Every time we take on a new project at cStreet Campaigns, the client must go through what we call a ‘Mapping meeting’ or ‘Mapping call.’ The purpose of this mapping is to evaluate the high-level goals of the project and understand (or flesh out) how the organization/campaign either engages – or hopes to engage – its supporters. This is mandatory for all projects, as this meeting is what informs our Project Strategy & any eventual web design in the project.

We’ve recently been talking to clients more and more about how to improve transparency between their organization and its supporters, and one way in which we’re increasingly urging folks to do this is by integrating their ladder of engagement directly into their web properties.  

The Bully Project Badge Page

We think that this is an increasingly important way to not only provide clarity to supporters, but also to encourage greater involvement. This can be done a number of ways, from using game mechanics that unlock new activities as users complete simple actions to designing a ladder page.

With a recent project – the refresh of The BULLY Project – we exposed the ladder of engagement that we developed for them explicitly on the front end, which allows users to better understand where they fall and what it means to move up the ladder.

In this use-case, supporters earn badges for taking different types of actions. For example, when they take the pledge to end bullying, they get the ‘Upstander’ badge and become a Level 1 supporter. Supporters are then prompted to take additional actions (ranging from simple surveys to telephone townhall trainings to making a donation) that can move them up the ladder, and they can see/monitor their own progress in doing so. 

By putting the ladder of engagement on the front end of web properties, you not only create a more transparent relationship between your organization and supporters, you also provide users with a much better sense of how precisely they can support your goals.