Developing strategies for connecting prospective members and encouraging them to take action with CURE using new entry points. Our Design Team focused on compelling video stories told via social media for engaging rural Minnesotans.
Client: CURE Minnesota
Methods: Brainstorming Web, Competitive Analysis, Concept Mapping, Interactive Prototyping, Flow Diagram, Secondary Research, Touchpoint Strategy Map, UX Strategy Guide
Role: UX Strategist & Designer
Tools: UX Strategy Guide, Figma, Google Docs, Lume Video Recording
Deliverables: Touchpoint Strategy Map, Client Presentation
Growing beyond grassroots
CURE has identified their need to engage younger rural Minnesotans with their organization to increase membership. Founded in 1992, CURE began as a grassroots organization with a focus on water quality and environmental activism. CURE has expanded their mission guiding state and federal environmental, energy, and democratic policies and practices that support a vibrant rural Minnesota future.
This expansion requires engaging and welcoming new members into their community who are willing and able to partner with CURE as stewards for “a future that shines brightly for generations to come.”
Insight into CURE’s community and base
“A gap that we’re currently experiencing is engaging members in a new way. We have a base of members that come from that [grassroots origin]. But… we want to open up new opportunities to connect with people.”
Our Design Team conducted a stakeholder interview to understand CURE’s mission and their goals for this project. After the stakeholder interview, our Design Team completed deep dive research, which included:
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Competitive analysis of 10 other organizations that serve a similar demographic and do similar work as CURE, to learn how they engage current and prospective members.
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Secondary research reviewing CURE’s branding guide and previous work they completed on their website redevelopment, to understand their primary and secondary user groups.
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Creating a user journey map of current CURE touchpoints for prospective members.
Engaging with rural Minnesotans
Allows CURE to…
Drive users to their website where they can sign up to be a member of the CURE network and receive email updates .
Encourage individual members to sign and send letters to Congress, leave public comments, etc. for causes CURE is supporting.
“[To] get 100 to 200 people to submit a comment on an issue is a… big deal… [Having] the tools in place to make it easy for… people to [make] individual comments [is a goal]. Then… next time… those people will be a little bit more engaged and willing to do it, because they saw how easy it was the last time.”
-CURE Stakeholder
Strategies to connect CURE with rural MN
Our Design Team needed to connect CURE’s website to possible entry points for prospective members. Concept mapping helped us develop a guiding strategy statement and touchpoint strategy map.
We began sketching a mix of mobile and web designs for low fidelity wireframes, preparing for prototyping. However, our entry points were were centered around prospective members using their mobile devices. We realized our focus should be on enhancing the mobile experience first.
A mobile strategy with an emphasis on social media entry points.
CURE’s current email sign up page (mobile view)
CURE’s current welcome email after new member sign up (mobile view)
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CURE currently has a Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and TikTok social media accounts. CURE already has an existing library of videos, which are fairly lengthy (approximately 45 minutes each). Our design focused on prospective members viewing a short and engaging video on TikTok. CURE is fairly active on their Facebook account, and TikTok videos can be posted to Facebook.
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The CURE mobile site is
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Changed the confirmation message on the mobile site when new members sign up for email, or send a comment. Email confirmation was also updated with more visual elements.
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*Flyers
*In person events
*Canvasing
Interactive prototyping the “Get Involved” strategy
Our Design Team collaborated closely to ensure our final product was consistent. However, my specific area of focus was interactive prototyping around getting a prospective member to sign up on the website and improving the welcome and action alert messaging.
Compelling story for the client
Since our focus was on a engaging prospective members with compelling stories, our team thought it was fitting to share a story with the CURE stakeholder team.
Our client presentation focused on telling a compelling story of two rural Minnesotans who signed up to be CURE members using the new strategy we are proposing.
Next Steps
It was a privilege to work on this project, and I am grateful for this opportunity to work for CURE! Our strategy had a narrow focus. If we had more time, we would’ve provided more guidance around the following recommendations:
Ideas for creating video content with limited resources.
Recommendations for content and timeframe for implementing for email and text messages.
Providing a larger strategy (ie. in person events, canvasing, etc.) which encompassed this mobile strategy.
Personally, I love working on strategy and I could easily spend more time working on a project like this. There is one change I would advocate for, if we had more time. I would have recommended that we develop a strategy implementation map/timeline. It would be difficult for an organization with limited resources, like CURE, to implement our strategy without more guidance or resources.