Change.org recently made a big announcement: they’re phasing out Sponsored Petitions, which have enabled organizations to acquire issue-aligned email addresses. Instead, Change.org is radically altering its business model and adopting a new crowdfunding platform (more on that later). This news may come as an unwelcome surprise to organizations that have relied on Change.org for efficient list growth, so today we are here to reassure you: don’t panic.
While Change.org’s new focus on fundraising might make it harder for medium-sized and smaller organizations to scale their communities, moments like this force us to ask tough questions about where to invest in digital. These changes are an opportunity to rethink our acquisition strategies and cultivate more passionate advocates than ever before by embracing more mature community mobilization and list growth practices. Here’s how:
Action over acquisition
It’s not news that driving meaningful action is hard; buying new constituents isn’t. While Change.org was a cost-effective way for organizations to grow their lists, the ability to grow quickly did not always correspond to the ability to drive fundraising and advocacy actions. Change.org’s departure from the market means that your overall cost per acquisition may increase. But by thinking more carefully about your cultivation program, the cost you pay for reliable action may decrease over time.
Target intelligently
To bring in quality leads or supporters, you have to understand who will help you achieve your organizational objectives. Modern marketing strategies use statistical analysis to discover variables that predict customer behavior. These variables tend to be a mix of demographics, interests, and past behavior.
Acquisition through Change.org’s Sponsored Petitions allowed organizations to leverage a single variable: the shared participation of Change.org members in a broad activist community. Unfortunately, this variable was seldom predictive. We found that users acquired through Sponsored Petitions were less likely to donate than those who joined through organic and other paid campaigns.
In the absence of Sponsored Petitions, we encourage organizations to analyze their existing supporters, then build acquisition campaigns and targeting profiles that are tailored towards supporters most likely to be committed to your organization’s mission.
Diversify your mix
Even before Change.org’s announcement, many of our clients were actively working to diversify how they grow their communities. If you’ve taken the above step and identified who is most valuable to you, you’re ahead of the game. But there are always more platforms and targets to explore. You should marry data analysis with inspiring creative and sharp channel execution to determine the most efficient acquisition platforms for your audience. BSD is constantly testing alternative list growth options and lead generation strategies, and we’ve seen success acquiring new emails via social. However, you can expect competition on alternative platforms to increase, making it critical to differentiate yourself and try new tactics.
Invest in great experiences
Sure, competition for leads continues to grow, but smart and efficient acquisition is only part of the equation. To drive impact, you need to develop meaningful, long-term relationships with your community. You need to become a better digital communicator: strengthen your value propositions, enrich the digital experiences you offer, and invest in breakthrough digital creative. Think more carefully about how much of your list growth budget should be allocated towards developing the actual creative you’ll use to entice and cultivate new supporters. And of course, once they’re hooked, keep them coming back and taking action through compelling storytelling, strategic email communications, and optimized landing pages.
We’ll take a deeper look at Change.org’s new crowdfunding platform once it has launched, but our instinct tells us that there are certainly advantages to tapping into new audiences who are trained to give to causes—and you may get some incremental revenue out of it. However, the long-term connection an individual has with your cause could be limited. If donors won’t have an opportunity to join your list, we’re hard pressed to see the advantages to using Change.org over owned properties, where you can control branding, relationship building, and costs.