How Platypus and the University of Oxford ran a 600:1 ROI CRO project

How Platypus and the University of Oxford ran a 600:1 ROI CRO project

The challenge

The University of Oxford has a campaign called Oxford Thinking. It acts as a central donation hub where you can donate to any of the many different funds at the 38 colleges in the University.

The web team believed they could improve the conversion rate of the Oxford Thinking hub (the number of people who came to the page that completed their donation), raising more money for the excellent funds long term. 

So they asked us to plan a series of tests on the website to encourage more people to finish that all-important donation process. 

What we did

The team at Platypus analysed the behaviour of users on the page and came up with four tests. Each would test different key elements of the page that we believed would increase that conversion rate.

We planned tests that 

  • simplified the layout of the page
  • improved the user experience by showing the donor their progress
  • reminded users what fund they were donating to when as they progressed through the pages.
Image of Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Oxford, UK

Results

Our testing programme gave the web team at the University some vital learnings. Our tests meant up to 22% more people were completing their donations.

testimonial on the work carried out by platypus for University of Oxford, improving ROI by 600:1

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Find out how we can help your cause

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“I've worked with the Platypus team multiple times. They're the agency we always go back to because of their broad range of skills, consistently great team, good sense and pragmatism and the fact that hey are always a joy to work with."
Lynn RobertsAssistant Director - Digital & Innovation, Action for Children
"We have worked with Platypus on a number of big projects; from understanding what Parkinson’s UK needs from a Digital Fundraising team to developing Data Studio dashboards that our teams can work with on a daily basis. It is great to work with an agency who ‘get us’ and can help us with such a wide variety of digital projects in such a knowledgeable way."
Emily SturdyDigital Supporter Engagement Lead, Parkinson's UK
“In a sometimes confusing and murky digital world, the guys at Platypus are a breath of fresh air. They know their stuff, they tell us it straight and really care about the work we do together. There’s a true sense of partnership between the Sightsavers and Platypus teams, which makes working together more productive and more enjoyable.”
Ella PierceHead of Digital Fundraising, Sightsavers
"Platypus are an awesome agency to work with - their expertise of PPC is fantastic and they have transformed our Google Grants account. Huge thanks to the amazing Nikki for being such a patient and knowledgeable trainer."
Imogen ProctorDigital Marketing Executive, Teenage Cancer Trust
So fab to hear that Platypus are as good as I thought they were. Feedback from the team was that they were a "dream to work with" on our Christmas campaign, "Understand and totally got us." Thanks guys, you've helped a lot of children with cancer with your genius.
Kate LeeCEO, Clic Sargent
Image of Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Oxford, UK

Find out how we can help your charity

Fill in the form below, tell us what you’d like to achieve, and we’ll get back in touch to arrange a call to tell you more about how we can help!

“I've worked with the Platypus team multiple times. They're the agency we always go back to because of their broad range of skills, consistently great team, good sense and pragmatism and the fact that hey are always a joy to work with."
Lynn Roberts
Lynn RobertsAssistant Director - Digital & Innovation, Action for Children
"Platypus is the best search marketing agency I've worked with in over 20 years. No other agency has the level of paid search knowledge than they do."
Kim Watson
Kim WatsonVersus Arthritis
“In a sometimes confusing and murky digital world, the guys at Platypus are a breath of fresh air. They know their stuff, they tell us it straight and really care about the work we do together. There’s a true sense of partnership between the Sightsavers and Platypus teams, which makes working together more productive and more enjoyable.”
Ella Pierce
Ella PierceDirector of fundraising, Sightsavers
"Platypus' social media review was incredibly useful for us. It helped us identify areas for improvement and provided practical recommendations that we could implement right away. The team's expertise and collaborative approach made the process smooth and very enjoyable!"
Sarah Cooper
Sarah CooperCommunications Manager, Motor Insurance Bureau.
“The Platypus team were a dream to work with on this campaign. They clearly didn’t just use a boilerplate approach with us – they were flexible, adaptable, and quick to respond. What’s more, they are true Facebook Ads experts. It was the combination of their approach and expertise that made this campaign so successful. Thanks, Platypus!”
Joanna Sullivan, Head of Community & Events Fundraising
Joanna Sullivan, Head of Community & Events FundraisingDementia UK
We would recommend Platypus - they work hard on optimisation and improved our campaigns. They have been an integral extension of our operations.
Nepa Jamilah Uddin
Nepa Jamilah UddinMarketing Manager (Family Placement), Barnardo’s
"We were really pleased with the SEO work that Platypus did for us. The team are very friendly and approachable and always happy to answer any questions or offer advice. We were delighted with the huge increase in organic search traffic.
Stuart Hill
Stuart HillFormer digital manager, Mental Health Foundation