How to evaluate your campaign

Imagine that your team just finished building and launching a campaign. You identified your SMARTIE goal(s), audience priorities, channels to use, created a timeline for your activities, and set up a MOCHA or DACI chart for team responsibilities.

You excitedly check to see if you achieved your goal and… you don’t know because you didn’t have any tracking to measure success! Perhaps you weren’t tracking program participation regularly or at an individual level. Maybe your giving program wasn’t set up for historical tracking of donor gifts (plenty of nonprofits struggle with this, and it reminds us that historical tracking should be an integral part of donor communications plans — just like thanking donors!).

Don’t let this happen to you!

Why campaign evaluation matters

Evaluation is critical to understanding how effective a campaign is, and whether it should be replicated or changed in the future. And, in keeping with the running metaphor in part one of this series, if a campaign is a sprint, evaluation is your pacing and the cool-down stretch. Evaluating the right metrics can give you the insights to discover where your audience is coming from, how they’re engaging with you, what’s working and what is not, and provide insights to incorporate into future activities.

Numbers and feedback speak volumes

The metrics you can track are numerous and varied. Depending on what kind of campaign you’re running, you will likely use a mix of quantitative (hard numbers and data tied to actions and behaviors) and qualitative (anecdotal, and often focusing on tone or sentiment) measurements from multiple sources to paint a clearer picture of success. Depending on your goal(s), you will likely measure engagement, fundraising, or growth in a program, event, or email list.

Examples of quantitative metrics include:

• Engagement
  • Email opens
  • Email or webpage click-through rate
  • Likes, comments, or shares on social media
  • Website pages visited or time spent on the page
  • Other actions taken (e.g. advocacy pledge signed)
• Fundraising
  • Total amount raised
  • Average gift amount
  • Year-over-year donor retention rate
  • New donors
• Growth or list-building
  • New email subscribers
  • Email unsubscribe rate
  • Event RSVPs
  • Total participants signed up for a particular program or overall year-over-year
  • Percentage of RSVPs who attended an event, program, or training

…but don’t overlook context!

While the hard numbers are what most nonprofits use as a baseline to determine success, qualitative data should not be overlooked! This may come in the form of verbal or written feedback from your supporters and staff — for example, those lovely replies you received from donors, staff, or community who loved your last campaign’s design or call to action — or even, media coverage — can be incorporated into your campaign analysis. Even the success of achieving your campaign goal — a certain dollar amount raised, getting legislation passed for advocacy campaigns, reaching new communities for outreach, or changing behaviors/attitudes — can be included as a qualitative metric of overall success.

Qualitative data can also sometimes be measured numerically (think total pieces of positive feedback or total potential readership for a piece of media coverage), but this type of measurement’s value will typically serve you better by providing context and enhancing your campaign analysis with feedback from real people.

Examples of qualitative metrics include:

• Feedback
  • Anecdotal pieces of feedback from participants, donors, and event attendees
  • Insights from staff or community members
• Media coverage
  • Positive or neutral coverage
  • One-sentence mention vs feature
  • Outlet tier or type
• Internal team efficiency
  • Staff effort spent in preparing the campaign materials
  • Process bottlenecks that could be improved
• Ease of use
  • Ease in process for signing up, donating, or completing another action

Tools to use and how often to track

Depending on what type of campaign you’re running and what measurements you choose to track throughout its lifespan, there are several tools you can use to make it easier to track your campaign’s efforts.

Examples of tools to help you track campaign metrics:

• Fundraising CRMs or donation platforms (e.g. Bonterra, Classy, EveryAction, ActBlue, Donately)
• Social media analytics/listening tools (e.g. Sprout Social, Buffer, Hootsuite, or built-in tools for social platforms, including Meta, YouTube, TikTok, X)
• Website analytics (e.g. Google Analytics, WordPress, or other backend tools)
• Email analytics (e.g. Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Salsa Labs)
• Trackable short links (e.g. Bit.ly or TinyURL)
• Methods to track snail mail or pamphlets/flyers (e.g. QR code generators)

Don’t set it and forget it

While it can be tempting to set up your tracking and forget about it until the campaign is over, it’s important to check in regularly (e.g. weekly or bi-weekly) to ensure you’re able to identify any potential issues that may arise with your campaign. You might discover a low rate of donations compared to visitors on a particular donation page or perhaps an email performed especially well with high open and click-through rates. There might also be something new that emerged in your community, sector, or even the world, that is worth pausing to discuss how it impacts your approach and timeline.

Building in moments to review your campaign metrics throughout your campaign can help you make tweaks and improve your overall level of success. Following the conclusion of your campaign, you’ll also be better able to identify trends that can inform future success.

The Big Duck team is always thinking about how to make your next campaign successful. If you’re looking for a strategic partner to discuss, let’s talk!

And if you’d like to learn how to apply these insights to your year-end fundraising campaign, join us in this upcoming series.