Animal Rescue Non-Profit | Issue Awareness Study
How comprehensive awareness research revealed key insights into public understanding of animal welfare issues, enabling strategic messaging and advocacy.
The Challenge
Animal Rescue Non-Profit commissioned research to benchmark U.S. public awareness and emotional response to key animal-welfare issues, and to understand expectations versus lived experiences when acquiring pets from different sources. The goal was to inform messaging, audience targeting, and advocacy.
Our Approach
Quantitative Online Study
PROOF Insights executed a quantitative online study among U.S. adults (18+).
- • Issue familiarity and emotional response
- • Pet-acquisition expectations vs. experiences
- • Support actions (adopt, foster, donate, advocate)
- • Broad insight categories and practical applications
Key Research Focus Areas
Awareness & Understanding
- • Current knowledge of animal welfare practices
- • Emotional responses to key issues
- • Information source preferences
- • Educational content receptivity
Pet Acquisition Journey
- • Expectations vs. actual experiences
- • Decision-making factors
- • Source preferences and barriers
- • Post-adoption satisfaction drivers
Insight Categories & Benefits
Awareness Landscape
Identifies what the public already understands about animal-welfare practices.
Benefit: Helps prioritize which messages can be reinforced immediately for quick wins.
Message Resonance
Highlights which themes and educational points elicit stronger positive engagement.
Benefit: Guides content strategy to emphasize emotionally compelling narratives that convert interest into action.
Expectation vs. Experience
Compares what people believe will happen in pet acquisition with how it typically unfolds.
Benefit: Enables expectation-setting campaigns that close perception gaps and reduce adoption friction.
Audience Segmentation
Maps high-level audience clusters by familiarity, receptivity, and barriers (no segment sizes disclosed).
Benefit: Informs targeting and creative tailoring without exposing proprietary cohort details.
Emotional Drivers & Frictions
Surfaces motivating emotions and lingering concerns without quantitative levels.
Benefit: Shapes messaging tone and support resources to amplify motivation and address common hesitations.
Policy & Advocacy Signals
Indicates which issue areas generate interest in civic action (directional only).
Benefit: Prioritizes policy education content and grassroots efforts likely to mobilize supporters.
Impact & Applications
Communications Roadmap
Align owned-channel content to reinforcing messages and high-resonance themes that drive engagement and action.
Targeting Framework
Focus outreach on receptive audiences; create myth-busting assets for lower-familiarity groups.
Experience Design
Build expectation-management touchpoints that simplify adoption and foster onboarding success.
Advocacy Enablement
Package policy explainers with clear next steps (contact local reps, support TNR, promote pet-inclusive housing).
Conclusion
By organizing insights into non-disclosive categories, Animal Rescue Non-Profit retains competitive advantage while still enabling decisive action in marketing, community outreach, and advocacy planning. The research provides a strategic foundation for messaging, targeting, and program development that maximizes impact while protecting sensitive organizational intelligence.