CASE STUDY · WHATSAPP
Bringing 4,000 supporters along for the ride
When Greg James set off to pedal 1,000km from Weymouth to Edinburgh for Red Nose Day, Comic Relief used Movement's WhatsApp tools to put every supporter on the back of his tandem. The result: a very high open rate across the whole challenge, more income and repeat donations along the way
“We have a real struggle to get any space in our busy email schedule around Red Nose Day and therefore a barrier to contact the supporters of our challenges. WhatsApp and Movement gave us a way to bring the supporters on the road with us, its felt like a brilliant behind the scenes stewardship journey that connected our donors to the challenge in a way we have never been able to do before. The added bonus it also drove more income and repeat donations along the way too. We were absolutely trilled with the outcome.” - Fran Barber, Comic Relief
The challenge
For Red Nose Day, BBC Radio 1's Greg James took on his Longest Ride: 1,000 bumpy kilometres on a tandem, over 8 gruelling days, finishing in Edinburgh on the night of Comic Relief: Funny for Money.
A live, week-long endurance challenge is a stewardship problem as much as a fundraising one. Supporters sign up excited on day one. The job is keeping them with Greg through every hilly, rain-soaked kilometre after that, and giving them a way to act on that feeling when it peaks.
Email is too slow for a story that changes by the hour, and social feeds bury it. Comic Relief wanted a channel that put the challenge directly in supporters' pockets, with videos, real time updates and ways for supporters to send support back (think motivational gifs, memes and videos!). That channel was WhatsApp, run through Movement.
How it worked
4,000 supporters signed up to follow the ride on WhatsApp. Over 8 days, Comic Relief sent 36 campaigns from the Movement platform, totalling 70,767 messages. The rhythm was simple and relentless:
- Daily video diaries from Greg. Straight-to-camera updates filmed from the road, showing exactly how the ride was going. Video content was the channel's superpower and set WhatsApp apart from every other channel on the campaign.
- Quick replies that made it a conversation. Supporters could tap to send Greg a message of support or share how they were backing him. These were the most engaged messages of the whole challenge.
- Donation asks timed to the story. When Greg was cycling in the dark to reach Galashiels, supporters knew about it within the hour, with a donate button one tap away. The top three performing campaigns paired a survey with a donation ask.
- Broadcast tie-ins. Messages pointed supporters to The One Show and the Funny for Money finale, connecting the pocket-sized story to the national one.
The Comic Relief team managed much of this on the move, scheduling and sending campaigns from their phones while following the ride.
The messages
A snapshot of the supporter journey, exactly as it landed in 4,000 pockets.
DAY 4 · MORNING
A video diary from Greg as he gears up for another huge day on the tandem. Short, personal and impossible to get anywhere else.
DAY 7 · MIDDAY
A pit-stop check-in pairing Greg's pain with the boost donations were giving him, and a one-tap donate link.
DAY 7 · EVENING
Greg cycling in the dark to reach Galashiels, a nudge to tune in to The One Show, and a donate button.
DAY 8 · MORNING
The final stretch. Supporters wake up to find Greg has already been pedalling for hours.
DAY 8 · THE FINISH LINE
The celebration message. Every supporter is thanked as part of Greg's village, with one last chance to add to the total before the live reveal on BBC One.
The results
Across the full challenge, 70,767 messages were sent and 52,614 of them were read. That is an open rate of 74%(!) sustained day after day with minimal drop-off.
- Open rates stayed high even as the numbers sky rocketed. The Day 1 question of the day hit a 91% read rate across 4,449 messages. A later message reached 91% read with a 3.1% click rate across 6,241 messages.
- Clicks climbed as the story peaked. The best-performing message at scale drove a 5.8% click rate on an 88% read rate.
- Opt-outs stayed tiny. The highest opt-out rate on any in-challenge campaign was around 1%, and most were far lower. Supporters wanted these messages.
- Over £9,000 raised through the channel. Donations attributed to WhatsApp links comfortably outstripped the messaging costs.
For context, the average charity email open rate sits in the 20 to 30% range. WhatsApp didn't just reach more of the list. It reached nearly all of it, every day, for 8 days.
“We have a real struggle to get any space in our busy email schedule around Red Nose Day and therefore a barrier to contact the supporters of our challenges. WhatsApp and Movement gave us a way to bring the supporters on the road with us, its felt like a brilliant behind the scenes stewardship journey that connected our donors to the challenge in a way we have never been able to do before. The added bonus it also drove more income and repeat donations along the way too. We were absolutely trilled with the outcome.” - Fran Barber, Comic Relief
Beyond the finish line
Stewardship didn't stop when Greg crossed the line in Edinburgh. With the relationship built, Comic Relief followed up with a personalised invitation to supporters' own challenge: the Longest Walk, 100 miles their way.
Each message greeted the supporter by name, carried a thank-you video and offered a clear next step. The WhatsApp audience built around one challenge became the warm start for the next.
The personalised Longest Walk follow-up, sent after the challenge ended.
Put your next campaign in supporters' pockets
Movement helps charities, trade unions and campaigning organisations run WhatsApp at scale, with rich video, quick replies and donation journeys built in. Book a chat now.
