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‘Thank You!’ Banner Campaign 2018 edit
What and why? edit
In the context of recruiting and retaining new volunteers, we once again called upon donors to become active editors in Wikipedia with the ‘Thank You!’ Banner Campaign 2018 following this year’s fundraising campaign. The ‘Thank You! Banner Campaign concept was first tested as a pilot campaign between late December 2016 and the beginning of January 2017. The next, slightly different, iterations of the banner campaign were run in April, July, and October of 2018.
The goal of the ‘Thank You!’ Banner Campaign 2018 is to motivate as many people as possible via the banner to register a user account and to begin editing Wikipedia. In addition, we wanted to test the usefulness of online courses for new users.
What did we want to know? edit
The focus of this banner campaign was to test the training modules that we adapted from English to German.
Therefore, on the campaign page, we first described the training modules and after that provided the opportunities to become active on Wikipedia. As a result of the positive experiences from the 2017 Fall Campaign, we decided to point users towards the topic of revising and improving articles in particular.
The following data items were collected:
- Banner impressions
- Numbers of clicks for the banner
- Conversion Rates (e.g. relation between page views and registrations)
- Number of registrations
- Number of edits made after registration
In addition, we collected the following data regarding the training modules:
- Number of users of the trainings
- Drop-off points in the trainings
- time of completion of a training
Results Summary edit
As a whole, the ‘Thank You!’ Banner Campaign 2018 was not a great success regarding page views and registrations, despite a longer duration. This was mostly due to the highly constrained playout, which resulted in 120 new registrations. One positive result, however, was that every fifth newly-registered user completed one of the training modules. It was noticeable that people who completed at least one training module were more likely to edit compared with those who merely began with a training module, but did not finish it. Nevertheless, due to the low number of people who registered and began or completed a training module, there can be no final conclusion regarding the training modules’ significance. All in all, the numbers do show that readers are very interested in learning how Wikipedia works. Therefore, we continue to further develop the training modules. In addition, we are conducting a more focused assessment of onboarding options to find the best fit for new editors.
Spring Campaign 2018 edit
What and why? edit
In 2018, we continued to conduct online campaigns as part of our efforts to recruit new volunteers for the German-language Wikipedia. Already in 2017, we had conducted various activities with a similar focus, the results of which were published regularly (in German). With each new campaign, and especially the subsequent evaluation thereof, we were able to gain new insights regarding the campaigns.
The objective of the Spring Campaign 2018 was to motivate as many people as possible with an online banner to register a user account and begin editing. In addition, we wanted to test the usefulness of two online courses for new users.
What did we want to know? edit
As in previous campaigns, we wanted to answer the following questions:
- Registration: Is the message of the banner appealing? (method: registrations and conversion rates)
- Training Modules: Do new editors use the training modules, and if so, do they complete them?
- Training Modules and Edits: Do users begin to edit Wikipedia after they complete the training modules? Is there a difference between users who complete a training module and those who do not?
Registration edit
As in the Fall Campaign, we worked with a banner display rate of 80%. As the number of registrations remained more stable over time on a high level, at an identical playout and one more day, we achieved higher numbers of registrations on average. Altogether, we achieved 1,243 registrations.
The conversion rate is a relative measure in the analysis of campaign results that helps us to estimate the number of people who continued from the first point of contact with the campaign – the banner – and clicked it to get to the campaign landing page. The conversion rate (relation: page views ÷ impressions) was similar to the average of previous campaigns with at 0.55%. This means that 0.55% of all people who saw the banner also clicked through to the campaign landing page (roughly every two-hundredth person). With this average, we see a similar empirical value throughout the campaigns, which can serve as a reference point for future campaigns.
In regards to the conversion rate, however, there is a significant difference between the banners. The banner with the message “Your contribution makes Wikipedia better” ("Dein Beitrag macht Wikipedia besser") performed better at a conversion rate of 0.64% that the banner with the message “Every word makes Wikipedia better” ("Jedes Wort macht Wikipedia besser"), which merely achieved a conversion rate of 0.47%.
The conversion rate of registrations (relation: registrations ÷ page views), i.e. the people who proceeded from the campaign landing page to the registration page, is within the average of previous campaigns at 0.56%.
Training Modules edit
As in the previous campaign (‘Thank You!’ Banner Campaign 2018), we used training modules. Of the 1,243 registered persons, 167 began or completed the training. The following table shows, which courses were completed or begun by users. The percentage in brackets shows the relation of this figure to the overall number of registered people.
TABLE 1
| Editing - Basic Knowledge | Discussion - Basic Knowledge | |
|---|---|---|
| completed the training module | 51 (4.10%) | 9 (0.72%) |
| began the training module | 96 (7.72%) | 96 (7.72%) |
| Sum of all training participants | 147 (11.83%) | 20 (1.61%) |
In this campaign, we focused on two modules in order to not overwhelm the new editors. Focusing on smaller chunks of information had already proven to be fruitful in the design of tasks and messages. That is why we decided to also take this approach here.
As a share of the totality of newly-registered users, fewer people began of completed the modules. These figures are more significant, however, as more people saw the campaign and registered.
In this regard, the evaluation of possible relations between training modules and edits made is very interesting.
Edits and Training Modules edit
The following table shows how many users who completed one or more training modules made edits after the completion of the training (number of edits of users). These are compared with users who did not complete the training.
TABLE 2
| Users | Number of Edits by Users | |
|---|---|---|
| Module not completed | 98 | 297 |
| Module completed | 53 | 179 |
Firstly, the numbers show that those users who completed a training edit similarly to those users who begin one. Concerning this matter, it is important to watch at which point the learners quit the training module. Most users began the module “Basics of Editing” (“Grundlagen des Editierens”). During this training module, most users did not return to the course at the point where there is a guided tour for editing on Wikipedia. This may point to the fact that learners remained on Wikipedia at this point and already felt competent enough to continue editing there. A second finding, however, was that users who had not begun or completed a training module, made more edits in sum than those with a training background.
But here, too, it is important to take a closer look. A detailed evaluation of the number of edits in relation to beginning or completing training modules reveals a notable correlation to the number of edits per user.
TABLE 3
| Number of Modules begun | Number of Users | Edits by these Users | Average Number of Edits per Person |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1,164 | 492 | 0.42 Edits per Person |
| 1 | 89 | 232 | 2.6 Edits per Person |
| 2 | 9 | 65 | 7.2 Edits per Person |
TABLE 4
| Number of Completed Modules | Number of Users | Edits by these Users | Average Number of Edits per Person |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1,209 | 610 | 0.5 Edits per Person |
| 1 | 46 | 122 | 2.6 Edits per Person |
| 2 | 7 | 57 | 8.1 Edits per Person |
These tables show that both users who began a training module and users who completed one made many more edits than users who had not begun or completed a training module. It is also interesting to observe that users who had begun or completed more than one module, made significantly more edits.
This could either mean that the training modules are a very effective factor in getting users to edit, or that only very motivated editors use the training modules. Whether there is indeed a cause-effect relation, will have to be tested in a next step.
What is not taken into account here is the quality of edits made, which we plan to increase through an overhaul of a training module.
Evaluation Table edit
| 05-07-2018 | 05-08-2018 | 05-09-2018 | 05-10-2018 | 05-11-2018 | 05-12-2018 | 05-13-2018 | 05-14-2018 | 05-15.2018 | 05-16-2018 | Sum | |
| Banner 1: “Your Contribution makes Wikipedia better” ("Dein Beitrag macht Wikipedia besser")
| |||||||||||
| Impressions | 1,826,300 | 2,247,100 | 1,841,800 | 1,380,800 | 1,430,600 | 915,300 | 1,214,900 | 2,042,600 | 1,680,100 | 685,500 | 15,265,000 |
| Banner Clicks / Page Views (Landing Page) | 14,442 | 16,598 | 13,627 | 10,800 | 10,007 | 7,342 | 9,686 | 14,549 | 11,075 | 5,098 | 97,051 |
| Conversion: Impressions to Banner Clicks | 0.79 % | 0.74 % | 0.74 % | 0.78 % | 1 % | 0.80 % | 0.80 % | 0.71 % | 0.66 % | 0.74 % | 0.64 % |
| Registrations | 116 | 102 | 73 | 72 | 44 | 43 | 60 | 87 | 61 | 32 | 658 |
| Conversion: Banner Clicks to Registrations | 0.80 % | 0.61 % | 0.54 % | 0.67 % | 0.44 % | 0.59 % | 0.62 % | 0.60 % | 0.55 % | 0.63 % | 0.68 % |
| Banner 2: “Every Word makes Wikipedia better” ("Mit jedem Wort wird Wikipedia besser") | |||||||||||
| Impressions | 1,820,700 | 2,253,900 | 1,827,100 | 1,398,600 | 1,419,100 | 909,900 | 1,251,300 | 2,037,200 | 1,665,000 | 698,550 | 15,281,350 |
| Banner Clicks / Page Views (Landing Page) | 15,512 | 17,509 | 14,114 | 11,048 | 10,157 | 7,500 | 10,059 | 15,632 | 11,749 | 5,355 | 101,531 |
| Conversion: Impressions to Banner Clicks | 0.85 % | 0.78 % | 0.77 % | 0.79 % | 0.72 % | 0.82 % | 0.80 % | 0.77 % | 0.71 % | 0.77 % | 0.66 % |
| Registrations | 78 | 81 | 68 | 51 | 36 | 28 | 50 | 61 | 65 | 35 | 453 |
| Conversion: Banner Clicks to Registrations | 0.50 % | 0.46 % | 0.48 % | 0.46 % | 0.35 % | 0.37 % | 0.50 % | 0.39 % | 0.55 % | 0.65 % | 0.45 % |
| Sum of Impressions | 3,661,560 | 4,517,701 | 3,682,601 | 2,790,273 | 2,859,752 | 1,832,586 | 2,475,947 | 4,094,437 | 3,356,237 | 1,389,181 | 30,660,278 |
| Sum of Banner Clicks / Page Views | 29,954 | 34,107 | 27,741 | 21,848 | 20,164 | 14,842 | 19,745 | 30,181 | 22,824 | 10,453 | 231,859 |
| Sum of Registrations | 194 | 183 | 141 | 123 | 80 | 71 | 110 | 148 | 126 | 67 | 1.243 |
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Summer Campaign 2018 edit
What and why? edit
Based on the feedback that we gathered from Interviews (in German) and pre-tests (in German) of previous campaigns, it was clear to us that potential users had similar and very basic questions about Wikipedia, which can be a hurdle in regards to participating.
From this starting point, the idea was born to develop a campaign similar in kind, but based on the leitmotif “Everything you always wanted to know about Wikipedia” (“Was du schon immer über Wikipedia wissen wolltest”) – an FAQ campaign. This campaign aimed at making it easier for new users ‘to understand Wikipedia’ and therefore offer more information and motivation to participate.
The objective of the Summer Campaign 2018 was again to motivate as many people as possible to create a user account and begin to edit. In addition, we tested whether providing new users with information about Wikipedia first before inviting them to become active contributors had any positive effect on the recruitment of new editors.
In this way, the campaign aimed at two goals: First, the immediate growth in volunteer editors; second, to sharpen a general awareness of Wikipedia and to create points of identification.
Background edit
The FAQ page for this campaign was intended as an impactful brief information page raising public awareness. The goal here was to create a point of contact for those readers who are slightly more interested in Wikipedia but are, as a first step, looking for short answers. We wanted to reach out to those people, get them interested through these first pieces of information, and support them as well as possible. In a second step, we wanted to help these interested users go further by themselves at their own pace, beyond the initial campaign pages, in order to become a part of the community of Wikipedians.
We based our content creation (i.e. the selection of questions and answers included in the FAQ) on the insights gained from Interviews (in German) and pre-tests (in German). Due to the publicity-heavy nature of the issue, we collaborated tightly with WMDE’s communications team.
What did we want to know? edit
The main question for us was: Is it helpful for the recruitment of new editors to first inform them about Wikipedia before inviting them to participate? Our working hypothesis was this: Potential new editors would first like to learn more about Wikipedia before they intend to participate. We can lead more new editors to their tenth edit if we first tell them more about Wikipedia and ‘close knowledge gaps’ before inviting them to participate.
Answers to our questions edit
In order to answer these questions, we are on the one hand interested in the page views for campaign landing pages, especially conversion rates, i.e. the relation between users that go one step further) between the individual clicks among the user journey. In addition, we wanted to collect data on the training modules. As the following numbers will show, however, not enough people registered, which makes it impossible to come to a well-founded conclusion about the training modules. For this reason, the data for the training modules in this campaign will not be considered any further.
A look at the results of the evaluation table (at the bottom) reveals that the overall number of impressions at a display rate of 80% is similar to the results of past campaigns. When looking at at the total number of page views, there is a notable decline compared with previous averages. Considering the conversion rate between banner impressions and page views, i.e. the relation between page views of the first campaign page and the impressions of the respective banner, accordingly, there is on average a slightly lower conversion rate. It is, however, still in the range of previous campaigns. The registrations from the individual banners are relatively low. The following circumstances might be causally related:
In this campaign, we tested a new user journey that first provides information about Wikipedia and then refers users to another campaign page with an appeal to contribute. This intermediate step has, considering the numbers, lead to an insufficiently low share of people continuing to the second page. Why exactly they are not more interested in contributing remains unclear. One assumption is that the invitation to the next step (the button) was not placed prominently enough. Another possibility is that users were not motivated more by the information given to contribute. This can only be recognized in the overall results from the evaluation table because the measuring of the second campaign page could not be traced back to the initial banner.
These numbers show us that our basic assumption, i.e. being able to motivate new editors to contribute by providing preliminary information, very likely does not work. In order to come to a precise conclusion, more detailed research on the causes is needed. At this point, we might just as well assume that it is due to the suboptimal prominence of the button to participate. Other reasons are possible, as well. What is clear, nonetheless, is that a user journey with two subsequent campaign pages risks losing many new users.
Further Results edit
In comparison with other campaigns, page view numbers are lower, but still in the average range. It is therefore reasonable to assume that readers are interested in learning more about Wikipedia. Only the pathway from there to actual participation in Wikipedia does not seem to work.Therefore, the answers to the Frequently Asked Questions are a useful result of this campaign. We would like to take the opportunity to encourage everyone to share the information on the FAQ campaign page with all interested people (e.g. new editors)
Summary edit
In conclusion, we were successful in achieving campaign goal I (informing and identification), as readers and new editors were informed more about the background of Wikipedia. Unfortunately, we failed to achieve campaign goal II (help and guidance for participation). With the data evaluated so far, the causes cannot be narrowed down further, but it is apparent that a user journey with two successive campaign pages contains too many exit options.
Evaluation Table
Evaluation Table edit
| 2018-08-01 | 2018-08-02 | 2018-08-03 | 2018-08-04 | 2018-08-05 | 2018-08-060 | 2018-08-07 | 2018-08-08 | Sum | |
| Banner 1- Who is allowed to edit Wikipedia? ("Banner 1 - Wer darf bei Wikipedia mitschreiben?") | |||||||||
| Impressions Banner 1 (Who is allowed to edit?) | 821,200 | 1,417,900 | 1,118,200 | 672,600 | 792,500 | 1,220,400 | 1,169,700 | 619,500 | 7,832,000 |
| Page Views: First Campaign Page (FAQ) | 6,174 | 8,130 | 6,118 | 4,007 | 4,470 | 5,938 | 5,451 | 2,778 | 43,066 |
| Conversion: Banner to Campaign Page (FAQ) | 0.00752 | 0.00573 | 0.00547 | 0.00596 | 0.00564 | 0.00487 | 0.00466 | 0.00448 | 0.00550 |
| Page Views: Second Campaign Page (Learn Wikipedia)
Not available on the level of the web banners - total numbers can be viewed below. |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Registrations | 7 | 11 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 9 | 4 | 62 |
| Conversion: Campaign Page (FAQ) to Registration | 0.00113 | 0.00135 | 0.00147 | 0.00125 | 0.00134 | 0.00185 | 0.00165 | 0.00144 | 0.00144 |
| Banner 2 - Is there a Wikipedia office? (Banner 2 - Gibt es eigentlich ein Wikipedia Büro?) | |||||||||
| Impressions Banner 2 (Is there a WP office?) | 799,600 | 1,430,700 | 1,108,300 | 688,200 | 804,600 | 1,250,200 | 1,157,800 | 632,300 | 7,871,700 |
| Page Views: First Campaign Page (FAQ) | 7,670 | 10,326 | 7,696 | 4,680 | 5,293 | 7,354 | 6,896 | 3,559 | 53,474 |
| Conversion: Banner to Campaign Page (FAQ) | 0.00959 | 0.00722 | 0.00694 | 0.00680 | 0.00658 | 0.00588 | 0.00596 | 0.00563 | 0.00679 |
| Page Views: Second Campaign Page (Learn Wikipedia)
Not available on the level of the web banners - total numbers can be viewed below. |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Registrations | 3 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 24 |
| Conversions: Campaign Page (FAQ) to Registration | 0.00039 | 0.00068 | 0.00091 | 0.00021 | 0.00019 | 0.00041 | 0.00015 | 0.00028 | 0.00045 |
| Banner 3 - How does Wikipedia protect itself against abuse? (Banner 3 - Wie schützt sich Wikipedia vor Missbrauch?) | |||||||||
| Impressions Banner 3 (Protection against abuse?) | 806,800 | 1,407,400 | 1,108,900 | 677,200 | 791,100 | 1,237,700 | 1,177,100 | 608,400 | 7,814,600 |
| Page Views: First Campaign Page (FAQ) | 5,729 | 7,365 | 5,612 | 3,793 | 4,148 | 5,505 | 5,150 | 2,785 | 40,087 |
| Conversion: Banner to Campaign Page (FAQ) | 0.00710 | 0.00523 | 0.00506 | 0.00560 | 0.00524 | 0.00445 | 0.00438 | 0.00458 | 0.00513 |
| Page Views: Second Campaign Page (Learn Wikipedia)
Not available on the level of the web banners - total numbers can be viewed below. |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Registrations | 2 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 25 |
| Conversion: Campaign Page (FAQ) to Registration | 0.00035 | 0.00081 | 0.00053 | 0.00105 | 0.00024 | 0.00054 | 0.00078 | 0.00072 | 0.00062 |
| Total Results | |||||||||
| Total Impressions (all banners) | 2,427,600 | 4,256,000 | 3,335,400 | 2,038,000 | 2,388,200 | 3,708,300 | 3,504,600 | 1,860,200 | 23,518,300 |
| Total Page Views: First Campaign Page (FAQ) | 19,573 | 25,821 | 19,426 | 12,480 | 13,911 | 18,797 | 17,497 | 9,122 | 136,627 |
| Total Page Views: Second Campaign Page (Learn Wikipedia) | 284 | 295 | 268 | 180 | 157 | 216 | 176 | 97 | 1673 |
| Total Registrations | 12 | 24 | 19 | 10 | 8 | 17 | 14 | 7 | 111 |
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Wikipedia Action Day 2018 (Fall Campaign 2018) edit
What and why? edit
Both research on new volunteers (in German) for previous campaigns, as well as the experiences of many active editors (in German) spanning several years have shown that personal contact can be very helpful and supportive for new editors during their entry into the Wikipedia community.
From these findings, the idea was born to combine the previous (in German) online promotion of measures for new editors with the many local offline activities organized by experienced Wikipedians.
For this purpose, a Wikipedia Action Day across the German-speaking DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) was put together for Sunday, 28 October, 2018. On this day, we invited interested readers, who until then knew Wikipedia only as an online phenomenon, to take a look behind the scenes and get to know the faces behind the website – locally, in their own region.
The goal was long-term recruitment of new editors, facilitated through interpersonal relations and a direct approach in the offline space.
With this approach, we strived not only for an immediate growth in the number of editors, but also pursued the objective of promoting the local Wikipedia spaces and establish them further as important points of contact on the regional level. Another objective was to foster stronger ties between new volunteers and the local communities, and to promote the regular local activities for people interested in Wikipedia and new editors.
Background edit
Many readers of Wikipedia don’t know this: Wikipedia is not exclusively an online community, but there are in fact many things going on in the offline world. In many places, there are regular meet-ups for Wikipedians. Time and again, these local spaces offer activities for those interested in learning more, ranging from in-person consulting about Wikipedia to introductory courses for new editors and photography workshops.
We wanted to promote these regular local activities with the Wikipedia Action Day. During the joint Action Day on October 28, 2018, interested visitors were able to get to know the people behind the encyclopedia and try out how to contribute to Wikipedia themselves, guided by experiences members of the community. Our goal here was to recruit new volunteers who were interested in participating in Wikipedia, who would go on to edit at home on their own, and / or who would continue to edit Wikipedia during the follow-up meet-ups.
The local event spaces and the agenda for the day on location were organized by volunteers. The Wikimedia nonprofit associations (WMAT, WMCH, WMDE) were providing logistic, financial, and organizing support.
The planning page for the coordination of the events can be found here (in German).
Results edit
In summary, we pursued the following objectives with the campaign:
- Effectiveness of the banner campaign: Testing whether people can be attracted by an online banner to an offline local action day and if they actually show up
- Prominence of local Wikipedia spaces: Increasing the awareness about local spaces as bases of Wikipedia and offer the opportunity to get to know Wikipedia ‘in person’
- Getting to know Wikipedia in person: Promotion of participating in Wikipedia among new editors and fostering personal attachment og new editors through interpersonal contact with experienced volunteers.
- Effectiveness of local campaigns on editing behavior: Testing whether new volunteers can be motivated by an offline campaign to create a user account and to contribute. Here, it is also of interest how effective the campaign supports this goal.
- Effectiveness of the online banner campaign: Besides a call-to-action to participate in a local event, there was also – like in previous banner campaigns – the option to directly inform oneself about Wikipedia, as well as create a user account online and try out editing. That, however, was a subordinate objective.
We were able to achieve all objectives with varying success.
Effectiveness of the banner campaign (participants) edit
We (WMDE) and the local spaces noted with joy that there was a great interest in the campaign. From the reports of the local spaces, we learned that not just new volunteers attended the events, but that active and formerly active editors also reconnected with Wikipedia there. The estimated visitor numbers from the local spaces during events are shown in the following table:
TABLE 1
| Location | Visitors of the Wikipedia Action Day 2018 (October 28, 2018) |
| Berlin | 150 |
| Hamburg | 100 |
| Köln | 110 |
| Ulm | 21 |
| Augsburg | 3 |
| Hannover | 80 |
| München | 120 |
| Stuttgart | 120 |
| Zürich | 60 |
| Linz | 30 |
| Wien | 70 |
| Sum | 864 |
It must be noted that the local spaces sometimes received vastly more visitors than the capacity of the spaces would have allowed for. Therefore, some visitors passed by the crowded rooms. It can thus be assumed that there were more visitors on location than the estimates from the local spaces show.
In conclusion, it can be said that the promotion of individual offline events is a resounding success with great potential for future events.
Prominence of local spaces / Getting to know Wikipedia in person edit
These objectives were also fulfilled due to the high number of visitors. Reports from the local spaces also pointed out that many visitors were interested in follow-up events and therefore saw the local base as their personal link to Wikipedia.
Effectiveness of local campaigns on editing behavior: edit
One goal besides fostering personal contact with the community was to recruit new volunteers for editing Wikipedia. Our intention was to motivate visitors of the local event with introductory courses and other offers to create a user account and right away make their first edits under the supervision of the event organizers. The plan was to get a signature on a local subpage, whereby we would have been able to exactly identify the new editors. Unfortunately, this plan did not work out well, because due to the unexpectedly high number of participants, which prevented the local spaces from adhering to their event schedule. Due to the high number of visitors, there was barely any capacity for personally supporting new users with their first edit. Furthermore, it turned out to be problematic to have many new users simultaneously leave a signature on the event page as their first edit, as this caused many editing conflicts.
The following table shows the number of new editors who left a signature on the local event page and got to the first edit with personal support.
TABLE 2
| Local Wikipedia space | Number of signatures left by new editors |
|---|---|
| Berlin | 11 |
| Hamburg | 0 |
| Köln | 5 |
| Stuttgart | 4 |
| Ulm | 8 |
| Wien | 1 |
| Zürich | 3 |
| Sum | 32 |
Finally, it must be added that not all new editors left a signature and that the numbers cannot be taken as a final conclusion on how many new editors were recruited through the local events.
Effectiveness of the banner campaign (online) edit
Finally, we also offered visitors of the first campaign page – as in all other campaigns – to inform themselves about editorship, registering a user account and beginning to edit. Due to two different calls-to-action – on the one hand visiting a local space, and on the other hand starting to participate online right away – we did not anticipate very high numbers of visitors of the second campaign page (“Learn Wikipedia”) . Especially because prior campaigns showed that user journeys with different courses of action are not very effective.
As we also served the banner during this campaign on mobile devices for the first time, we were able to achieve almost double the amount of banner impressions. Although not many visitors on mobile devices registered a user account, the great success regarding the high numbers of visitors of local events is in part due to the banner impressions on mobile devices.
In total, 201 new editors registered throughout the campaign. Of those, 56 made further edits. At a value of 0.00035, the conversion rate of registrations (i.e. the relation between registrations and page views of the first campaign page) is significantly below the average of previous campaigns (ca. 0.0065). This was to be expected in light of the multiple calls-to-action (visiting local events, registering an account and start editing). The Summer Campaign 2018, which used a similar campaign mechanic with two different campaign pages, achieved similar numbers in the conversion from the first campaign page to registration: 0.00080.
After all, compared to campaigns that feature just one call-to-action, the value is quite low and not recommendable for an effective recruitment of volunteers. This campaign focused on promoting local Wikipedia spaces and their events. This advertising was a complete success.
The following table shows the results of the online campaign, separated into numbers for desktop use and mobile devices:
TABLE 3
| 2018-10-19 | 2018-10-20 | 2018-10-21 | 2018-10-22 | 2018-10-23 | 2018-10-24 | 2018-10-25 | 2018-10-26 | 2018-10-27 | 2018-10-28 | Sum | |
| Numbers for Desktop Users | |||||||||||
| Banner Views (Desktop) | 2,927,900 | 3,714,400 | 4,271,000 | 6,260,500 | 5,760,900 | 5,353,400 | 5,012,700 | 4,163,600 | 2,904,000 | 1,341,000 | 41,709,400 |
| Page Views: ‘Wikipedia on Location’ (“ Wikipedia vor Ort” (first campaign page) | 28,322 | 29,867 | 31,279 | 43,488 | 38,046 | 34,529 | 31,155 | 25,783 | 18,338 | 8,303 | 289,110 |
| Conversion Rate: Banner Views to Page Views (first campaign page) | 0.00967 | 0.00804 | 0.00732 | 0.00695 | 0.00660 | 0.00645 | 0.00622 | 0.00619 | 0.00631 | 0.00619 | 0.00693 |
| Page Views: ‘Learn Wikipedia’ (“Lerne Wikipedia.” second campaign page) | 479 | 450 | 389 | 494 | 347 | 355 | 281 | 251 | 174 | 123 | 3,343 |
| Ratio of page views for the first campaign page to page views of the second campaign page | 0.01691 | 0.01507 | 0.01244 | 0.01136 | 0.00912 | 0.01028 | 0.00902 | 0.00974 | 0.00949 | 0.01481 | 0.01182 |
| Page Views for Hamburg | 719 | 582 | 780 | 970 | 897 | 667 | 684 | 568 | 384 | 248 | 6,499 |
| Page Views for Berlin | 1,079 | 959 | 857 | 1,151 | 1,008 | 784 | 812 | 659 | 516 | 422 | 8,247 |
| Page Views for Hannover | 613 | 576 | 528 | 800 | 701 | 565 | 498 | 415 | 284 | 172 | 5,152 |
| Page Views for Cologne | 1,132 | 1,089 | 1,022 | 1,479 | 1,324 | 1,133 | 1,006 | 821 | 591 | 335 | 9,932 |
| Page Views for Stuttgart | 886 | 905 | 794 | 1,109 | 901 | 838 | 838 | 633 | 490 | 325 | 7,719 |
| Page Views for Ulm | 264 | 226 | 247 | 347 | 299 | 246 | 244 | 168 | 108 | 127 | 2,276 |
| Page Views for Augsburg | 234 | 187 | 211 | 286 | 229 | 231 | 166 | 142 | 135 | 53 | 1,874 |
| Page Views for München | 636 | 610 | 578 | 752 | 708 | 623 | 521 | 452 | 359 | 215 | 5,454 |
| Page Views for Linz | 290 | 342 | 304 | 421 | 383 | 277 | 229 | 156 | 161 | 73 | 2,636 |
| Page Views for Vienna | 885 | 841 | 857 | 981 | 727 | 608 | 508 | 446 | 359 | 194 | 6,406 |
| Page Views for Zurich | 875 | 907 | 874 | 1,137 | 986 | 965 | 762 | 643 | 484 | 236 | 7,869 |
| Registrations (Desktop) | 13 | 24 | 18 | 23 | 20 | 22 | 16 | 13 | 9 | 10 | 168 |
| Relation between registrations to page views (second campaign page) | 0.00046 | 0.00080 | 0.00058 | 0.00053 | 0.00053 | 0.00064 | 0.00051 | 0.00050 | 0.00049 | 0.00120 | 0.00058 |
| Numbers for Mobile Devices | |||||||||||
| Banner Views (Mobile) | 4,225,400 | 7,045,000 | 7,517,600 | 5,539,800 | 5,070,800 | 4,842,000 | 4,719,900 | 4,673,000 | 5,020,400 | 2,105,300 | 50,759,200 |
| Page Views: ‘Wikipedia on Location’ (“Wikipedia vor Ort,” first campaign page) | 27,226 | 42,064 | 43,214 | 30,794 | 28,904 | 28,271 | 26,560 | 26,708 | 31,002 | 13,106 | 297,849 |
| Relation between banner views and page views (first campaign page) | 0.00644 | 0.00597 | 0.00575 | 0.00556 | 0.00597 | 0.00599 | 0.00568 | 0.00623 | 0.00587 | ||
| Page views: ‘Learn Wikipedia’ (“Lerne Wikipedia,” second campaign page) | 116 | 196 | 172 | 109 | 110 | 99 | 81 | 73 | 93 | 48 | 1,097 |
| Relation between page views of the first campaign page and page views of the second campaign page | 0.00426 | 0.00466 | 0.00398 | 0.00354 | 0.00381 | 0.00350 | 0.00305 | 0.00273 | 0.00300 | 0.00366 | 0.00362 |
| Page Views for Hamburg | 185 | 260 | 333 | 204 | 214 | 186 | 215 | 191 | 223 | 204 | 2,215 |
| Page Views for Berlin | 252 | 401 | 350 | 239 | 277 | 243 | 217 | 190 | 306 | 267 | 2,742 |
| Page Views for Hannover | 147 | 227 | 240 | 159 | 153 | 142 | 140 | 114 | 142 | 117 | 1,581 |
| Page Views for Cologne | 293 | 471 | 458 | 290 | 315 | 313 | 247 | 200 | 356 | 204 | 3,147 |
| Page Views for Stuttgart | 212 | 330 | 353 | 211 | 212 | 238 | 175 | 180 | 210 | 185 | 2,306 |
| Page Views for Ulm | 88 | 79 | 111 | 56 | 55 | 58 | 53 | 65 | 67 | 38 | 670 |
| Page Views for Augsburg | 54 | 75 | 104 | 46 | 71 | 47 | 30 | 39 | 50 | 30 | 546 |
| Page Views for Munich | 159 | 285 | 275 | 172 | 177 | 165 | 147 | 153 | 187 | 157 | 1,877 |
| Page Views for Linz | 67 | 121 | 131 | 54 | 65 | 69 | 65 | 73 | 88 | 51 | 784 |
| Page Views for Vienna | 199 | 330 | 298 | 194 | 155 | 184 | 96 | 179 | 160 | 124 | 1,919 |
| Page Views for Zurich | 196 | 286 | 327 | 227 | 186 | 226 | 182 | 190 | 270 | 159 | 2,249 |
| Registrations (Mobile) | 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 33 |
| Relation of Registrations to Page Views (second campaign page) | 0.00007 | 0.00010 | 0.00014 | 0.00010 | 0.00014 | 0.00014 | 0.00011 | 0.00007 | 0.00006 | 0.00023 | 0.00011 |
| Total Numbers | |||||||||||
| Total Banner Views | 7,153,300 | 10,759,400 | 11,788,600 | 11,800,300 | 10,831,700 | 10,195,400 | 9,732,600 | 8,836,600 | 7,924,400 | 3,446,300 | 92,468,600 |
| Total Page Views: ‘Wikipedia on Location’ (“Wikipedia vor Ort,” first campaign page) | 55,548 | 71,931 | 74,493 | 74,282 | 66,950 | 62,800 | 57,715 | 52,491 | 49,340 | 21,409 | 586,959 |
| Total Page views: ‘Learn Wikipedia’ (“Lerne Wikipedia,” second campaign page) | 595 | 646 | 561 | 603 | 457 | 454 | 362 | 324 | 267 | 171 | 4,440 |
| Total Number of Registrations | 15 | 28 | 24 | 26 | 24 | 26 | 19 | 15 | 11 | 13 | 201 |
The following editing behavior has been observed (during the course of this campaign):
TABLE 4
| Edits | Number of Newly Recruited Editors |
| 1 Edit | 29 |
| 2-4 Edits | 18 |
| 5-9 Edits | 6 |
| > 10 Edits | 3 |
| Sume | 56 |
Summary edit
In conclusion, we found that a banner campaign combined with events in the local spaces shows great potential. In particular, the high visitor numbers point to considerable interest and also delight local volunteers with more interested people. We were able to promote follow-up events and reactivate former editors. The online campaign also helped to recruit some new editors. We learned a great deal, in particular from the high numbers of visitors, the people present during the event, and the feedback coming out of local spaces. In addition, you can find our learnings and more reports from local spaces here (in German).
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