Year-over-year digital marketing report

DIGITAL MARKETING YEAR-OVER-YEAR REPORT 2020/21 - 2021/22

To:

Anybody interested

From

Ronan Fitzgerald, Digital Strategy Manager

Date:

January 2022

Digital Marketing YOY review - 20/21 - 21/22 Ronan Fitzgerald January 18 2022

Contents

Page

1.0

Introduction

2

1.1

Methodology

2

1.2

Highlights

2

2.0

Income generated online: metrics

3

2.1

Income generated online: observations

4

2.2

Income generated online: recommendations

5

3.0

Website: metrics

6

3.1

Website: observations

7

3.2

Website: recommendations

7

4.0

Social media: metrics

8

4.1

Social media: observations

9

4.2

Social media: radical recommendation

9

4.3

Social media: less radical recommendation

9

5.0

Email marketing: metrics

10

5.1

Email marketing: observations

11

5.2

eNewsletter: observations

11

5.3

Email marketing: recommendations

11

6.0

Conclusion

12

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Digital Marketing YOY review - 20/21 - 21/22 Ronan Fitzgerald January 18 2022

1.0 Introduction On January 14, 2020 a filter applied to Google Analytics removed internal traffic from future website data.

This gives a more exact picture of website use for our target audience - patients and donors.

The pandemic started shortly after applying this filter. As a result, website visits by staff working from home started counting as external traffic. Despite this, it remains the most precise set of data. The number of staff members who would frequent the website on a daily basis is low.

With two years of data, it is apt to compare each year to see how The Floating Hospital's audience uses its digital channels. Any changes from year to year should be noted.

1.1 Methodology The digital strategy manager collated this report. Their role manages three digital channels: ● ● ●

Website Social media - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram Email marketing

In this report, analysis of each channel has three main parts.

Firstly, the report presents a dashboard of metrics for each channel, showing the year-over-year changes. Secondly, observations drawn from the metrics follow each dashboard. Thirdly, recommendations informed by the data follow the observations.

The data excludes the ad campaign that took place in 2020. No such campaign has taken place since, so it was excluded to present metrics in a comparable way.

Also, it is worth noting that digital metrics are not infallible. As an example, a user who visits the website from their phone and later visits from their desktop computer counts as two users.

1.2 Highlights ● ● ● ● ●

Increase in income generated online Increase in website users Increase in social media audience Increase in email marketing output Increase in open rates and click-through rates of marketing emails

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Digital Marketing YOY review - 20/21 - 21/22 Ronan Fitzgerald January 18 2022

2.0 Income generated online: metrics

Number of online donations

+43.1%

Value of online donations ($)

+18.1%

Number of sales from website store

+143%

Value of sales from website store ($)

+112%

Average value of an online donation ($)

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-17.9%

Digital Marketing YOY review - 20/21 - 21/22 Ronan Fitzgerald January 18 2022

2.1 Income generated online: observations Donations ●

Donations refers to donations made on The Floating Hospital website, and to the Walk for Families event hosted on Salsa Engage.

●

The number of online donations increased; the average online donation amount decreased

●

The most significant difference in fundraising activity in the 2021/22 year was the introduction of the Walk for Families event ○ While with other campaigns, The Floating Hospital appeals to prospective donors directly, the Walk for Families relied on participants appealing to their network ○ Therefore, efforts reached people outside of usual Floating Hospital communications ○ The walk raised $11,381.38 in online donations ■ Of the increase in online donations, the Walk accounted for 93.6% of them ■ Without the funds raised by the walk, the percentage increase in online donations would only have been 1.1%

●

In November 2021, The Floating Hospital created its first personalized honor giving page ○ By request, a person can have a donation page mentioning an honoree by name ○ The page features a donation form that allows for honor donations only ○ It's a small piece of effort on our part in the context of somebody feeling passionately enough about our cause to request such a thing ○ The function is applicable to deaths, birthdays, weddings, or bar/bat mitzvahs ○ As there is only one example of this, measurements have not been provided in this report; measurements should be provided in the January 2023 year-over-year report, with metrics added to the January 2024 report

Sales ● ● ● ●

The store now sits as part of The Floating Hospital’s website Previously, it linked to an external, third-party site This means that visitors aren’t directed away from our website, and branding is consistent throughout the buying experience The store has more products - previously, it only had the tote bag

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Digital Marketing YOY review - 20/21 - 21/22 Ronan Fitzgerald January 18 2022

2.2 Income generated online: recommendations Donations ●

●

Set goals for fundraising campaigns - an objective gives something specific to aim for, something to celebrate when it’s met, and something specific to aim for the next time the campaign is run - and communicate that goal as part of campaign communications More concise copy in fundraising communications

Sales ● ●

Diversify product offerings: there appears to be some demand for branded products, particularly from staff Limited edition or themed items: e.g The Floating Hospital branded Christmas tree baubles

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Digital Marketing YOY review - 20/21 - 21/22 Ronan Fitzgerald January 18 2022

3. Website: metrics

Number of users

+18.8%

Bounce rate (%)

+24.5%

Mobile site use (%)

-0.5%

This is the total number of users who visited the website

Percentage of visitors who navigate directly away from the site after landing

Percentage of visitors viewing the website on a mobile device

User gender (%)

User age (%)

Most visited pages (%)

Female

+1.2%

Male

-1.7%

-6.5%

+11%

+24.7%

+4.5%

-14.2%

-7.4%

-32.2%

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-34.1%

Mobile Vs Desktop bounce rate (%) Mobile

+20.2%

Desktop

+29.1%

Top website traffic acquisition sources (%)

-21.3%

-7.4%

+38.2%

-12.3%

Digital Marketing YOY review - 20/21 - 21/22 Ronan Fitzgerald January 18 2022

3.1 Website: observations ●

The demographics data, combined with the most visited page and top traffic source indicates that young moms Googling health services for their kids are by far our most popular website users

●

Organic search is by far the most popular way visitors come to the website; therefore, it is apt to look at the search terms that bring them there ○ There is a limit of one year on the data available for this ○ Approximately 1000 different search terms brought visitors to the website ○ Looking at the top 50 queries that brought visitors, the vast majority specifically include the term “floating hospital” ○ This means that people are looking specifically for us ○ The exceptions are covid testing and our phone number; this is likely from patients Googling either a missed call, or after ignoring a call from a number they don’t recognize

●

High bounce rates, especially on mobile, and especially on blog posts ○ Bounce rates are a ranking factor in SEO ○ High bounce rates tells Google that the viewer has clicked away immediately because they didn't find anything helpful or informative on the web page, therefore decreasing its ranking power ○ Mobile-friendliness is also an SEO ranking factor; so a higher bounce rate on mobile is problematic ○ Guides for best practice in online writing show how to present copy that website visitors will engage with, regardless of whether they’re using a desktop or mobile device therefore reducing bounce rates ○ It's visually evident to experienced digital marketers, and is supported by real-time content analysis tools, and, after publication and measurement, by the high bounce-rates, that The Floating Hospital's website does not follow best practice in online writing

3.2 Website: recommendations ●

Look to content/affiliate marketing websites for inspiration, rather than journalism; ○ These websites have the sole purpose of inspiring the reader to make a financial transaction so commission is earned ○ The reader can quickly comprehend the content ○ Therefore it's easier for them to make an informed decision to part with money

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Digital Marketing YOY review - 20/21 - 21/22 Ronan Fitzgerald January 18 2022

4. Social media: metrics

Facebook followers

+2.2%

Percentage of website traffic acquired through social media channels (%)

-21.2%

Twitter followers

-1.3%

Instagram followers

8

+26.3%

LinkedIn followers

+41.6%

Digital Marketing YOY review - 20/21 - 21/22 Ronan Fitzgerald January 18 2022

4.1 Social media: observations ●

● ● ● ●

● ● ●

There were approximately 168 posts made on each of The Floating Hospital’s social media accounts in the most recent year ○ Data is not available for the previous year for comparison Posts are largely a rotation covering services, the pharmacy, the online store, fundraising, and health education; this is dry and repetitive Deviations from the previous point include events, fundraising campaigns, thank yous, and media stories about our work Posts are made to Google My Business profiles for the LIC, Queensbridge, and Astoria clinics, as well as the pharmacy After NY, most of the people who like our Facebook page are located in Mexico, suggesting that at some point in the past, likes/followers were bought ○ As these people/bots don't have any connection to our work, they don't engage with our content ○ Therefore, Facebook's algorithm interprets our posts as not helpful or informative ○ Therefore, our posts organically appear to a minimal number of people The small number of people who engage with our social media posts are recognized as staff, former staff, and family members of staff Fundraising posts of any kind barely attract any engagement, on any platform Photographs of staff or patients - regardless of quality - achieve the best engagement

4.2 Social media: radical recommendation Abandon social media ●

● ● ●

Currently, its most productive use is an occasional customer service tool; patients will send a message looking for assistance because they couldn't get through to the clinic on the phone It doesn't spread the message of our work and doesn't help fundraising A small number of brands have abandoned social media, as it is increasingly recognized as an addictive and toxic outlet There is opportunity for The Floating Hospital to be leaders in healthcare by recognizing the harmful nature of social media, and disassociating from it in the same vein of disassociation from alcohol and tobacco use

4.3 Social media: less radical recommendation Increase original content shared on social media ●

● ●

The original intent of the blog was to have a consistent churn of original content; for sharing on social media, as well as to act as newsletter content, and support website SEO However, as noted elsewhere in this report, blog posts became journalistic pieces; these are slow to produce It was intended that blog posts would be lighter and more frequent - two to three posts per week - ranging from thought pieces to commentary on current news

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Digital Marketing YOY review - 20/21 - 21/22 Ronan Fitzgerald January 18 2022

5. Email marketing: metrics

Number of emails sent

+2.1%

Open rate (%) with benchmark line (25.52%)

+17.06%

Click-through rate (%) with benchmark line (2.2%)

+25.4%

Number of eNewsletters sent

+36.4%

eNewsletter blog posts mobile Vs desktop bounce rates (%) eNewsletter open rate (%) with benchmark line (25.2%)

+8.5%

eNewsletter click-through rate (%) with benchmark line (2.2%)

+0.8%

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Mobile

+19.9%

Desktop

+29.6%

Click throughs from staff and board members (%)

+41.1%

Digital Marketing YOY review - 20/21 - 21/22 Ronan Fitzgerald January 18 2022

5.1 Email marketing: observations ●

Email marketing output overall has increased

●

The overall open rate has gone from below to above the benchmark for nonprofits

●

There were two likely influences on this improvement ○ Excluding those who never opened an email from us; it meant more qualitative recipients; the results reflect that -the results reflect that - the September newsletter applied the filter for the first time, and it was the first time that the open rate surpassed the benchmark

○

Ensuring the call-to-action (CTA) was linked in a button, standing out from the copy, rather than hyperlinking it as part of the copy; a higher click-through rate (CTR) on emails with CTA buttons was confirmed through A/B testing.

5.2 eNewsletter: observations The newsletter is sent as an email, but links to content on the website. So, the effectiveness of both elements requires separate analysis.

From the email element in the past year: ● ●

Open rate is bad but improving - an average of 20.81% Click-through rate is great - an average of 8.52%

From the website element, the most notable statistics are: ● ●

Average bounce rate of 41.6% for desktop, which is good Average bounce rate of 79.5% for mobile, which is very bad

5.3 Email marketing: recommendations Continue observing data to ensure growth of email marketing as an effective channel.

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Digital Marketing YOY review - 20/21 - 21/22 Ronan Fitzgerald January 18 2022

6.0 Conclusion ● ●

● ● ●

Develop website content in line with best practice guides, with a focus on content marketing rather than journalism Consider digital marketing channels more holistically e.g. do not consider a blog post developed for linking to the newsletter as just a newsletter article - consider it in terms of SEO friendliness, and as a social media post Continue to measure appropriate metrics Act on the information provided by the metrics Eliminate or revise tactics that show no return or poor audience engagement

This report appears to be the first record of any measurement of marketing activities.

It is essential that measurement of these metrics is continued, to ensure that the recommendations, when implemented, will enhance engagement with The Floating Hospital’s digital channels, leading to further online donations.

Further, from time limits found in data in preparing this report, next year’s year-over-year report should include metrics for ● ●

Search queries and wider SEO Number of social media posts published

Implementing the recommendations outlined throughout the report can begin immediately. They are based on the knowledge and experience of the digital strategy manager, supported by research-led best practices, and reflect the insight and direction the digital strategy manager was hired to bring to The Floating Hospital’s digital marketing efforts.

Additional comments It is worth noting the contribution of the digital strategy manager to The Floating Hospital beyond the tactical digital marketing remit measured above.

Halved website development costs by engaging a local development agency through their network

Identified and eliminated a recurring cost for a feature on a platform that was not managed, therefore was not showing any return

Acts as customer service representative when replying to queries received via digital channels

Successfully applied for the Google Ads grant, which allows $10,000 worth of search engine advertising per month

Connected with groups offering PPE during pandemic, and liaised with clinic staff for its delivery

Sourced lunches for staff during pandemic, and liaised with clinic staff for its delivery

Attended community events on behalf of The Floating Hospital shooting responses, a press conference, a funeral, and a party

Successfully placed multiple stories in local media and liaises with them for advertising opportunities

In an effort to support The Floating Hospital during the pandemic, voluntarily postponed the salary review due to take place six months after commencing employment

It should also be noted that the successes outlined in this report are part of a team effort.

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