Case study – LENS – The Woodland Trust
Finding the right words for The Woodland Trust
The Woodland Trust wanted a deeper understanding of how current, lapsed and prospective family members thought and talked about their experience of joining. That understanding became the foundation for a new approach to attracting and keeping members.
The challenge: Turning a well-loved cause into a clearer invitation to join
Family membership growth depended on turning awareness into commitment, yet the charity had limited insight into the language and reasoning members used when describing why and how they joined. Understanding that language mattered, because it shaped the best way to invite prospective members to do the same. Getting this right meant looking past stated motivations to the words people actually used.
What we did: Listening closely to how people described joining
We spoke with current and lapsed family members through focus groups, paired interviews and woodland walks, then applied discourse analysis using our LENS framework to the language used around becoming a member. Attention went beyond the reasons people gave, to the tone and structure of how they told the story: the hesitations, the vague timeframes, the words chosen to describe choice and timing.
What we found: An unexpected pattern in everyday language
The discourse analysis surfaced a pattern in how members talked about joining that neither the team nor the client had anticipated. It gave the Woodland Trust a way of understanding member behaviour that went well beyond stated motivations, pointing directly to what needed to change in how the charity communicates the decision to join.
The impact: Words that made membership feel like a decision
The findings reshaped how the Woodland Trust talks about joining, moving recommendations beyond broad strategy into specific words and phrases to use and avoid across channels. The charity has since applied these changes to its communications, replacing incidental language with messaging that gives new members a clearer sense of choice and urgency.
“Professional and friendly team who are born researchers and do the work to answer your objectives. They are a really clever and thoughtful bunch with a true partnership approach, fully invested in what they do to provide insight that can be acted upon.”
Market Research Manager, The Woodland Trust
If your members cannot quite explain why they joined, let's talk.