Boundless: Lean Research

tl;dr: Geben’s lean research project using social media advertising helped the nonprofit grow their audience and craft messaging that better resonates with the communities they serve.

the concept

For nearly forty years, Boundless, an Ohio nonprofit which offers temporary and long-term services, residential options, and family support resources, has provided individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and behavioral health challenges the freedom and opportunity to live their lives. 

As the Boundless leadership team prepared to launch a new website, they needed to discover what messaging was resonating with their current (and prospective audiences) -- by examining the audiences who spent time on the website, the messaging that was driving them there, and ad imagery that worked. 

In lieu of a more traditional focus group, Geben Communication was brought on to develop and execute a social media test plan, focused on paid advertising, that would find and define Boundless’ online audiences. 

In order to provide the insights Boundless was looking for, Geben needed to discover three main data points with the social media test that would provide Boundless with data-backed insights for future brand and campaign messaging. These also served as our objectives for this project:

• Which target audiences are the most engaged on the website?

• What those target audiences are clicking, reading, and searching on the website?

• What messages that drive the most engagement?

the execution

Facebook was chosen as the channel to complete the social test because it would not only help Boundless assess its engagement, but also test messaging effectiveness.  The channel’s extensive targeting parameters (i.e. demographics, behaviors, and interests) made it an ideal testing location. 

Working with Boundless to identify who they needed to target, Geben defined the target audience of the social test as all parents living within 54 unique Ohio zip codes who fit into one of the three categories: 

• Have interests in autism

• Have Interests In Behavioral Health

• Do not have interests in autism or behavioral health 

After determining competitors, the benefits of using Boundless’ services over other behavioral health centers, and setting up website tracking, Geben launched multiple A/B test campaigns within Facebook Ad Manager. The team analyzed how well brand messages within its Facebook ads engaged parents and caretakers. Then, we identified the patterns and similarities among images and copy of those ads that resonated most. 

Using A/B tests on ad copy Geben assessed the resonance of broader mission statement-like headlines and descriptions and also the various benefits that Boundless has over its competitors such as proximity and location, short wait lists, and its focus on “person-centered care.” 

Additional types of testing completed for the social test included:

• Mission statement: testing the new mission statement vs old messaging

• Images: faces vs non faces in both general awareness and autism-specific advertising

• Location: how often the location mattered, and what locations mattered the most

• Social Ad Headline: what benefits resonate most with users 

• CQL/CARF messaging: assessing the impact of adding CQL/CARF messaging vs. not on social media and website copy

the results

The results of the social test campaign helped Geben Communication identify which audiences were most engaged and what messaging best resonated with the parents and caretakers. 

Focusing on our objectives (which target audiences are the most engaged on the website, what those target audiences were clicking, reading, and searching on the website, what messaging received the most engagement) Geben developed a 30-page findings report with 10 recommendations and opportunities for improvement. Some of those findings that directly correlated to our objectives included:

• Audience: We found that broadly targeting parents, with no noted interests (vs. autism or behavioral health interests), resulted in higher ad engagement and clicks and better website visitor metrics.

• Messaging: advertising “short wait lists” drove more click throughs

Engagement: Image A/B tests showed the impact of using images with or without faces and also the results of incorporating images with a puzzle piece, an icon that people widely associate with autism.

Other recommendations included:

• Images: refresh brand imagery, and consider using more images with puzzle pieces that people symbolically link to autism. 

• Website: create a landing page specifically for those coming from social ads that utilizes CTAs that align with the goal of the campaign. 

• Mobile: Ensure new website is mobile-first, as 93% of those who clicked the ads were on a cell phone.