Introduction
Currently 820,000 people in Britain are thought to suffer dementia, progressively losing their memory and struggling to cope with everyday activities. The most common cause is Alzheimer's disease.
A million people are likely to develop the condition within the next 15 years as the population ages and 1.70million will be living with it by 2051, placing a significant burden on informal carers, the NHS and care homes.
A YouGov poll of more than 2,000 people found that 31 per cent feared dementia the most as they grow older compared with 27 per cent who were most scared of cancer and 18 per cent who feared death itself more than anything.
Alzheimer's Research UK, formerly known as the Alzheimer's Research Trust, appointed Being Communications to provide a range of digital assets to help get the message through that dementia costs the economy £23 billion a year, more than cancer (£12 billion) and heart disease (£8 billion) combined and that investment in scientists and science holds the only key to defeating dementia.
Project Objectives
The initial goal of the project was the redevelopment of the Website to be a professionally designed ‘stand-out’ platform which allowed the target audiences to access information about dementia, Alzheimer’s Research UK and information relating to breakthrough research projects. Secondary goals included raising donation levels further through SEO, email marketing, supporting microsites and new engaging online content.
Online development objectives were:
- To create a site that demonstrated ARUK’s brand stature - growing in size and reach
- To reach a wider audience and grow traffic levels
- To develop strategies that provided added value to the community of users – volunteers, donors, carers etc.
- To engage the audience more by making the site more usable, attractive, informative and interactive
- To create in-house efficiencies in the way the site was updated and managed
- To further develop online marketing, search engine and social networking strategies
Overall:
- To increase online donations
Strategic Approach
Our strategic approach was to put research and the scientists at the heart of the battle to defeat dementia. We believed the Website was a key tool to present this approach and engage key constituencies by making the emotional connection between science and the real benefits it brings to lives.
The general tone of the Website had to be inspirational taking every opportunity to weave together the key message that investment in research brings hope.
Driving discovery and achieving breakthroughs were to be the underlying themes, appealing on one hand to the scientific community and on the other to carers, especially those who could do little but watch the devastating disease rob them of their loved ones.
However to use the Website to immerse visitors in the emotional heartbreak and burden on family members and other carers we felt would be wrong. Playing solely on these emotions we felt would only reflect urgent short term needs rather than convey the need for longer term investment to defeat the disease over the longer term.
Mechanics
Our starting point on getting more from online was getting more from the Web site. Our redevelopment simplified the functionality, made information easier to find, improved accessibility, and provided greater integration with social media channels, not forgetting explaining the charity's aims and encouraging donations.
We reduced the clutter, and introduced a clear navigational structure. We also made sure there was enough space between the various areas on the page to make it easy to make sense of all the information presented.
The clearest and most important element on the page encouraged visitors to donate, once or monthly. The area on the left and centre of the page ‘above the fold’ (visible on first Web page without needing to scroll down) allowed people to find out about Alzheimer’s, the research being carried and how to get involved, while the links on the top navigation bar were clearly labelled and laid out.
We made sure we avoided what Jakob Nielsen (the world's leading expert on Web usability) refers to as 'donation killers'. The main problems centre around the fact that users often find it hard to get information on what their money would be used for, while poor navigation means that some can't find out where and how to make a donation. We made sure ‘what we do, achievements and progress’ links on the top navigation bar led to plenty of information about the kind of work carried out by ARUK.
There were plenty of clear calls to action on the homepage and around the site. On the donate page, there was information on the kinds of things that your donation would help with, as well as more detailed information on the right of the page.
Social media integration was provided by a series of links on the pages to the various ARUK profiles on Twitter and Facebook.
And no less than we’d do on any e–commerce site; we installed a smooth checkout process that allowed people to make donations quickly and easily, whilst providing the necessary reassurances about security.
ARUK Homepage
In tandem with Web site development we deployed other online marketing programmes such as email marketing, campaign microsites and new engaging online content all with the focus of targeted donations.
ARUK Fundraising Email campaign
ARUK Achievements Email campaign
ARUK also opted to use Etelligent – Being’s unique integrated Content Management Solution (CMS) which allowed them to easily content manage their own Website, view donations, and perform auto-triggered email marketing.
Usability Testing & Results
Before launching the site Being undertook extensive usability testing recruiting 12 candidates within our key audiences; those aged 65+ , scientists, and those who had cared for dementia sufferers, to complete a series of online tasks in a controlled environment and monitored by a UX developer. The findings and recommendations informed improvements to the design and functionality of the Website.
Since redesigning the Website, online donations have increased, awareness of Alzheimer’s has increased and the number of people with dementia helped by the online campaigns has increased. The Web site has proven to be engaging, informative and user-friendly, delivering a good return on investment.
The number of visitors to the Website has increased over 35% when compared to the same 4 month period in the previous year. Google analytics are showing ‘donation pages’ as the top content area of the site, and most importantly donations are up 11% and rising.