Every campaigner struggles with the
challenge of measuring what they've done, let alone what they've
achieved. Email actions may be easier to count than the number of letters sent by supporters, but many campaigners are still left wondering if their results look like large numbers against targets, and how they compare with other campaigns.
Most people who run campaigns love to look at other people's work. We're generally an excitable bunch who want to change the world. But there aren't enough hours in the day to keep up with new actions across the board. And when you look at other organisations' sites, you really want to know how well interesting campaign actions performed. I wonder why they did it like that?
The true measure of a campaign's success is, of course, whether it delivers change. When we get bogged down in email response rates, page views and conversion funnels we must not forget that. But benchmarking and comparing what you do with others in your field is a great way to pick up tips and raise your game.
The 2010 eCampaigning Review aims to pull together information on online campaigning practices and performance to help campaigners learn from each other and improve they way they engage their supporters.
Here are a few facts we discovered
last year:
Twenty five per cent of organisations did not test their emails before sending them out, and only 7 per cent used split-testing to see which versions were most effective
"Contact your MP/elected representative" actions were the most popular type, even more common than petitions
Only a quarter of organisations sent a good-quality thank-you email to people who had taken an action online, and less than a third got in touch with new sign-ups within one month
Seven per cent is the average participation rate for an email broadcast
You can read more results from last year here. It's easy to take part this year. A simple online
survey allows all organisations to share information
on their e-campaigning confidentially, including data on budgets and staffing. And if you're
able to share anonymous data on your e-actions in the correct
format, you can be included in the performance benchmarks which look at
response rates and conversions. It's free, and all participants
will be emailed the final report, including a personalised score and
ranking. Register now here.
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