As Web manager at EMILY's List, Barbara Perell was facing a big problem. People were mailing in checks. Very nice, thank you very much -- but just not quick enough. As a
political action group supporting pro-choice, Democrat women, EMILY's List ("Early Money Is Like Yeast") needs to keep the cash flowing in the first stages of a political
campaign. Of course, the fastest way to get money is via the Web, yet in early 2002 the group's site (http://www.emilyslist.org) was not performing well. The links were tough to navigate and not enough people were using the site to make
their donations.
Perell turned to Mindshare Internet Campaigns, a Washington, D.C.-based agency that specializes in online PR. When Perell started out by talking about the functionality of the
site, CEO Dan Solomon knew EMILY's List was moving in the right direction. "That is the best reason for people to make a change," he says. "Not because they don't like the
aesthetics, but because they are not seeing the performance that they need to see."
Web performance comes in two flavors: There's the front end that visitors see, and the back end, or how it functions. Mindshare went to work on both aspects with the hope of
improving the site.
On the front end, overhauling the site from a fundraising point of view was almost too easy. Solomon's team focused on consistency of messaging. "Fundamentally, it is an
organization that has a very particular focus -- pro-choice women who are Democrats -- and that message just gets hammered over and over again. There is no ambiguity about what
the organization is about or what they are trying to do, which actually makes the job of developing an Internet present a good bit easier," Solomon says.
As for interactivity between visitors and the site, Solomon took the "give money now" button that had been buried several layers down, and moved it to the top of the front
page. "I wish there was some rocket science here, but there's not," he says. "It is about making things clear and up front, not complicating things with too many agendas or asking
people to make too many choices at the same time."
The front-end overhaul also included an effort to boost the EMILY brand through aesthetic choices. "The most important visual is the color scheme [a pumpkin orange and a rich
red]. The organization's brand is based upon that color. Its identity and branding was well-developed and so we wanted to continue that on the site," Solomon says. In addition,
the PR team created icons for identifying different aspects of the site - news, politics, etc. - and EMILY is now using these icons offline as pins, buttons and so forth. "That
means that we helped extend the brand of the organization in important ways."
It was the back-end work, however, that brought the greatest value to the project.
Prior to the overhaul, "it just wasn't very dynamic from the back end. It was convoluted and not user-friendly to maintain it and update it," Perell says. The PR team's biggest
effort was to integrate the online database into the group's regular donor database and member database. This means EMILY administrators have a clearer view of who is giving and
where they give. It also allows administrators to target their outreach more effectively and track the outcomes more precisely. "The payoff for doing that is huge," Solomon says.
"The depth of information can guide future communications and help with future targeting."
Largely as a result of these efforts, EMILY's List raised $1.4 million online in 2002, a 75% increase compared with 2001 and was able to convert many of its high-dollar donors
into online givers. The new site, combined with direct e-mail solicitations, has helped recruit a significant number of new users, too. Within six months, EMILY's List was able to
double its e-mail list, adding both members and non-members to the mix.
The improved usability of the site meant not just more money, but also more attention to the group's overall political message. In addition to raising funds, Perell says, "we
were also able to raise the profile of our organization by serving as a resource for political information."
A Little Goes A Long Way
In overhauling the Web site of political action group EMILY's List, Dan Solomon hit a snag. The front page needed some content, but the PAC was not really in the content
business, so filling those news and information slots was going to be a challenge. "Content is a hard thing for an organization like this, because they are so used to just raising
money for candidates and then giving the money away," Solomon says. His solution was to make a little go a long way. There's boilerplate information that fills the front page and
archived information is easily accessed. Last week's press release still resides in the front-page "news" column. "We designed the architecture of the site so that it felt robust,
without asking for more than what they were able to produce," Solomon explains. "It's not that much, but it looks like a lot."
Contacts: Barbara Perell, 202.326.1400, [email protected]; Dan Solomon, 202.654.0810, [email protected]