Swedish Red Cross simplified online work and increased conversion
An online Red Cross, fit for a new generation
Calling the Red Cross digital platform a 'website' is a serious understatement. Despite a limited budget, the Red Cross took a holistic approach and created a multi-site online platform. The following were built in one and the same project: an external web; an intranet; a website for face-to-face fundraisers; an editing interface for local volunteers with limited online skills; and, last but not least, a modern e-commerce solution for fundraising.
Over time, the Red Cross had acquired a ragtag of websites for different purposes and target groups. Managing all these technical solutions was both difficult and expensive, quite apart from the underwhelming visitor experience. So the project "An Online Red Cross" was launched in order to create a platform-wide and modern solution, with a number of underlying integrations. It was a multi-year project dedicated to making the most of digitalization opportunities from the perspective of visitors and users.
The project started with an effect map to ensure that the different needs of all stakeholders would be accommodated in the solution. The key stakeholders were:
- People wishing to donate money—private individuals or businesses
- People wishing to become volunteers
- People wishing for assistance
- People wishing to locate Red Cross thrift stores
- People involved in the Red Cross
- People recruiting monthly donors face-to-face
- People volunteering to work with local communication.
Improved communication, reduced complexity and increased fundraising via digital channels
Requirements from the various stakeholders were collected and used as a basis for the solution, alongside clear prioritization from the steering group. Target groups who access the Red Cross websites are individual online visitors who sometimes go from one status to another—e.g. from donor to volunteer.
Everything being built also had to be 'mobile first', where the experience not only needed to be adapted for mobile visitors, but also adapted to work as effective tools for face-to-face recruiters and local online editors. Given the many different target groups, the transparency requirements, and the hundreds of active editors, the digital channels needed to be able to manage a high level of complexity, while the interface and user experience were of paramount importance. Add to this the people seeking assistance from the Red Cross, for example, to find missing family members or get support in a national crisis—which also calls for simplicity in a complex world.
The outcome was an integrated digital platform built on Optimizely, where a mobile recruitment platform simplified the work of face-to-face recruiters. A completely new external website that is better equipped to provide aid seekers with the support they need, at the same time as it channels involved visitors to sign up as either volunteers or donors. A modern e-commerce solution was built which improved digital fundraising efforts, and an open intranet designed to help volunteers, elected representatives, members and other people nationwide get more involved with the Red Cross. In addition, 280 local websites are integrated with our CRM system and for which the Red Cross has built a user-friendly interface for volunteer local editors.
Now that the project has been completed, the development of the websites will continue based on analysis and data. The Red Cross is already seeing that the website is delivering excellent results, which is confirmed by our data and visitor surveys carried out by the Red Cross.
The platform for face-to-face recruiters was launched in January 2019. The external website went live in July 2019, the internal website in December 2019, and the local websites in December 2020. The solution includes as many as 280 local websites that are integrated with our CRM system and for which the Red Cross has built a user-friendly interface for volunteer local editors.