Immy O’Keeffe is the Communications Lead at WildFish, the charity working to protect wild fish and their waters in the UK. WildFish signed up to use Engaging Networks campaigning, fundraising and messaging tools in 2023 and shared their experiences over their first year using the platform.
As charities continue to adapt and grow their digital engagement, fundraising and campaigning efforts finding the right tools to help reach and convert more people while working more effectively and efficiently is paramount. Last year, WildFish embarked on a digital transformation journey, integrating the Engaging Networks platform into their work while driving an increase in action takers amplifying their mission and impact.
The Challenge: Transforming Campaign Engagement
Like many charities, one of WildFish’s goals is to effectively engage their supporters, helping drive meaningful action and increase fundraising income. Despite their passionate community and important mission, they had struggled to encourage supporters to deepen engagement and take action allowing them to collect details and permissions to strengthen supporter relations… WildFish felt that they needed a more robust solution that could help them mobilise their supporters more effectively and track the impact of their campaigns with greater precision.
“…so we spent time working with Michael who was fantastic! He helped us make sure that there were all of the right kinds of user journey links built into our broadcasts and walked us through how to use the features we simply didn’t have in our previous piece of software – that has been a real bonus”
– Immy O’Keeffe, Communications Lead, WildFish
To help them do that, WildFish chose to use the Engaging Networks platform and its suite of campaigning, email and fundraising tools, designed with the unique needs of not-for-profit organisations in mind.
Onboarding with Engaging Networks
After they selected Engaging Networks, WildFish began working to get up-and-running on the platform, with their account set up, training and initial actions created working alongside Michael Austin, Engaging Network’s International Client Success Manager. The process was smooth and efficient, and despite initial apprehension among the team, WildFish found the platform intuitive and user-friendly.
One of the standout features of Engaging Networks is its ability to offer rich personalisation to supporters based on information held by charities like WildFish and also by the actions they take. By segmenting their audience based on interests and engagement levels, WildFish have been able to send targeted communications that resonate more deeply with their community and drive more engagement from their audience.
“The migration has been a huge success for us, in terms of how intuitive the software is to use, but also in terms of the tools and systems built into the platform”
-Immy O’Keeffe, Communications Lead, WildFish
The results of this approach, partnered with the use of campaign actions built using the Free and Flexible templates available within Engaging Networks, has resulted in a dramatic uplift in the number of people taking campaigning action with WildFish. In their first email-to-target action, targeting MPs, the team reported a 200x increase in action takers moving from .pdf letters sent to targets. This dramatic rise in engagement can be attributed to several key factors:
- Personalised Engagement: The ability to tailor messages and actions to specific supporter segments resulted in higher engagement rates.
- Enhanced User Experience: Engaging Networks’ email-to-target tools made it easy for people to contact their MP and support WildFish through campaigning actions.
- Effective Analytics: Engaging Networks’ analytics tools provided WildFish with valuable insights, allowing them to refine their strategies and improve outcomes.
- Seamless Integration: The integration between different parts of the Engaging Networks platform streamlined WildFish’s operations, reducing administrative overheads.
The increase in action takers has had a direct impact on WildFish’s mission delivery. With more supporters actively participating in campaigns, WildFish hopes to amplify its voice on critical issues, secure more funding, and influence policy changes more effectively. Moving forward, Immy and the team are looking to take their learnings and use them to create actions that are even more successful, further helping WildFish transform their digital engagement, campaigning and fundraising efforts.
“In Engaging Networks the analytics are also much more useful than what I’ve had access to previously. They give us more insight, and in turn, help us plan for the future.”
-Immy O’Keeffe, Communications Lead, WildFish
Conclusion
WildFish’s experience is a great example of how results can be transformed when the right technology meets a passionate cause. By using the Engaging Network’s personalisation tools, user-friendly forms and robust reporting, WildFish has been able to mobilise its community like never before. For WildFish, the journey with Engaging Networks is just beginning, as they continue to explore the platform’s full potential, they are well-equipped to drive even greater impact in their mission to protect wild fish and their habitats.
