The RSPB Magazine - early digital transformation story

Agency: Our Media Agency

Client: The RSPB

Award: Best Membership, 2024: Bronze

Brief

The RSPB is a charity for the conservation of birds and nature, existing to protect and restore habitats and landscapes, saving species and connecting people to nature.

With a membership of 1.2 million people and ~550,000 households receiving a print magazine 4 times a year, they have the 8th highest circulating magazine in the UK.

As a membership organisation, the RSPB relies heavily on this committed supporter base to carry out critical work for conservation. Membership is a crucial source of income but also empowers them to speak with confidence and authority in their advocacy efforts.

Membership subscriptions and donations brought in 43% of the charity’s income in 2023 and retention rates are high at 89.7% in 2022.

The primary aims of the magazine are to act as a benefit of membership, keep members updated on how their support is helping nature, and encourage member retention.

But the production of a print magazine comes at a cost - both financial and environmental. With print, production and mailing costs increasing year on year, it’s necessary to find a financially sustainable solution for the RSPB. Creating a digital magazine option would enable our client to make significant savings, which can be invested into their vital conservation work. In addition to cost savings, carbon savings can be made by reducing the amount of paper and ink required, an important factor for the discerning RSPB member and magazine reader.

The RSPB has an older membership (49% over the age of 65), who are typically lovers of the print magazine format, so the challenge was not to switch off a very long-standing and loyal membership who bring in significant funding. We needed to create a digital offering that gives both members, and the environment, more.

Solution

RSPB members are deeply interested in identifying and observing different bird species and a big part of being able to do that is hearing bird song, and seeing them in flight - two things that cannot be communicated in print.

They also care about conservation and protecting natural habitats - so it’s a no-brainer to reduce costs for the charity they support while bringing them more dynamic video, sound and other interactive bird and nature content in a digital format.

As part of a trial, we moved ~25,000 (~4% of print run) over to a digital offering, consisting of a monthly email that links to content on a newly developed website containing articles adapted from the print magazine, with the addition of new interactive features.

For example:

• an article on Turtle Doves includes an interactive map showing their annual migration cycle

• an article about UK garden species gives the reader an immersive experience as they look at birds in full screen, while listening to their calls

• an image overlay allows readers to compare male and female birds in a more engaging way than side-by-side in the print format

Since the magazine is only released 4 times a year, this new email touch point has given the client an additional 8 opportunities per year to contact their members.

Additional benefits for members and our client:

• No longer a need to rely on the long, slow print cycle to update members. The RSPB can respond more quickly to fast-moving issues and news agendas, editing articles and re-engaging members with new information on an ongoing subject

• The client can now more easily speak to members where they are - many have been reading the magazine since before the inception of email or social media. This offering gives the RSPB the ability to reach members not just on their doormat, but in between times on an array of digital channels

• A web page is not finite like a magazine page. We can include additional, exclusive content that didn’t make the editorial cut, and send users on a journey of related features, unearthing archive content rather than the typical linear journey of reading a print magazine or PDF

• The digital solution is accessible, enabling readers to zoom in, increase their font size and read the content in a way that suits their needs

• By reviewing the website data, we can be more targeted in our commissioning and email newsletter strategy, to bring more of the themes that get high traffic to readers. Members get more of what they want, in turn helping with retention

Results

The microsite has been live for 1 year. Since then, 21,000 users have viewed 89,000 pages and spent an average of 3 minutes 24 seconds viewing content. Most users are UK-based, but members overseas are also seeing the benefits of not receiving a mailed magazine.

Email open rates are high at 60-70% with click-through rates consistently over 10%.

The digital magazine has lower rates of membership cancellation at 1.3%, compared to the print cohort, which is at 2.8%. According to research carried out by the RSPB, 80% of readers are satisfied with the early digital format.

The digital format is appealing to a younger time-poor audience who want to consume media on the go, whilst giving time to causes they care about – an essential growth area for this client. Those under 55 value the convenience of a digital format and it’s given us an opportunity to diversify content according to audience. For example, some members have been reading the magazine for 50+ years and there will be fatigue in reading entry level articles designed to appeal to new members. The digital format enables us to curate journeys for different users, not only based on their interests and knowledge levels but also geographical location, as we can collate articles by area to bring the most relevant content direct to the member.

Website users are showing promise in taking action for nature (a key strategic goal of the RSPB). The digital reader views taking part in campaigns a more important aspect of their membership than the paper readers do (26% vs 22%). The digital magazine offers an easier route to taking action as users can do so in a few clicks.

• 44% of digital readers have taken action in their garden

• 35% have signed an RSPB petition

• 18% have written to the government

• 38% are likely to recommend membership to others, compared with 29% of the paper magazine readers.

Motivations of this environmentally-conscious audience to switch to digital are around paper-saving. They have also reported that the digital option has removed some guilt; “So lovely to click and hear bird song to the photo of the bird photographed. Also I can keep the “magazine” to look at without adding to the pile of paper magazines I’m loath to throw away.”

“I opted for the digital version to be more eco-friendly, and to save you money… I have been very happy with the digital magazine, so all in all, I am glad I made the switch.”

“I always want to read the magazine and save them but never find time so ultimately a waste. I love the RSPB and would prefer they spent money on digital engagement and animal preservation and welfare.”

The plan is to continue to migrate more users (20% target in 2025), saving more money for conservation and further reducing CO2 emissions.