Canadian Red Cross Logo

Give what matters: Holiday donations, reimagined

ecentricarts has been a great partner in developing our annual holiday fundraising campaigns, and the 2014 campaign “Give What Matters” has been our best one yet. We saw our conversion rates on the holiday site climb to an all-time high, showing that we were able to achieve that rare combination of sleek design and strong user experiences, while still being very conversion focused. – Doug Wayne, Manager, National Digital Marketing

With their international relief initiatives already well known, the Red Cross focuses their annual holiday fundraising campaign on the domestic front: supporting Canadians in need.

Each year, Red Cross challenges us to deliver an engaging and interactive holiday fundraising campaign based on a timely theme. The annual holiday campaign is designed to both educate Canadians on important issues of social concern and to persuade them to help their fellow Canadians by making an online donation.

Before a single pixel was designed, we took a close look at the 2013 analytics so we could make strategic recommendations to improve on the previous year’s results. We saw that the previous campaign, while successful, had emphasized educational, copy-heavy elements that users simply didn’t interact with. For 2014, we proposed an immersive, streamlined experience that educated users as they moved through the donation process. We personalized the experience by inviting users to donate real items to real families, bringing to life the impact of their contribution.

Key user experience and design features:

  • Inviting and intuitive experience
  • “Educating while donating” concept designed to increase conversions and engagement
  • Custom photography, video, animation and narratives, to give donations a tangible, lifelike feeling
Red Cross 2014 Campaign Screen 1
Red Cross 2014 Campaign Screen 2
Red Cross 2014 Campaign Screen 3
Red Cross 2014 Campaign Screen 4

Key technical features:

  • User segmentation and targeted URLs that delivered personalized site content
  • Advanced analytics support with marketing automation software and standalone analytics programs
  • Real-time online donations processing

Increased conversions from 2013 ⬆58%