That (a pitch) could be a good idea. Curious as to if you have any thoughts about the best format (e.g. PDF, forum post), and in which contexts I could present this generalized āEA organizations need better marketingā pitch.
Of course would deeply appreciate any referrals š. You can check out my website if you wish, and Iām always an email away melissasamworth@gmail.com
Iām a designer coming from the for-profit space, in which companies invest heavily in design and marketing. The role of designāparticularly skilled, quality designāhas grown in the last, say, decade, due to growing evidence in its ROI. For instance, for myself and friends of mine who specialize in web design, a websiteās conversion rate will jump 10%ā25% from a redesign (typically a more out-of-the-box or low-skill solution, redesigned to a customized and professional solution). Name any successful tech companyāStripe, Slack, Githubāthey have invested tens to even hundreds of thousands on their marketing website. Many others invest similar amounts in logos and branding.
The EA world has not picked up on this very important āsecretā of the for-profit world, and thereās no clear reason why. After all, EA organizations have just as much an incentive to inspire, persuade, and communicate to their audience as do for-profit companies. When I, for instance, look at an amazing for-profit company websites, I:
- Feel a sense of trustāthis organization has it together
- Understand quickly what the organization does, why itās important, and why they are amazing at itāIām more sold
- If the topic is inspirational, I feel inspired and called to action
- Leave with a more memorable impression of this organization
When I look at even the best EA websites, I donāt feel particularly inspired, nor do I quickly understand what the organization does and why itās important, nor do I leave with a memorable impression, and so on. And really, these should be the most inspiring websites in the world! Our bar should, if anything, be even higher than non-profitsāour work is as important as it gets, isnāt it? If I was a billionaire thinking of getting into Effective Altruism, for example, and taking the first step by looking at an organizationās (or a few organizationsā) website(s), I would definitely want to feel more inspired (plus other aforementioned things).
TLDR: I got into marketing and design ten years ago because I believe it is very important for an organizationās success (in whatever terms that means)! Iāve been pleased to see the for-profit world more and more learn of and integrate the power of design. I am a bit saddened that the EA worldāthe place where the most important things are happeningāhavenāt yet learned this.
I like the argument of āpeople who have skin in the game decide to spend money on thisā plus āI observed conversion rates increasingā
I assume most EA websites donāt care about conversion so much, especially not the extra-20% that would be deterred by design.
I do totally agree that EA-websites that care about conversion (like GWWC, 80k, or other intros-to-EA) should care about their design
I donāt think individual orgs that happen to have a website should care much (theyāre not trying to convert anyone). Like rethink priorities, or open phil
I donāt think the forum should care much about conversion, but Iām pretty unsure here so Iām giving it a separate point
What do you think? I sort of predict Iām going to learn even more from your answer, but Iām not sure what
Quick preface: I am not completely certain on how important design is for EA organizations, so these comments are an exploratory process of figuring this out, and there are definitely some knowledge gaps to fill.
Re conversions: Immediate conversions may not always be important for EA organizations, at least not to the extent they are for most for-profit organizations. The most important part about mentioning conversions is just demonstrating the power of design.
On that topic, re: websites like Open Phil:
Quick preface: I would need to understand more about the organizationās user base and goals to give the best answer here about how design could help them achieve those goals
However, if an organization is trying to influence anyoneās behavior ever, I would argue that good design at least mattersāHow much it matters is dependent on a few things, such as how large their user base is, and what other channels they could use to communicate or influence anyoneās behavior
The fact that Open Phil has clearly put more than 0$ into their current website means they also believe it matters, to some extent
The real question to ask then is, is a design that is [this] much better worth [this] amount of money (I concede that the answer might be no in some cases)
Itās also worth thinking about the EA movement as a whole. If every single EA website was brilliantly communicated, inspiring, emotionally impactful, highly (and easily) informative, memorable, convey a sense of trust and professionalismā¦ I believe it would do the movement a tremendous amount of good. In a sense, the movement as a whole wants to increase its conversion rates, right?
Quick guess, for fun: Spending 1% of EA funds on design for the next 10 years would increase the total amount donated to EA itself by 20% (using the average conversion rates from above)
[I just want to say explicitly that I am making up things and I donāt actually know whatās important for those orgs. Iām more trying-to-learn-by-disagreeing than think-I-know-something]
Actually, this is something Iāve been meaning to look into more deeply. Iām going to look up some research and stuff, and then I will come back to you š
That (a pitch) could be a good idea. Curious as to if you have any thoughts about the best format (e.g. PDF, forum post), and in which contexts I could present this generalized āEA organizations need better marketingā pitch.
Of course would deeply appreciate any referrals š. You can check out my website if you wish, and Iām always an email away melissasamworth@gmail.com
Whateverās lowest effort for you. A comment here maybe?
Hereās, so hereās my initial pitch:
Iām a designer coming from the for-profit space, in which companies invest heavily in design and marketing. The role of designāparticularly skilled, quality designāhas grown in the last, say, decade, due to growing evidence in its ROI. For instance, for myself and friends of mine who specialize in web design, a websiteās conversion rate will jump 10%ā25% from a redesign (typically a more out-of-the-box or low-skill solution, redesigned to a customized and professional solution). Name any successful tech companyāStripe, Slack, Githubāthey have invested tens to even hundreds of thousands on their marketing website. Many others invest similar amounts in logos and branding.
The EA world has not picked up on this very important āsecretā of the for-profit world, and thereās no clear reason why. After all, EA organizations have just as much an incentive to inspire, persuade, and communicate to their audience as do for-profit companies. When I, for instance, look at an amazing for-profit company websites, I:
- Feel a sense of trustāthis organization has it together
- Understand quickly what the organization does, why itās important, and why they are amazing at itāIām more sold
- If the topic is inspirational, I feel inspired and called to action
- Leave with a more memorable impression of this organization
When I look at even the best EA websites, I donāt feel particularly inspired, nor do I quickly understand what the organization does and why itās important, nor do I leave with a memorable impression, and so on. And really, these should be the most inspiring websites in the world! Our bar should, if anything, be even higher than non-profitsāour work is as important as it gets, isnāt it? If I was a billionaire thinking of getting into Effective Altruism, for example, and taking the first step by looking at an organizationās (or a few organizationsā) website(s), I would definitely want to feel more inspired (plus other aforementioned things).
TLDR: I got into marketing and design ten years ago because I believe it is very important for an organizationās success (in whatever terms that means)! Iāve been pleased to see the for-profit world more and more learn of and integrate the power of design. I am a bit saddened that the EA worldāthe place where the most important things are happeningāhavenāt yet learned this.
@JP Addison , any chance you know an EA org that could use design help? (including CEA maybe?)
(wow, so fun to tag people! I love this feature :) )
Interesting!
I like the argument of āpeople who have skin in the game decide to spend money on thisā plus āI observed conversion rates increasingā
I assume most EA websites donāt care about conversion so much, especially not the extra-20% that would be deterred by design.
I do totally agree that EA-websites that care about conversion (like GWWC, 80k, or other intros-to-EA) should care about their design
I donāt think individual orgs that happen to have a website should care much (theyāre not trying to convert anyone). Like rethink priorities, or open phil
I donāt think the forum should care much about conversion, but Iām pretty unsure here so Iām giving it a separate point
What do you think? I sort of predict Iām going to learn even more from your answer, but Iām not sure what
Quick preface: I am not completely certain on how important design is for EA organizations, so these comments are an exploratory process of figuring this out, and there are definitely some knowledge gaps to fill.
Re conversions: Immediate conversions may not always be important for EA organizations, at least not to the extent they are for most for-profit organizations. The most important part about mentioning conversions is just demonstrating the power of design.
On that topic, re: websites like Open Phil:
Quick preface: I would need to understand more about the organizationās user base and goals to give the best answer here about how design could help them achieve those goals
However, if an organization is trying to influence anyoneās behavior ever, I would argue that good design at least mattersāHow much it matters is dependent on a few things, such as how large their user base is, and what other channels they could use to communicate or influence anyoneās behavior
The fact that Open Phil has clearly put more than 0$ into their current website means they also believe it matters, to some extent
The real question to ask then is, is a design that is [this] much better worth [this] amount of money (I concede that the answer might be no in some cases)
Itās also worth thinking about the EA movement as a whole. If every single EA website was brilliantly communicated, inspiring, emotionally impactful, highly (and easily) informative, memorable, convey a sense of trust and professionalismā¦ I believe it would do the movement a tremendous amount of good. In a sense, the movement as a whole wants to increase its conversion rates, right?
Quick guess, for fun: Spending 1% of EA funds on design for the next 10 years would increase the total amount donated to EA itself by 20% (using the average conversion rates from above)
[I just want to say explicitly that I am making up things and I donāt actually know whatās important for those orgs. Iām more trying-to-learn-by-disagreeing than think-I-know-something]
Yep itās been a good exercise and something I will now question with more scrutiny :)
Actually, this is something Iāve been meaning to look into more deeply. Iām going to look up some research and stuff, and then I will come back to you š