The British Red Cross helps millions of people in the UK and around the world to get the support they need when crisis strikes. British Red Cross is a registered charity with more than 32,500 volunteers and 3,500 staff.  

Its existing storytelling platform wasn’t integrated with its main site, and journeys to and from the website were not planned or optimised. It was time for a change… the introduction of “Stories”, a new modular website built with Sitecore that has the capability to connect British Red Cross with emotive, action-inspiring content. 

The way in which people interact with organisations has changed. British Red Cross knew that their audience wanted to engage with them, have a conversation with them, connect with their stories and be inspired. Digital content and storytelling has become a softer, more engaging way of interacting with a brand.

British Red Cross’ main storytelling platform used to sit in a subdomain and was not built in their Sitecore platform. The old site was not integrated with the main site, and journeys to and from the website were not planned or optimised.

With a more engaging platform and a new content model and strategy, British Red Cross would be able to create more meaningful connections between the public and their brand, build an engaged audience, inspire action and impact conversions.

The overall objective of the Stories project was to:

• Grow and sustain British Red Cross’ movement through stories that inspire millions of humanitarians to join them and help them achieve their mission;
• Increase awareness of their work and the need for it;
• Increase engagement opportunities for their audiences with related content;
• Inspire their users to take actions;
• Improve brand relevance (what they do, what they stand for).

The Stories project is British Red Cross’ new blog solution that sits as part of its main website. It provides visitors with a more engaging platform and a new content model and strategy, enabling the organisation to create more meaningful connections between the public and its brand.

Reusable modules provide the ability to editorially curate the homepage and category pages with content that users love and trust. The modules present campaigns in a way that has improved engagements and understanding of the charity’s work and created more impactful connections with users.

For example, during the coronavirus outbreak, the Stories platform has been used to overcome challenges around loneliness. 

Stories has enabled British Red Cross to publish articles that show how simple acts of kindness, like making a phone call to a neighbour who is vulnerable, could make a massive difference to someone’s life.

While its main website is heavily task-driven and service-user focused to ensure people get the help they need whenever they need it most, this had the potential to cause barriers between British Red Cross’ brand, and its users’ engagements.

The Stories solution has helped British Red Cross resolve the issue, bringing a human element to the website through storytelling, while also delivering content to respond to user’s needs and inspire actions such as donations or volunteer registration.

The Stories website has only been live for four months, but performance data suggests that users spend more time there than on the main British Red Cross website, visiting more pages per session, and returning to the site more often.

In terms of channel performance specifically, British Red Cross has noticed that organic search is still their main source of acquisition. Since launching, Stories has experienced 10,000+ visitors and counting.