- Needle Partnered with Extra Life to Add the Option for Potential Donors to Chat with a Volunteer During Its Fifth Annual Global Fundraising Gaming Event
- Registrations and Donations Increased Tenfold When Online Visitors Engaged in a Chat Powered by Needle’s Platform
- Nearly Half of Site Visitors who Engaged in a Chat Donated or Registered; Less Than Six Percent of Visitors Donated or Registered Without a Chat
SALT LAKE CITY (December 4, 2013) – Needle, the leading provider of advocate-powered chat, announced today that registrations and donations increased nearly tenfold when Extra Life, an annual global gaming marathon that raises money for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, leveraged Needle’s innovative platform to engage potential donors on its homepage.
More than 3,000 visitors to the Extra Life<http://www.extra-life.org> site took advantage of the chat feature powered by Needle, and more than fifty percent of them registered for the marathon or made a donation. This was compared to less than six percent of site visitors who registered or donated without engaging in chat. Needle’s platform drove nearly $100,000 in donations, contributing to record-breaking funds raised during Extra Life’s fifth annual event.
Starting in mid-September, the option to chat was available to all visitors to the Extra Life website via a static button at the top of the page. Additionally, a proactive invite to chat appeared to visitors who spent a lot of time on the site, or who had repeat visits without registering or making a donation. The service was staffed with Extra Life employees and volunteers who engaged in real-time conversations with visitors to answer questions, provide advice and ask for donations.
“This was an historic year in terms of dollars raised through this event, and there is no doubt that making Needle’s chat platform available to potential registrants and donors played a huge role in that success,” said Jeromy Adams, Extra Life’s founder and program director. “Not only was the platform intuitive and easy to use, but having a volunteer base that was truly passionate about the event handle the interactions was a great way to get gamers excited about participating and motivated to raise money for their local CMN Hospital.”
Thousands of gamers register for the Extra Life gaming event every year. Gamers register online then solicit donations for each hour they play their game of choice during the marathon. All of the money raised by each player is given to local Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals to address each market’s biggest pediatric charitable need.
“We know the impact our chat platform has had for our eCommerce customers, but partnering with Extra Life was a great way to show that it has applications far beyond online retail,” said Morgan Lynch, founder and CEO of Needle. “Whether a company is selling a product or raising awareness, Needle is the key to real-time advocacy and we’re very pleased to have played a part in what Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals accomplished through Extra Life this year.”
About Needle
Needle is a technology and service platform that enables any business to recruit and enable its best advocates to directly engage customers on its behalf. By leveraging advocates, eCommerce companies can dramatically improve their customers’ experience throughout the customer life cycle (from discovery to support) via credible, authentic engagement with trusted sources. By allowing shoppers to engage with advocates while they have buying questions, companies that partner with Needle experience increased revenue and elevated customer loyalty and retention. For more information about how Needle works and who Needle works for, please visit www.needle.com. Needle is a privately held company based in Salt Lake City. Needle® is a registered trademark of Needle Inc.
