Work
User Experience
User Research
Journey Mapping
Digital Marketing
UFCW 1518
Case Study
An organizing strategy for the 21st century
Organization
UFCW 1518
Awards
In an era of internet-based digital connectivity, how may labour unions adapt their organizing efforts to mobilize workers online? This project was born out of the need to strategize UFCW 1518’s approach to generating and engaging with leads in the digital environment. Leveraging best practices in digital marketing & user experience, we developed what we came to call a “Digital Organizing Toolkit”: an actionable journey map that describes the experience of a lead — from becoming interested in improving their workplace to joining our union. The toolkit identifies the most effective digital assets to deploy in each stage of a lead's journey, thus providing an actionable digital strategy to deploy successful organizing drives, with a digital-first approach.
Challenge:
Not unlike many other labour organizations with long histories, UFCW 1518 has been challenged to adapt to new technologies and new ways of communicating with people: both union members and non-members.
While digital communications had become part of UFCWS 1518's member engagement strategy, when it came to engaging non-members & generating leads online, there was still much work to do to bridge the gap between the organizing work happening on the ground and the organizing work that could be happening online
That was the challenge in this project: thinking differently. Our goal was to build a digital organizing strategy from scratch.
Research:
There was no better way to find out more about how non-union members where learning about us than by asking them. Our team scheduled interviews with a number of workers who we had recently organized.
We knew selecting a diverse set of interviews was important. Our organizing targets, like our membership, worked in diverse industries and were of diverse ethnicities and ages. We made sure to schedule interviews with people that were representative of that diversity.
I had previously led research interviews with recently organized workers during my research for UFCW 1518’s Brochure. However, the interviews for this project differed in that they had a greater focus on learning about the digital discoverability of our organization and the digital touchpoints these workers had encountered in their journey to organizing.
Here’s an example of one of the user personas we developed:
User Persona
Digitally-savvy Young Worker
Demographics & background: 24 years old. Single. University student. Parents worked in a unionized workplace. Working at company for 2 years.
Goals & motivations: Management keeps changing his schedule at the last minute and implementing arbitrary new code of conduct rules. While he likes his job, he believes that management’s behaviour is unfair and something needs to be done about it.
Digital touchpoints: When he started thinking about the possibility of unionizing, a Google search was the first thing he did. All his research about UFCW 1518 & unionizing happened online. He looked at different union websites, social media accounts, before making a decision. Once he did, he sent an email to UFCW 1518. He redirected his co-workers to our website for more information.
Painpoints: Can’t find enough information about workers who have actually gone through the organizing process. Can’t find an in-between from reading this website and contacting the union.
Outcome:
We developed a lead journey informed by what we had learnt from our user research interviews. The journey we developed identified six different phases:
- Awareness: When someone becomes aware of 1518
- Interest: When someone takes an action that indicates interest in unions (e.g. engages with an organizing landing page)
- Consideration: When someone continues to be remarketed, so they will consider supporting/bringing a union to their workplace
- Intent: When someone signs a card or has gotten in touch stating they are interested in joining 1518
- Experience: When someone is part of a live organizing drive
- Commitment: When someone votes to join a union in a certification vote.
Beyond identifying the different theoretical stages a worker who organizes goes through, our journey described the potential digital touchpoints at each stage, the goals of a lead and provided context around their motivations & needs. By clarifying and understanding the lived experience of workers who organize, we were able to identify a variety of engagement opportunities in the digital environment that we were not taking advantage of.
The Digital Organizing Journey
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Labour vote results
Labour vote results.
Awareness
Interest
Consideration
Intent
Become aware of 1518, from friends, online ad, etc.
Improve their workplace.
Learn more about unions and UFCW 1518.
Find the best union for their workplace. Learn about the process of joining a union
Learn about next steps. Have a clear point of contact.
Convince their coworkers to vote yes.
Understand what’s happening. Get information to make a decision.
Stop the union.
Learn more about next steps.
Learn what else they can do to improve their workplace, keep in touch with the union.
Frustrated, Angry, Curious.
Curious, Hopeful, may be scared
Scared, motivated.
A bit scared, excited.
Excited, anxious.
Angry, confused, curious, anxious.
Angry, anxious
Happy, curious or angry, confused.
Sad or relieved.
Engage with a digital organizing tool (e.g. visits an organizing website, clicks on an ad)
Successfully join the union.
Take part in a live organizing drive. Does not know what’s happening/doesn’t have an opinion.
Take part in a live organizing drive. Is an early adopter.
Sign a card or get in touch stating they are interested in joining 1518
Continue seeking/receiving information about UFCW 1518 (re-marketing). Provide contact information.
Experience
Commitment
Fb Analytics (Reach)
SEO Score
Google Analytics
NewMode
SEO Score
Google Analytics
NewMode
Facebook Analytics (Engagement)
Facebook Pixel (Visits)
Facebook Pixel (Visits)
Email List Numbers
Card signatures (in SalesForce)
Contacts in Salesforce
Google Search (SEO)
Word of Mouth
Social Media Ads Google Ads Affiliate Marketing
Advocacy Campaign
Re-targeted Ads
Organizing Landing Pages
Lead Magnet
Live Chat
Website
More re-targeted ads
Newsletter
Webinar
Videos
Workplace-specific landing page
Thank you email
Thank you for signing page (checkout page)
Way to share Workplace-specific Landing Page
Regular drive updates
Swag
Flyers
Texts
Web guide for organizing
Business Cards
Leaflets
Union Brochure
Flyers
Follow up email
Newsletters
Texts
Follow up email (follow us on social media)
Stage:
Does not join the union.
Take part in a live organizing drive. Is against the union.
ACTIVITIES
GOALS
EMOTIONS
TOUCHPOINTS
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
To provide an example of a tangible action that resulted from this exercise, after conceptualizing this journey map, we recognized the need of tracking website visitors, so we could re-market leads (something we were not doing at the time). We thought about adding an email sign up form to our Join Us website, as well as creating a corresponding email newsletter, one that would focus on delivering relevant organizing content to leads and continue reengaging them.
Our project did not end with this journey. Based on the touchpoints we identified, we created a timeline of different deliverables our team needed to work on.
Some of the steps we took to improve the digital experience of our organizing leads, based on this project, included:
Data Collection
Opportunities for online data collection became clearer when developing our journey map. In particular, we identified opportunities to collect the email addresses of potential leads visiting our Join Us landing page, as well as community members participating in our advocacy campaigns.
Web Pop-up
A pop-up in UFCW 1518's Join us page. It uses a "lead magnet" to collect lead email addresses (offering visitors an item in exchange for their information).
A pop-up in UFCW 1518's Join us page. It uses a "lead magnet" to collect lead email addresses (offering visitors an item in exchange for their information).
Email Opt-in
Email opt-in in an advocacy campaign, a simple but effective way of letting people participating in our campaigns indicate whether they wanted to hear more from us. It led to the collection of thousands of leads.
Email opt-in in an advocacy campaign, a simple but effective way of letting people participating in our campaigns indicate whether they wanted to hear more from us. It led to the collection of thousands of leads.
Awareness Ads
Another important touchpoint we recognized in our digital organizing journey map were social media ads. Our team kept UFCW 1518's social media accounts very active and it was a platform that got a lot of engagement. However, we were not doing enough to reach non-members among our followers.
As a result of this project, we changed our approach on social media to seize each organizing moment, every time we encountered one.
We added contacts from our organizing database (based on SalesForce) to our social media ad accounts. Every time there was an action we were taking that was relevant to non-members or there was a piece of news with an organizing angle, we would make sure to put out an ad about it.
Website Optimizations
Including:
- Creating a digital union card workers could sign online
- Adding a "Sign a Card" call to action button to our workplace-specific landing pages
- Addind pop-ups to organizing websites redirecting people to upcoming union info session events they could attend
- Adding a chat box option to our organizing websites that connected site visitors to organizers in real-time
Digital Union Cards & Signatures
Challenge:
A branded but versatile magazine.
The redesign of UFCW 1518's UPDATE Magazine was viewed as an extension of UFCW 1518's recent brand redesign. The vision was that
There were also a lot of unknowns around the type of content that will
The vision for the new magazine was that it needed to b
As a regular publication, it was established that while Update ought to align with UFCW 1518’s new brand it also needed to be a publication able to stand on its own. An independent Update brand was required. The new print brand needed to derive from UFCW 1518’s brand. A way to make the publication easily replicated and a versatile format — the magazine’s structure had not yet been established — was also needed.
Outcome:
We developed a lead journey informed by what we had learnt from our user research interviews. The journey we developed identified six different phases:
- Awareness: When someone becomes aware of 1518
- Interest: When someone takes an action that indicates interest in unions (e.g. engages with an organizing landing page)
- Consideration: When someone continues to be remarketed, so they will consider supporting/bringing a union to their workplace
- Intent: When someone signs a card or has gotten in touch stating they are interested in joining 1518
- Experience: When someone is part of a live organizing drive
- Commitment: When someone votes to join a union in a certification vote.
Beyond identifying the different theoretical stages a worker who organizes goes through, our journey described the potential digital touchpoints at each stage, the goals of a lead and provided context around their motivations & needs. By clarifying and understanding the lived experience of workers who organize, we were able to identify a variety of engagement opportunities in the digital environment that we were not taking advantage of.
The Digital Organizing Journey
To provide an example of a tangible action that resulted from this exercise, after conceptualizing this journey map, we recognized the need of tracking website visitors, so we could re-market leads (something we were not doing at the time). We thought about adding an email sign up form to our Join Us website, as well as creating a corresponding email newsletter, one that would focus on delivering relevant organizing content to leads and continue reengaging them.
Our project did not end with this journey. Based on the touchpoints we identified, we created a timeline of different deliverables our team needed to work on.
Some of the steps we took to improve the digital experience of our organizing leads, based on this project, included:
Data Collection
Opportunities for online data collection became clearer when developing our journey map. In particular, we identified opportunities to collect the email addresses of potential leads visiting our Join Us landing page, as well as community members participating in our advocacy campaigns.
Web Pop-up
A pop-up in UFCW 1518's Join us page. It uses a "lead magnet" to collect lead email addresses (offering visitors an item in exchange for their information).
A pop-up in UFCW 1518's Join us page. It uses a "lead magnet" to collect lead email addresses (offering visitors an item in exchange for their information).
Email Opt-in
Email opt-in in an advocacy campaign, a simple but effective way of letting people participating in our campaigns indicate whether they wanted to hear more from us. It led to the collection of thousands of leads.
Email opt-in in an advocacy campaign, a simple but effective way of letting people participating in our campaigns indicate whether they wanted to hear more from us. It led to the collection of thousands of leads.
Awareness Ads
Another important touchpoint we recognized in our digital organizing journey map were social media ads. Our team kept UFCW 1518's social media accounts very active and it was a platform that got a lot of engagement. However, we were not doing enough to reach non-members among our followers.
As a result of this project, we changed our approach on social media to seize each organizing moment, every time we encountered one.
We added contacts from our organizing database (based on SalesForce) to our social media ad accounts. Every time there was an action we were taking that was relevant to non-members or there was a piece of news with an organizing angle, we would make sure to put out an ad about it.
Brand & Style Guide
I developed a UFCW 1518 child brand in Update's rebranding. While I retained some of the essentials characteristics of the UFCW 1518 brand — including it's brand blue and main Gotham typeface — I created an independant visual identity for the magazine.
The new Update brand I developed included a brand logo, unique brand colours, and used a larger range of font styles from the Gotham typeface family.
To fullfil the objective of continuity and easy replication I produced an Update Brand Style Guide, which introduced the magazine's new visual identity and provided instructions on how to maintain it.
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Template
After Update's brand development I proceeded to create an InDesign magazine template. This was a process of putting the new brand in practice.The template I developed included various suggested layout styles, tailored layouts for standard sections (ie. Executive Messages, Interview Articles) and an objects library with various branded standard applications of print publications (ie. pull quotes, photo captions, etc.). In addition to these features I also produced a smart template, with various time-saving features that InDesign makes possible.The resulting template fulfilled the objective of making Update a versatile publication: branded but simple to produce.
Plus more... This page continues to be under construction. I would love to tell you more about this project, just write me an email.
User Persona #1
Inside Lead Organizer
Demographics: 30 years old. Single. BA in Sociology. Interested in politics & social justice issues. Working at retail company for 2 years.
Goals & motivations: She’s tired of her boss disrespecting her and her co-workers. She’s often asked to stay work late to “help” but she’s never paid overtime. She’s connected with unions in the past through her activism work. She’s convinced her workplace needs to unionize.
Needs & challenges: She contacted the union. Even though she’s a strong union supporter she’s struggling to get her co-workers on board. She doesn’t know enough about UFCW 1518’s history and victories to convince her co-workers. She’s also unclear about how the organizing process works.
User Persona #2
On-the-fence Supporter
Demographics: 45 years old. Father. High School graduation. Working at industrial-sector company for 10+ years.
Goals & motivations: He knows all about injustices at work but after 10+ years working in the same place, he doesn’t know how it could be any better. He’s open to the idea of a union, but he’s scared, it’s important for him to keep his job no matter what.
Needs & challenges: He doesn’t know enough about unions and the organizing process to take the plunge. He needs some reassurance that unionizing will be worth the risk before he can call himself a supporter. He wants facts and figures and not empty promises.
After getting a better understanding of the audience of this product, I also connected with staff members from our organizing team to better understand some of the challenges at the early stages of a union drive (likely, when we would be utilizing this product).
I also compiled a variety of organizing educational materials from other unions and our National union (UFCW Canada) to inform this project.
Outcome
Information Architecture
The Union Information Brochure I developed was divided in five sections, each focused on engaging readers around a particular common question. The sections told a story progressively. The content began by addressing some of the most basic question about unions (what they are, how they operate) and went to address some more challenging topics and questions towards the end (what's the process of organizing, how much does this cost).
Here's a summary version of what each section covered.
This introductory section looked to address some of the most basic questions about unions. It also introduced some of our value propositions so as to keep readers engaged and wanting to learn more.
- What is a union?
- Brief history of labour
- Advantages of joining a union
This second section focused specifically on UFCW 1518(vs other unions). After readers had learnt what union were about, this second step aimed to convince them to not only join a union, but why our union. Some subsections included:
- Our structure
- Relationship with broader labour movement
Graphics Assets
Product Design
Final Product
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