How to Know if Your Rebrand Is Successful
Measuring a rebrand’s ROI (return on investment) can be challenging. Nearly half of nonprofits that have rebranded say they notice an increase in revenue within 2 years, but figures like this are largely anecdotal, and besides: the benefits of branding go well beyond revenue, generally compounding over time.
We know that branding is important—more than 90% of nonprofit leaders recognize it has a positive impact on donor engagement—but for organizations operating on shoestring budgets, it’s important to have systems in place for measuring ROI: both to track your rebrand’s success and to solicit board buy-in.
With that in mind, we’ve created a list of some strategies you can use to track your rebrand’s effectiveness.
1. Digital Metrics
This is a good place to start when it comes to establishing benchmarks for your rebrand. Choose which metrics you want to track and begin gathering data prior to launch.
Again, rebrands often take time to begin showing return, so it’s not as simple as just checking the same numbers after a year or so. You’ll want to develop a consistent, ongoing process for checking in and seeing how your brand is performing over time.
The only problem with digital metrics like these is that, over time, it can be difficult to know how much of the change you should attribute to the rebrand and how much can be accounted for by efforts like content marketing, paid advertising, campaigns, etc. Still, consistent measurement should at least give you a better sense of your rebrand’s ROI.
Website traffic
Google ranking
Number of website form submissions
Number of downloads
Paid media clicks and conversions
Number of social followers, likes, comments, and mentions
2. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Considered by many to be the gold standard for measuring “customer” experience, your net promoter score is also a common way to measure how audiences feel about your brand. It involves sending out a one-question survey: “On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to recommend [Organization] to a friend or colleague?”
It can be helpful to measure different list segments separately (for instance, new supporters versus those who have shown interest but haven’t donated yet and longtime supporters).
Once you’ve received your answers, tally up the number of Promoters, Passives, and Detractors:
Promoters respond with a score of 9 or 10 and are typically loyal and enthusiastic supporters.
Passives respond with a score of 7 or 8. They are satisfied with your organization but not enthusiastic enough to be promoters.
Detractors respond with a score of 0 to 6. These are unhappy or skeptical audience members who are unlikely to continue supporting you without some meaningful intervention.
To calculate your NPS score, subtract the percentage of Detractors from the percentage of Promoters. For instance, if you get 100 replies and 80 of them are Promoters, 10 are Passives, and 10 are Detractors, your NPS score would be 90.
3. Other Brand Tracking Surveys
Your Net Promoter Score isn’t the only type of survey you can send out. Depending on the nature of your work as well as your organization’s specific goals, it might make sense to ask your audiences different questions. While they may not offer you a convenient “score” like your NPS, they can still tell you a lot about your brand’s performance.
“What positive/negative associations do you have with [Organization]?”
“How likely are you to donate to [Organization] again?”
“How would you compare [Organization] to other organizations in [the same impact space]?”
4. Social Listening
Social listening is the practice of monitoring social media channels for mentions of your brand, competitor brands, and related keywords. Typically, it’s about tracking more than just mentions, but rather monitoring the conversation around your brand.
Still, as they say in PR, “Any publicity is good publicity,” and tracking the number of times your organization is mentioned can tell you a lot about how your rebrand is performing in terms of brand awareness.
There are a number of social listening tools out there that can help you get a better sense of your own brand’s mentions related to competitors. For more information on some of these tools, check out this article by Hootsuite.
Conclusion
As we’ve seen, there are many—if not countless—ways to measure your rebrand’s performance. The metrics you choose will depend heavily on the nature of your organization’s work and your specific goals. But ultimately, the metrics themselves aren’t as important as the consistency and diligence you use to track them. Much like brands themselves, metrics tend to become more meaningful over time.
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