Blog

Revive Our Hearts and Journity: Personalization Leads to Success

Dec 10, 2017 | Customer Success

Overview

Personalization brings intentionality online.

Every​ ​visitor​ ​to​ ​your​ ​website​ ​is​ ​different.​ ​One​ ​might​ ​be​ ​there​ ​for​ ​the​ ​first​ ​time. Another​ ​is​ ​a​ ​regular.​ ​One​ ​wants​ ​to​ ​read​ ​your​ ​blog.​ ​Another​ ​wants​ ​to​ ​shop​ ​your online​ ​store.​ ​One​ ​is​ ​in​ ​Dallas.​ ​Another​ ​is​ ​in​ ​Detroit.​ ​How​ ​can​ ​you​ ​connect​ ​with​ ​each visitor​ ​effectively?

That’s​ ​just​ ​what​ ​Bryan​ ​VanHaitsma,​ ​digital​ ​media​ ​director​ ​at​ ​Revive​ ​Our​ ​Hearts,​ ​had been​ ​wondering.


Organization:

Revive​ ​Our​ ​Hearts,​ ​Niles,​ ​Michigan

Situation:

Revive​ ​Our​ ​Hearts​ ​didn’t​ ​have​ ​the​ ​capability​ ​to​ ​create​ ​targeted​ ​messages​ ​for​ ​the various​ ​audiences​ ​visiting​ ​its​ ​website​ ​every​ ​day.

Solution:

Use​ ​Journity​ ​to​ ​plan​ ​and​ ​create​ ​personalized​ ​messages​ ​to​ ​encourage​ ​different website​ ​visitors​ ​to​ ​take​ ​specific​ ​actions.

Results:

  • Targeted​ ​communications​ ​for​ ​website​ ​visitors
  • ​Increased​ ​monthly​ ​partner​ ​sign​ ​up​ ​rate​ ​by​ ​48%
  • Raised​ ​$45,000+​ ​during​ ​a​ ​one-month​ ​fundraising​ ​campaign

 

The Inside Scoop

Every visitor to your website is different. One might be there for the first time.

Another is a regular. One wants to read your blog. Another wants to shop your online store. One is in Dallas. Another is in Detroit. How can you connect with each visitor effectively?

That’s just what Bryan VanHaitsma, digital media director at Revive Our Hearts, had been wondering. VanHaitsma manages digital ministry for Revive Our Hearts. The Niles, Michigan-based non-profit is a women’s ministry focused on biblical teaching and heart revival. The organization produces online content, books, conferences, and two daily nationally syndicated radio programs. VanHaitsma oversees the website, emails, social media, and works with other Revive Our Hearts managers to spread the ministry’s message to women around the U.S. and to an expanding Spanish-speaking audience worldwide.

VanHaitsma was using traditional methods to reach his digital audience. “We used a ‘broadcast’ approach because we weren’t able to segment particular demographics,” he says. That meant the same message for all visitors, no ability to test, no segmentation — and a lot of guesswork.

That changed when Revive Our Hearts signed on with Journity, a personalization platform that helps nonprofits connect one-on-one with their digital audiences.

“Journity helps us think more holistically about our campaigns and calls to action. It’s brought new levels of intentionality to what we’re doing,” says VanHaitsma.

He likens Journity to a “tour guide” for website visitors. “Different audiences have different needs. Journity captures audiences from particular sources or content areas and directs them properly,” he explains. Using Journity, VanHaitsma has created more than 65 campaigns – carefully timed, personalized messages on the website delivered in real time — ranging from fundraising appeals to local event promotions.

Journity makes it easy to build campaigns by consolidating the tools digital marketing professionals need in one convenient dashboard including: individual profile data on site visitors, audience segmentation information, design capabilities to create branded messages, and tools to launch A/B tests. With Journity’s intuitive platform, creating a customized campaign takes just 20 minutes.

“Now we have insight and can quickly put calls to action together so that the audience can act on it,” explains VanHaitsma. “With Journity, we’re able to customize messages so we can say one thing to one group, and say something else to a different group.”

During one successful campaign, the ministry used Journity to reach its annual contribution goal. VanHaitsma used the platform to develop different messaging approaches starting with softer “asks” for support and moving to specific requests as the non-profit neared its month-end fundraising deadline. Journity give him the power to:

  • segment audiences by level of engagement
  • create appropriate messages for each segment
  • run A/B tests to develop the most effective calls to action
  • vary the frequency of when visitors would see messages

By month-end, Revive Our Hearts had raised more than $45,000 and captured 263 donations using Journity.

“As far as awareness and click through numbers on the dashboard, I was very pleased,” says VanHaitsma. “Journity is a reliable platform that helps me get the right calls to action in front of the right folks.”

VanHaitsma has also used Journity to:

  • select highly engaged visitors and invite them to become ministry partners
  • geotarget website visitors and announce events in their area
  • direct site visitors to a sale in the online store
  • promote a 30-day challenge to deepen engagement

VanHaitsma says that every step of the way, the Journity team has worked closely

with him to provide training, answer questions, and brainstorm campaign ideas.

“It’s very collaborative. When I work with Journity, it doesn’t feel like another team. It feels like all one team – my team.”