RSPCA creates The Surrender Portal to save unwanted pets
Faced with an inundation of unwanted pets, Queensland’s RSPCA found an interactive campaign which suggested ways people could adapt to their pets instead of surrendering or abandoning them was more successful than a traditional marketing campaign in changing consumer behaviour.
The RSPCA Queensland Surrender Portal interactive project with Brisbane-based Liquid Interactive managed to save more than 1,000 pets’ lives and $800,000 of the charity’s funds over the last year, the agency has claimed.
On the portal, pet owners are asked to select their animal and the issue at hand – for example, a dog that won’t stop barking. They are then provided with helpful solutions and resources to address that specific problem and empower them to consider alternative options to surrendering the pet.
“The RSPCA was receiving nearly 5,000 surrendered pets each year, which was not only filling up its shelters, but draining its resources by more than $3.5 million,” Liquid Interactive managing director Michael Burke said in a statement.
“After interrogating the problem, we found many of the reasons for surrender were preventable – all we had to do was equip customers with the right information, at the right time, to successfully intervene.
“We know from experience that using a marketing campaign to change customer behaviour is hard, expensive and difficult to sustain – so, we explored alternative options that would achieve the same result – and the concept for the Surrender Portal was born.
“Twelve months on, the portal has decreased surrender rates by 22%, kept more than 1,000 pets with their owners and saved the charity more than $800,000 in animal care costs – all without a single dollar spent on advertising or capital infrastructure,” Burke said.
“The best part is that RSPCA Queensland only invested $60,000 in the project, which equates to a massive 1,000% ROI on marketing dollars – which is great for a charity that relies heavily on donor dollars.”
RSPCA Queensland CEO Mark Townend said people who donate to the charity can be assured that their dollar will go further.
“Charities need to ask themselves how they can take one donated dollar and get it to do $100 worth of work,” Mr Townend said.
“The best part is that we’re now looking to sell the IP to other RSPCAs and animal shelters around the world, with a view to recouping every dollar invested.”
This is a really inspiring job; pristine thinking and execution. Congrats to all involved.
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