The document describes a campaign to recruit 5,000 participants for Scholio within three weeks that initially failed to meet its goals. It outlines various target audiences that were planned to engage but problems surfaced. The campaign pivoted to test different messages, imagery and motivations through Facebook ads. This improved conversion rates from 5% to over 10% but was still too slow. Further testing of audiences, messages and motivations increased conversion rates to over 40% and recruitment goals were met. Lessons learned include questioning plans and stakeholders, using split testing capabilities, and working with experienced Facebook ad specialists.

1. WHISPERER
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GETTING PUNCHED
IN THE FACE
HOW TO SURVIVE WHEN A CAMPAIGN FAILS FROM THE START

4. W H I S P E R E R
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THE BRIEF
Recruit 5,000 study participants for
Scholio in three weeks
(Participant is counted as recruited when they have filled in the
enrolment survey.)

5. GOT QUESTIONS?
Ask at any time.

6. W H I S P E R E R
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PLANNING
(WHAT WE THOUGHT MIGHT WORK)

7. W H I S P E R E R
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TARGET AUDIENCES AND MOTIVATIONS
• Students and researchers in e-democracy
• Motivated by financial incentives, improving democracy
• Marginalised communities
• Want to stop abuse of their community
• Subject “experts”
• Keen on discussing a topic they are evangelistic about
• Journalists
• Need better quality comments on their articles to generate new stories
• Campaigners and existing networks
• Motivated by a desire to build peace

8. W H I S P E R E R
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9. W H I S P E R E R
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10. W H I S P E R E R
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11. W H I S P E R E R
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12. W H I S P E R E R
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14. W H I S P E R E R
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THEN
TWO PROBLEMS SURFACED IMMEDIATELY

15. W H I S P E R E R
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TO RECAP
• The Hemingway Editor will train you to write good copy;
• It won’t check for supporter-focussed copy;
• It doesn’t check for SUCCESS criteria;
• Use the cheat sheet alongside it until you write like this
without even thinking.

16. W H I S P E R E R
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AND SO…
THE ONLY OPTION WE HAD WAS TO GET IN THE RING

25. Wrong message & voice
Wrong imagery & brand
Wrong tech
Wrong audience… maybe?

27. 4841 visits to the website
273 sign-ups
20 sign-ups per day
5% conversion rate
Way too slow!

28. Facebook ad
Completed
enrolment form

29. W H I S P E R E R
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THE PIVOT
A NEW APPROACH NEEDED

30. W H I S P E R E R
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TARGET AUDIENCES AND MOTIVATIONS
• Students and researchers in e-democracy
• Motivated by financial incentives, improving democracy
• Marginalised communities
• Want to stop abuse of their community
• Subject “experts”
• Keen on discussing a topic they are evangelistic about
• Journalists
• Need better quality comments on their articles to generate new stories
• Campaigners and existing networks
• Motivated by a desire to build peace

34. 50 sign ups a day
11% conversion rate
Still not enough

38. 100 sign ups a day
16% - 41% conversion rate
WOOT
l

39. W H I S P E R E R
donor:D
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WHAT I LEARNED
• Don’t panic. Trust the process.
• You are probably wrong about at least one thing.
• If your tech doesn’t allow you to split test, track and rework,
bin it and start over.
• Facebook advertising interface is horrible. Work with Dawn from
Morello Marketing because she knows it inside out.
• Question roles, responsibilities, key stakeholders.

40. W H I S P E R E R
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WHAT I CONFIRMED:
• Test audience, imagery, message and motivation as
much as possible before you spend lots of time and
money on building widgets.
• Don’t use a carousel to give different messages to
different audiences.
• Or ever use a carousel. Just don’t.

41. WHISPERER
donor:D
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TRY THIS PROCESS FOR YOURSELF
• Want to try and recruit a new audience?
• Put your email address on a post-it
• Or tweet @donor_whisperer