March 2003 - Issue 17

Case Study:  Increasing MADD’s Online Community to Drive Awareness and Advocacy

Overview

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is a nonprofit, grassroots organization with more than 600 chapters and two million members and supporters nationwide. MADD is dedicated to stopping drunk driving, supporting the victims of this violent crime and preventing underage drinking.

MADD chose Convio to strengthen its Internet infrastructure and to build upon its two decades of success in fundraising, program services, influencing public policy, raising awareness and developing strong relationships with victims and supporters. Convio’s comprehensive software and consulting services support multiple mission-critical functions for MADD, including development, public policy, programs, corporate marketing, public relations and victim services. 

As a foundation for stepping up awareness, advocacy and fundraising, MADD has focused on outreach activities to grow its online community and file of email addresses.  In late 2002 during the initial two months of partnering, MADD and Convio developed and executed two “viral” online campaigns to compliment the group’s “Rating the States” and “Tie One on for Safety” programs. Using Convio, MADD increased its email file by 26 percent and motivated supporters to take action by sending alerts to lawmakers and collectively donating nearly $34,000 online.

Challenge

For years, “Rating the States” and “Tie One on for Safety” have been two of MADD’s most important initiatives. “Rating the States,” conducted every three years, grades all 50 states and the nation as a whole on efforts to combat drunk driving and underage drinking. “Tie One on for Safety” is MADD’s largest annual public awareness campaign and is always runs during the holiday season when the risk of drunk driving crashes rises dramatically. 

Although these campaigns have been successful, MADD wanted to expand its reach with an Internet strategy that would further engage its current online supporters and encourage them to get friends and family involved. MADD had a large direct mail file of more than one million contacts, but only had email addresses for 11,000 constituents. The organization realized that in order to enhance offline marketing and advocacy activities and reach a larger group of supporters, it would need a strategy to not only complement its campaigns using the Internet, but also build its roster of constituent email addresses.

Solution

Using Convio software tools and consulting services, MADD significantly improved the effectiveness of these two very important programs, deepened involvement of existing supporters and reached new constituents.

Rating the States

Powered by Convio, MADD leveraged “Rating the States” to boost activism.  To further build its database of activists and learn more about each one, MADD targeted the thousands of constituents that had not yet provided their state and ZIP code information.  MADD sent an email offering them real-time notification of their states' grades when released on November 21.  

Recipients signed up, providing their geographic data in the process. On November 21, simultaneously with the report's release, MADD used Convio to email personalized state-specific "report cards" to subscribed constituents. Recipients that had not provided state data received a national report card. Each report card had links to MADD Web pages where constituents could easily send messages to their governors calling for public policy change.  The November 21 email also included links for people to make a donation and increase awareness and activism by forwarding the report card to others a practice known as “viral” marketing. 

Tie One on for Safety

MADD used Convio to more fully incorporate the Internet into its 2002 “Tie One On For Safety” program. The traditional offline campaign asks motorists to tie a red MADD ribbon or affix a window decal to their vehicles as a pledge to drive "safe and sober" and as a reminder to others to do the same.  MADD's objectives for the Internet component were to attract more supporters, increase constituent involvement and raise awareness.  The plan included sending an email to constituents with links to drive them to the organization's Web site where they could pledge to help keep the roads safe during the holidays and year-round.  They also could: make a donation; read safe party tips; send a message to others encouraging them to visit MADD's site for taking the pledge and participating in additional ways; and sign up for free to receive personalized updates via emails.

By driving traffic to its Web site with online and offline campaigns,
MADD used online registration to increase its email roster by 26 percent.

Results

After just two months of using Convio for two campaigns with heavy viral marketing components, MADD expanded its email file, increased constituent participation in advocacy and awareness campaigns, built stronger relationships with activists, identified new constituents and stimulated online donations — all with a centralized, easy-to-use software solution.

Increased support base

Using viral marketing, MADD improved response to two of its most important campaigns. The group reached potential new supporters by encouraging email recipients to forward its emails to family and friends. Over the course of the “Rating the States” campaign alone, MADD grew its email file by nearly 15 percent, with more than 1,400 new constituents registering in the first month. Five percent of those new constituents came from forwarded emails. The two campaigns combined grew MADD’s list of email addresses by 26 percent.

Personalized communication

Ten percent of respondents who received the initial ZIP code email solicitation from the “Rating the States” campaign visited MADD’s Web site and provided their geographic information — enabling MADD to provide them with relevant information.  The result: unique open and click-through rates were 135 percent higher for the personalized emails — where recipients received state-specific information — compared to the unique open and click-through rates of emails sent to those people who did not provide state data and received the national version.

Increased action

By incorporating Convio into its plans and activities, MADD prompted supporters and new constituents to actively participate in two of its most important programs.  The Convio-powered  “Rating the States” campaign got supporters to send 801 email advocacy messages to governors.  Convio also helped MADD attract 1,349 new pledge takers for  “Tie One on for Safety.”