RBFF's Decade-Long Program Gets 500,000 Boats Back on the Water
The Boat Registration Reactivation Program grossed $2.2 million in 2022
The Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF) has concluded its 2022 Boat Registration Reactivation Program having mailed over 414,000 letters to lapsed boat registrants and averaging a record 11.4% response rate across 14 states. Since the program began in 2012, RBFF has helped get more than half a million boats re-registered across the country, grossing nearly $19 million dollars for participating state agencies.
“Retaining and reactivating boaters is essential for the continued growth of boating participation in our country,” said Dave Chanda, President & CEO of RBFF. “This program helps keep Americans on the water and provides critical funding to support the conservation efforts of state fishing and wildlife agencies.”
RBFF expanded this year’s program to include not only direct mail templates, but also email reminders and Facebook ads. The letters were redesigned to incorporate QR codes which averaged a goal conversion rate of 70.6%. Using these assets, fourteen state agencies were able to gross over $2.2 million as 57,363 boats were re-registered.
“The Boat Registration Reactivation Program has been an exceptional outreach tool for [our agency] to encourage our constituents to get back on the water,” said Brian Daniels, Customer Support Services Manager at the NC Wildlife Resources Commission. “RBFF and their dedicated staff have found a successful formula for creating excitement and interest in recreational boating and fishing.”
States from all regions of the country participated, including: Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.
An additional participant, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, had previously participated in the program and were able to implement it again on its own.
Since 2012, the program has mailed over 5.6 million letters resulting in 508,432 registrations and $18,903,334.05 in gross program registration fees for states.
To learn more about the program, please contact Joanne Martonik, Senior State Marketing Manager at RBFF.
ABOUT RBFF
RBFF is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to increase recreational angling and boating participation, thereby protecting and restoring the nation's aquatic natural resources. RBFF's 60 in 60 effort strives to attract 60 million anglers to the sport by the end of 2021. To help recruit, retain and reactivate participants, RBFF developed the award-winning Take Me Fishing™ and Vamos A Pescar™ campaigns to build awareness of boating, fishing, and conservation and educate people about the benefits of participation.
The campaign websites feature how-to-videos and an interactive state-by-state map that allows visitors to find local boating and fishing spots, helping boaters and anglers of all ages and experience levels learn, plan, and equip for a successful day on the water.
RBFF also offers its industry stakeholders many tools including a Fishing License & Boat Registration Plugin to connect their customers with the information they need in just one click, as well as an embeddable Places to Fish & Boat Map to help their customers discover places to fish and boat near them.
For further information: Bruna Carincotte, bcarincotte@rbff.org, 202-743-9894