Company: Cleveland Zoological Society
Timeframe: Early 2003 - Mid-2004
Budget: $50,000
Prior to 2003, the Cleveland Zoological Society was represented online through a subsidiary page of the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo's Web site. Members and donors
to the Cleveland Zoological Society had a difficult time donating online, as the e-commerce pages were buried within the Zoo's site (which, truth be told, was not the easiest to
navigate).
To solve this problem, the Zoo Society underwent a two-phase approach. First, a new independent site (ClevelandZooSociety.org) was launched. Second, an online e-renewal
system was set up for current members, and a special "Members Only" area was also developed. The resulting endeavor not only strengthened the organization's brand recognition, it
also generated significant increases for the Zoo Society's e-commerce revenues. This one-two punch helped to earn the group a 2005 PR News Platinum PR Award.
Elizabeth Fowler, executive director, spoke with PR News on the Society's online endeavors and its sterling results.
Q: How was it that the Cleveland Zoo Society did not have its own Web representation outside of the Metroparks Zoo site prior to 2003?
ELIZABETH FOWLER: Prior to 2003, the Zoo Society was represented on a few sub-pages of the Zoo site because our focus had been on revamping and improving all of our
other marketing communications (newsletters, magazines, brochures, etc.). By 2003, we were ready to take on the Web site. It represented the last frontier for us - a great
opportunity to upgrade our look while also increasing donations and reducing mailing costs.
We had been using an off-the-shelf system for online donations: "ShopSite" was cheap to purchase, required minimal HR / IT support, and so was within our reach. Needless to
say, the pre-2003 site did not reflect our brand identity or our commitment to great customer service. It did reflect the belief that it was better to have a presence online,
however minimal, than to have nothing. We hoped we would be able to grow the site and make substantive improvements after first establishing an online track record. (The track
record is important for securing Board buy-in).
Before embarking on the major site overhaul in 2003, we researched options and educated ourselves and the Board of Trustees about price points, ROI and best practices in e-
commerce. The Marketing Committee of the Board took on an important role in evaluating where we were with our old site - and working with staff to outline a vision of where we
wanted to go. Our challenges were clear: Could we find something more functional and attractive without having to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars? Could we demonstrate
with some confidence that the new site would pay for itself within 18 months?
Benchmarking was an eye-opener. Surprisingly, only a few other zoos and museums had sites we liked; many had sites that were poorly constructed and difficult to navigate. Big
national sites like Planned Parenthood were appealing but cost-prohibitive. Our criteria for success had seemed so simple - but were proving elusive: A simply navigated,
intuitive, user-friendly site that would enable donors to make multiple donations as part of a single transaction; a site that would be easy for staff to maintain; an attractive
overall "look and feel" in tune with our graphic identity; and a budget in line with what we could afford.
After lots of research we found the solution right in our backyard. We built our own site with two terrific partners - Nesnadny + Schwartz (for the graphic design) and
Intersoft Group (for the programming). Thanks to excellent planning, we were able to stay within our budget - and create a site that has outperformed all of our
expectations.
One of our goals with the new site was to create many seamless links between the two sites, so that a member or donor can easily toggle between the Zoo and Zoo Society sites
without getting lost or disconnected. As of this year, the search engines on both sites are programmed to crawl both ClevelandZooSociety.org and ClevelandZoo.com.
Q: How much input did your office have in offering ideas to Nesnadny + Schwartz for their graphics and templates? Were any ideas ultimately passed over for being
unworkable or perhaps too wild?
ELIZABETH FOWLER: There's almost nothing too wild for the Zoo Society. We love working with N+S because they truly understand our core businesses (membership and
fundraising) and our role as the nonprofit fundraising partner of the Zoo. The proposed site architecture and initial designs were so well thought-out that we made very few
changes, other than fine-tuning the donating process with the help of Intersoft Group, which did the custom programming for the e-commerce portion of our new site. We looked at a
lot of other Web sites and shared our research with N+S during the design phase, and had several conversations about likes and dislikes before N+S embarked on the project. The
only specific design direction we gave them was to make sure the pages would load quickly (not too many pictures and graphics); and their major design direction to us was to
create templates that our in-house design staff could update without degrading the overall site. In working with a talented firm like N+S, we typically just make sure they
understand our objectives and our budget; and then we get out of the way so that they can create the best solution and the best design. On the programming front, we brought in
Intersoft when we realized that HTML forms were not going to cut it for us - these can be pretty, but offer none of the functionality we were seeking. Like N+S, Intersoft took the
time to understand our business objectives, and their proposal was brilliant - and affordable.
Q: You began to promote the new site with traditional direct mail notices announcing a 10% online renewal discount. Isn't it a bit odd to use snail mail to promote an
online discount?
ELIZABETH FOWLER: E-blasts to members typically generate a response rate of six to 10%, sometimes more for time-sensitive special offers. As more members respond via e-
mail, we will gradually eliminate more and more paper from our renewal process. In fact, as more patrons realize the ease and convenience of donating online, we expect to shift
the majority of our renewal program to the Web. This may take a few years - but the shift is great for both reducing cost and conserving resources. As a conservation agency, we
are thrilled.
Q: Your Platinum PR Award submission cited your "Testing, testing and more testing" of the site and renewal system. What were some of the earlier kinks and bugs that were
eventually ironed out?
ELIZABETH FOWLER: We like to have 100% confidence that a system will work for our patrons and so we always do at least one pilot test on a select audience before doing
the full rollout. I don't recall any major kinks on any of these tests, but during the testing phase we've always found small ways to improve the flow, to simplify, and to make
sure the site accommodates all different kinds of users.
For example, some people think more linearly, some people change their minds. One nice thing about this site is that you can get where you want to go in a variety of ways.
Another is that you can easily edit your order, without having to re-keystroke data. The "review order" section was a major improvement we made during the early design phase of
this project, and I think it's one of the best features of the e-commerce site.
Q: What turned out to be the most popular part of the new Web site? (The e-cards are a lot of fun.)
ELIZABETH FOWLER: The e-cards are brand new this fall and are the brainchild of our eminently talented Webmaster and graphics person, Elizabeth Thibodeaux. The most
popular part of our site, measured by number of hits, is the "Join" section where people can choose their membership level and join or renew an existing membership. With the
"Members Only" section, we are seeing a significant uptick in traffic in that area. Much of the traffic is generated by e-blasts to members and donors letting them know about
opportunities to join, renew or give gifts, or to check out our upcoming fun events.
Q: Since the Net is a global communications vehicle, have you seen any significant input (either in commentary or contributions) from Web denizens beyond your local
metropolitan region?
ELIZABETH FOWLER: Just a handful. One of our more interesting in-kind donations came through from a company called MovinCool. The company donated an air
conditioner unit for our red panda display after searching for zoos located in places with hot summers. MovinCool is in California, and their regional distributor (Fire and
Ice) is in the Northeast Ohio. We have heard of other nonprofits reporting major gifts from out of state, so we wanted to be ready for this eventuality.
Q: Do you have any new features planned for the site in 2006?
ELIZABETH FOWLER: Yes, we want to freshen up the site, simplify some of the navigation links, and reduce the number of words per page. One of our strategic goals is to
raise awareness of the Zoo as a funding priority. We will showcase (and thank) some of our lead corporate and foundation supporters, and highlight how their donations make a
difference. We are launching a capital campaign for a major new exhibit (African elephants, hippos and more), and so we'll need to create space for fundraising and marketing
materials on the site. We will continue to seek creative ways to capture more email addresses (the e-cards are one example) and to replace even more paper-based mailings with e-
blasts whenever we can. We're looking at ringtones and wallpaper and other ways to invite repeat visitors.
In our wildest dreams, we hope other zoos will be interested in how they can replicate our success. In fact, Intersoft Group has developed a product that takes the best e-
commerce solutions from our site and makes them available to other zoos for a very modest price. This is an exciting potential avenue for other forward-thinking nonprofits, and
we hope others will benefit from not having to reinvent the wheel.
Contact: Elizabeth Fowler, 216.661.6500, [email protected].