re:act web app encourages people to give their time, money and support to good causes

re:act recommends relevant opportunities for people to give their time, money or support to good causes.

Image by OneWorld

What is it?
OneWorld's 're:act' technology delivers relevant 'calls to action' to people as they browse the internet. For example, as you're reading the BBC gardening page, re:act might recommend you an opportunity to volunteer with your local gardening club.

Why do that?
Research from the commercial sector shows that people spend 25% more time fixating on ads that are personally relevant to them and that contextually relevant ads elicit an emotional response almost 100% higher than traditional ads. A recent study using data from 12 major online advertising networks revealed that targeted ads secure an average of 2.68 times more revenue per ad than non-targeted equivalents. They are more than twice as effective at converting users into buyers (6.8% conversion vs. 2.8%). By displaying calls to action alongside relevant content on users’ favourite websites, re:act aims to substantially increase support of good causes.

How does it work?
The technology works by using semantic analysis software to ascertain the subject matter of web pages. For each web page visited by a re:act app user, the key subjects are cross-checked against a database of actions to see if there is a match. When a call to action precisely matches the subject of a web page, re:act recommends it to the user immediately.

What's the impact?
The app records analytics data on a number of elements, including the actions that are recommended and users’ reaction to these recommendations. During a two month test conducted with over 120 users in 2012, re:act analysed more than 105,000 urls and made 751 recommendations of giving opportunities. 289 recommendations were clicked through, representing a click-through rate (CTR) of 38%. By way of comparison non-profit emails deliver an average CTR of 3.5%, whilst a recent study of activity on non-profit Facebook pages found an average ‘daily action rate’ of 0.25%.

73% of users reported that re:act had led them to take action. When we asked these users for details they provided examples including volunteering with the Samaritans, entering fundraiser running events, and signing online petitions. 93% of users viewed re:act positively, saying that it made good, very good or excellent recommendations. (Contrast this with terms such as ‘junk’ and ‘spam’, commonly associated with alternative e-marketing tools). 90% of users would recommend re:act to people like themselves, hinting at significant demand for a service of this kind.

What next
OneWorld is working with leading online campaigning, volunteering and giving organisations to help them reach their users with relevant calls to action. With the support of Nesta the technology will be piloted at scale with do-it.org.uk in early 2014.

Contact: ken.kitson@oneworld.org

Download: slide-deck describing the re:act technology