Presentation from ECF Europe 2019: https://europe.ecampaigningforum.com In this presentation, you can find out how the WeDialogue project recruited conservatives and libertarians for an online research project. This is a rare opportunity to learn some frank lessons from failure and see what methods and tactics worked in the end.

1. WH I SPERER
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REACHING THE
OTHER SIDE
HOW TO ENGAGE WITH THE ‘OPPOSITION’ SUCCESSFULLY

4. W H I S P E R E R
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THE BRIEF
Recruit 5,000 study participants for
Scholio in three weeks
(Participantis countedas recruitedwhen theyhave filledin the
enrolmentsurvey.)

5. GOT QUESTIONS?
Ask at any time.

6. W H I S P E R E R
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PLANNING
(WHAT WE THOUGHT MIGHT WORK)

7. W H I S P E R E R
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TARGET AUDIENCES AND MOTIVATIONS
• Students and researchers in e-democracy
• Motivated by financial incentives, improving democracy
• Marginalised communities
• Want to stop abuse of their community
• Subject “experts” – Trump supporters, petrolheads, Corybnistas
• Keen on discussing a topic they are evangelistic about
• Journalists
• Need better quality comments on their articles to generate new stories
• Campaigners and existing networks
• Motivated by a desire to build peace

8. W H I S P E R E R
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9. W H I S P E R E R
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10. W H I S P E R E R
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11. W H I S P E R E R
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12. W H I S P E R E R
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14. W H I S P E R E R
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THEN
PROBLEMS SURFACED IMMEDIATELY

23. Wrong message & voice
Wrong imagery & brand
Wrong tech
Wrong audience… maybe?

25. 4841 visits to the website
273 sign-ups
20 sign-ups per day
5% conversion rate
Way too slow!

26. W H I S P E R E R
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THE PIVOT
A NEW APPROACH NEEDED

27. W H I S P E R E R
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TARGET AUDIENCES AND MOTIVATIONS
• Students and researchers in e-democracy
• Motivated by financial incentives, improving democracy
• Marginalised communities
• Want to stop abuse of their community
• Subject “experts”; Trump supporters, petrolheads, Corbynistas
• Keen on discussing a topic they are evangelistic about
• Journalists
• Need better quality comments on their articles to generate new stories
• Campaigners and existing networks
• Motivated by a desire to build peace

31. 50 sign ups a day
11% conversion rate
Still not enough

35. 100 sign ups a day
16% - 41% conversion rate
WOOT
l

36. W H I S P E R E R
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WHAT I LEARNED
• Don’tpanic.Trust the process.
• You are probablywrong aboutat leastone thing.
• If your techdoesn’tallowyou to split test,track and rework,
bin it and start over.
• Put on bodyarmour, read the comments,and addressthe beliefthat
liesbehindthe insultsand trolling.
• Facebookadvertisinginterfaceis horriblebut powerful;grit your teeth
and keep going.

37. W H I S P E R E R
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WHAT I CONFIRMED:
• Test audience,imagery, message and motivation as
much as possible before you spend lots of time and
money on building widgets.
• Don’t use a carousel to give different messages to
differentaudiences.
• Or ever use a carousel. Just don’t.

38. W H I S P E R E R
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DO THIS FOR YOUR CAUSE…
• ‘Find your next generation of super-activists’ program: we go
through this method to discoverwhat messaging works for the
audience you want to reach
• 3 spots available in February – April 2020
• Come up and say hi if you are interested