goggles — and they desperately want to know what other cats think of various fish.

They’ve written up a 10-question survey and invited 100 cats from all socioeconomic rungs — rough and hungry alley cats all the way up to the ones that thrice daily enjoy their Fancy Feast from a crystal dish.

Now, survey completion rates are measured with two metrics: response rate and completion rate. Combining those metrics determines what percentage, out of all 100 cats, finished the entire survey. If all 100 give their full report on how delicious fish is, you’d achieve 100% survey completion and know that your information is as accurate as possible.

But the truth is, nobody achieves 100% survey completion, not even golden retrievers.

With this in mind, here’s how it plays out:

Let’s say 10 cats never show up for the survey because they were sleeping.
Of the 90 cats that started the survey, only 25 got through a few questions. Then, they wandered off to knock over drinks.
Thus, 90 cats gave some level of response, and 65 completed the survey (90 – 25 = 65).
Unfortunately, those 25 cats who only partially completed the survey had important opinions — they like salmon way more than any other fish.

The cat researchers achieved 72% survey completion (65 divided by 90), but their survey will not reflect the 25% of cats — a full quarter! — that vastly prefer salmon. (The other 65 cats had no statistically significant preference, by the way. They just wanted to eat whatever fish they saw.)

Now, the Kitty Committee reviews the research and decides, well, if they like any old fish they see, then offer the least expensive ones so they get the highest profit margin.

CatCorp, their competitors, ran the same survey; however, they offered all 100 participants their own glass of water to knock over — with a fish inside, even!

Only 10 of their 100 cats started, but did not finish the survey. And the same 10 lazy cats from the other survey didn’t show up to this one, either.

So, there were 90 respondents and 80 completed surveys. CatCorp achieved an 88% completion rate (80 divided by 90), which recorded that most cats don’t care, but some really want salmon. CatCorp made salmon available and enjoyed higher profits than the Kitty Committee.

So you see, the higher your survey completion rates, the more reliable your data is. From there, you can make solid, data-driven decisions that are more accurate and effective. That’s the goal.

We measure the completion rates to be able to say, “Here’s how sure we can feel that this information is accurate.”

And if there’s a Maine Coon tycoon looking to invest, will they be more likely to do business with a cat food company whose decision-making metrics are 72% accurate or 88%? I suppose it could depend on who’s serving salmon.

What is survey completion rate?

Survey completion rate refers to the number of completed surveys divided by the number of total survey respondents. The result is then multiplied by 100 to get a percentage. Survey respondents include those who completed the survey, and those who started the survey but didn’t complete it.

While math was not my strongest subject in school, I had the great opportunity to take several college-level research and statistics classes, and the software we used did the math for us. That’s why I used 100 cats — to keep the math easy so we could focus on the importance of building reliable data.

Now, we’re going to talk equations and use more realistic numbers. Here’s the formula:

Completion rate equals the # of completed surveys divided by the # of survey respondents.

So, we need to take the number of completed surveys and divide that by the number of people who responded to at least one of your survey questions. Even just one question answered qualifies them as a respondent (versus nonrespondent, i.e., the 10 lazy cats who never show up).

Now, you’re running an email survey for, let’s say, Patton Avenue Pet Company. We’ll guess that the email list has 5,000 unique addresses to contact. You send out your survey to all of them.

Your analytics data reports that 3,000 people responded to one or more of your survey questions. Then, 1,200 of those respondents actually completed the entire survey.

3,000/5000 = 0.6 = 60% — that’s your pool of survey respondents who answered at least one question. That sounds pretty good! But some of them didn’t finish the survey. You need to know the percentage of people who completed the entire survey. So here we go:

Completion rate equals the # of completed surveys divided by the # of survey respondents.

Completion rate = (1,200/3,000) = 0.40 = 40%

Voila, 40% of your respondents did the entire survey.

Response Rate vs. Completion Rate

Okay, so we know why the completion rate matters and how we find the right number. But did you also hear the term response rate? They are completely different figures based on separate equations, and I’ll show them side by side to highlight the differences.

Completion Rate = # of Completed Surveys divided by # of Respondents
Response Rate = # of Respondents divided by Total # of surveys sent out

Here are examples using the same numbers from above:

Completion Rate = (1200/3,000) = 0.40 = 40%

Response Rate = (3,000/5000) = 0.60 = 60%

So, they are different figures that describe different things:

Completion rate: The percentage of your respondents that completed the entire survey. As a result, it indicates how sure we are that the information we have is accurate.
Response rate: The percentage of people who responded in any way to our survey questions.

The follow-up question is: How can we make this number as high as possible in order to be closer to a truer and more complete data set from the population we surveyed?

There’s more to learn about response rates and how to bump them up as high as you can, but we’re going to keep trucking with completion rates!

What’s a good survey completion rate?

That is a heavily loaded question. People in our industry have to say, “It depends,” far more than anybody wants to hear it, but it depends. Sorry about that.

There are lots of factors at play, such as what kind of survey you’re doing, what industry you’re doing it in, if it’s an internal or external survey, the population or sample size, the confidence level you’d like to hit, the margin of error you’re willing to accept, etc.

But you can’t really get a high completion rate unless you increase response rates first.

So instead of focusing on what’s a good completion rate, I think it’s more important to understand what makes a good response rate. Aim high enough, and survey completions should follow.

I checked in with the Qualtrics community and found this discussion about survey response rates:

“Just wondering what are the average response rates we see for online B2B CX surveys? […]

Current response rates: 6%–8%… We are looking at boosting the response rates but would first like to understand what is the average.”

The best answer came from a government service provider that works with businesses. The poster notes that their service is free to use, so they get very high response rates.

“I would say around 30–40% response rates to transactional surveys,” they write. “Our annual pulse survey usually sits closer to 12%. I think the type of survey and how long it has been since you rendered services is a huge factor.”

Since this conversation, “Delighted” (the Qualtrics blog) reported some fresher data:

survey completion rate vs number of questions new data, qualtrics data

Image Source

The takeaway here is that response rates vary widely depending on the channel you use to reach respondents. On the upper end, the Qualtrics blog reports that customers had 85% response rates for employee email NPS surveys and 33% for email NPS surveys.

A good response rate, the blog writes, “ranges between 5% and 30%. An excellent response rate is 50% or higher.”

This echoes reports from Customer Thermometer, which marks a response rate of 50% or higher as excellent. Response rates between 5%-30% are much more typical, the report notes. High response rates are driven by a strong motivation to complete the survey or a personal relationship between the brand and the customer.

If your business does little person-to-person contact, you’re out of luck. Customer Thermometer says you should expect responses on the lower end of the scale. The same goes for surveys distributed from unknown senders, which typically yield the lowest level of responses.

According to SurveyMonkey, surveys where the sender has no prior relationship have response rates of 20% to 30% on the high end.

Whatever numbers you do get, keep making those efforts to bring response rates up. That way, you have a better chance of increasing your survey completion rate. How, you ask?

Tips to Increase Survey Completion

If you want to boost survey completions among your customers, try the following tips.

1. Keep your survey brief.

We shouldn’t cram lots of questions into one survey, even if it’s tempting. Sure, it’d be nice to have more data points, but random people will probably not hunker down for 100 questions when we catch them during their half-hour lunch break.

Keep it short. Pare it down in any way you can.

Survey completion rate versus number of questions is a correlative relationship — the more questions you ask, the fewer people will answer them all. If you have the budget to pay the respondents, it’s a different story — to a degree.

“If you’re paying for survey responses, you’re more likely to get completions of a decently-sized survey. You’ll just want to avoid survey lengths that might tire, confuse, or frustrate the user. You’ll want to aim for quality over quantity,” says Pamela Bump, Head of Content Growth at HubSpot.

2. Give your customers an incentive.

For instance, if they’re cats, you could give them a glass of water with a fish inside.

Offer incentives that make sense for your target audience. If they feel like they are being rewarded for giving their time, they will have more motivation to complete the survey.

This can even accomplish two things at once — if you offer promo codes, discounts on products, or free shipping, it encourages them to shop with you again.

3. Keep it smooth and easy.

Keep your survey easy to read. Simplifying your questions has at least two benefits: People will understand the question better and give you the information you need, and people won’t get confused or frustrated and just leave the survey.

4. Know your customers and how to meet them where they are.

Here’s an anecdote about understanding your customers and learning how best to meet them where they are.

Early on in her role, Pamela Bump, HubSpot’s Head of Content Growth, conducted a survey of HubSpot Blog readers to learn more about their expertise levels, interests, challenges, and opportunities. Once published, she shared the survey with the blog’s email subscribers and a top reader list she had developed, aiming to receive 150+ responses.

“When the 20-question survey was getting a low response rate, I realized that blog readers were on the blog to read — not to give feedback. I removed questions that wouldn’t serve actionable insights. When I reshared a shorter, 10-question survey, it passed 200 responses in one week,” Bump shares.

Tip 5. Gamify your survey.

Make it fun! Brands have started turning surveys into eye candy with entertaining interfaces so they’re enjoyable to interact with.

Your respondents could unlock micro incentives as they answer more questions. You can word your questions in a fun and exciting way so it feels more like a BuzzFeed quiz. Someone saw the opportunity to make surveys into entertainment, and your imagination — well, and your budget — is the limit!

Your Turn to Boost Survey Completion Rates

Now, it’s time to start surveying. Remember to keep your user at the heart of the experience. Value your respondents’ time, and they’re more likely to give you compelling information. Creating short, fun-to-take surveys can also boost your completion rates.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in December 2010 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Source link

MARKETING

Take back your ROI by owning your data

Published

2 days ago

November 30, 2023

Entireweb News Bot

Other brands can copy your style, tone and strategy — but they can’t copy your data.

Your data is your competitive advantage in an environment where enterprises are working to grab market share by designing can’t-miss, always-on customer experiences. Your marketing tech stack enables those experiences.

Join ActionIQ and Snowplow to learn the value of composing your stack – decoupling the data collection and activation layers to drive more intelligent targeting.

Register and attend “Maximizing Marketing ROI With a Composable Stack: Separating Reality from Fallacy,” presented by Snowplow and ActionIQ.

Click here to view more MarTech webinars.

Add MarTech to your Google News feed.

About the author

Cynthia Ramsaran is director of custom content at Third Door Media, publishers of Search Engine Land and MarTech. A multi-channel storyteller with over two decades of editorial/content marketing experience, Cynthia’s expertise spans the marketing, technology, finance, manufacturing and gaming industries. She was a writer/producer for CNBC.com and produced thought leadership for KPMG. Cynthia hails from Queens, NY and earned her Bachelor’s and MBA from St. John’s University.

Source link

MARKETING

Revolutionizing Auto Retail: The Game-Changing Partnership Between Amazon and Hyundai

Published

2 days ago

November 29, 2023

Entireweb News Bot

Revolutionizing Auto Retail: The Game-Changing Partnership Between Amazon and Hyundai

In a groundbreaking alliance, Amazon and Hyundai have joined forces to reshape the automotive landscape, promising a revolutionary shift in how we buy, drive, and experience cars.

Imagine browsing for your dream car on Amazon, with the option to seamlessly purchase, pick up, or have it delivered—all within the familiar confines of the world’s largest online marketplace. Buckle up as we explore the potential impact of this monumental partnership and the transformation it heralds for the future of auto retail.

Driving Change Through Amazon’s Auto Revolution

Consider “Josh”, a tech-savvy professional with an affinity for efficiency. Faced with the tedious process of purchasing a new car, he stumbled upon Amazon’s automotive section. Intrigued by the prospect of a one-stop shopping experience, Josh decided to explore the Amazon-Hyundai collaboration.

The result?

A hassle-free online car purchase, personalized to his preferences, and delivered to his doorstep. Josh’s story is just a glimpse into the real-world impact of this game-changing partnership.

Bridging the Gap Between Convenience and Complexity

Traditional car buying is often marred by complexities, from navigating dealership lots to negotiating prices. The disconnect between the convenience consumers seek and the cumbersome process they endure has long been a pain point in the automotive industry. The need for a streamlined, customer-centric solution has never been more pressing.

1701235578 44 Revolutionizing Auto Retail The Game Changing Partnership Between Amazon and Hyundai

Ecommerce Partnership Reshaping Auto Retail Dynamics

Enter Amazon and Hyundai’s new strategic partnership coming in 2024—an innovative solution poised to redefine the car-buying experience. The trio of key developments—Amazon becoming a virtual showroom, Hyundai embracing AWS for a digital makeover, and the integration of Alexa into next-gen vehicles—addresses the pain points with a holistic approach.

In 2024, auto dealers for the first time will be able to sell vehicles in Amazon’s U.S. store, and Hyundai will be the first brand available for customers to purchase.

Amazon and Hyundai launch a broad, strategic partnership—including vehicle sales on Amazon.com in 2024 – Amazon Staff

This collaboration promises not just a transaction but a transformation in the way customers interact with, purchase, and engage with their vehicles.

Pedal to the Metal

Seamless Online Purchase:

Complete the entire transaction within the trusted Amazon platform.
Utilize familiar payment and financing options.
Opt for convenient pick-up or doorstep delivery.

Become A Certified E-Commerce Marketing Master

The Industry’s Most Comprehensive E-Commerce Marketing Certification For The Modern Marketer. Turn Products Into Profit, Browsers Into Buyers, & Past Purchasers Into Life-Long Customers.

Click here

Hyundai’s Cloud-First Transformation:

Experience a data-driven organization powered by AWS.
Benefit from enhanced production optimization, cost reduction, and improved security.

Alexa Integration in Next-Gen Vehicles:

Enjoy a hands-free, voice-controlled experience in Hyundai vehicles.
Access music, podcasts, reminders, and smart home controls effortlessly.
Stay connected with up-to-date traffic and weather information.

Driving into the Future

The Amazon-Hyundai collaboration is not just a partnership; it’s a revolution in motion. As we witness the fusion of e-commerce giant Amazon with automotive prowess of Hyundai, the potential impact on customer behavior is staggering.

The age-old challenges of car buying are met with a forward-thinking, customer-centric solution, paving the way for a new era in auto retail. From the comfort of your home to the driver’s seat, this partnership is set to redefine every step of the journey, promising a future where buying a car is as easy as ordering a package online.

Embrace the change, and witness the evolution of auto retail unfold before your eyes.