2017 Gold Best customer acquisition campaign

Medialab Group

Client: National Trust

Recruit to Retain

Campaign overview

For nearly two decades, the National Trust had offered big discounts to encourage new members to join.

New, emotive stories had to be told to create valued memberships that were going to last.

Strategy

Members help make the National Trust what it is, with money raised from membership making up 53% of the brand’s total supporter income.

But there was a problem. Too many new members weren't renewing, making recruitment spend less efficient than it could be.

The decision was made to shift focus to put value, not price cuts, at the heart of the acquisition strategy.

Medialab Group employed conjoint analysis to explore incentive options in place of a discount, like offering new members a £15 National Trust gift card, or a pair of binoculars. This analysis showed that incentives matter, but it was clear the value of these incentives mattered less than previously thought.

The removal of discounts followed a robust testing period, assessing the impact of dropping discounts across all acquisition channels for short periods. Then, via a phased approach, the team stopped discounts across digital completely.

Creativity

Creative and media planning was closely aligned to a nature-focused brand TV ad, to help build an emotional connection to the National Trust.

Medialab Group also implemented the use of more online channels, allowing for dynamic testing of creative concepts and approaches, which supported the creative testing carried out via the offline channels.

A lighter format door drop pack was developed to reduce acquisition, supporting National Trust's environmental objectives.

Two-stage prospecting activity, where people are incentivised to provide their email address and to opt-in to future communications in return for National Trust content, was also tested with an aim of attracting prospects who can be taken on a journey towards and into membership.

The website was optimised with increased emphasis on the 'Join Online' journey promoting direct debit sign ups, thus aiding retention and also opening up membership to wider socio-economic groups.

Results

For Awards judges’ eyes only

Team

Will Davis (Group Planning Director) Medialab Group - Felicity Dickson (Business Director) Medialab Group - Owen Taylor (Business Director) Medialab Group - James Taylor (Senior Account Director) Medialab Group - Jenny Browne (Membership Acquisition Programme Lead) National Trust - Natalie King (Senior Marketing Campaign Executive) National Trust - Ian Oxley (Head of Membership) Recruitment National Trust - Mike Evermy (Head of Direct Membership Recruitment) National Trust - Melanie Nursaw (Membership Retention Manager) National Trust

Contributors

Mindshare Brand (Media Agency and Conjoint Analysis)