what works? results from over 600 digital fundraising experiments

What Works in Online Fundraising

What We Learned From Over 600 Online Fundraising Experiments

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Virtuous is the nonprofit CRM helping charities create personal relationships, reduce costs and

maximize impact.

www.VirtuousCRM.com | www.NextAfter.com

Scott RichardsDirector of Training & Customer SuccessVirtuous Software

NextAfter is a fundraising research lab and consultancy that works with nonprofit organizations to help them better

understand their donors and inspire them to give generously.


Tim KachuriakChief Innovation and Optimization OfficerNextAfter

NextAfter is obsessed with answering one question:


What makes donors give?

To answer this question, NextAfter has conducted over

600 online fundraising

experiments with a cumulative lift of

25,677%


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What Works in Online FundraisingWhat We Learned From Over 600 Online

Fundraising Experiments

First, an Experiment

(b) (c)(a)

Which Landing Page is Optimized?

First, an ExperimentWhich Landing Page is Optimized?

121% increasein Donations

First, an ExperimentWhich Landing Page is Optimized?

74% increasein Donations

Testing trumps marketing intuition.Key I SIGHT #1:

Best practices are not enough– you need a rigorous, scientific

methodology.

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And So Began My Quest…

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Online Donor Funnel

Convert Site Visitors to Registered Users

Convert Site Visitors and Registered Users to

Donors Convert Donors to

Advocates

Interest

Involvement

Investme

nt

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Nonprofit Industry Benchmarks

1% - 4% Donation Conversion Rate

0.15% Email Response Rate

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Is the Funnel Leaking?

96% - 99.85%Failure Rate

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MECLABS is the largest optimization institution in the world.

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1,500+ major experimentsOver 1 billion emails tested10,000 sales-paths tested500,000 “decision-maker”

interviews5 million phone calls

100+ conferences/clinics

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Over 10,000+ Paths Tested

Copyright © MECLABS

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g =

9.81

m/s

2

1. The funnel is often presented as one potentially useful analogy for marketing. It is in fact, the primary analogy. All marketing should influence a decision.

2. The funnel analogy distorts reality. People are not falling into your funnel, they are falling out. The funnel must be inverted.

3. People don’t travel down the center of the funnel. People are climbing up the sides.

A New Perspective of the Funnel


It’s not a donor funnel, it’s a donor mountain.

Key I SIGHT #2:

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The Donor Mountain

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Email

Landing Page

Donation Process

Optimizing Each Micro-Yes

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ValueForce

CostForce

The Value Proposition

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Email

Landing Page

Donation Process

CostForce

ValueForce

(Mi) NO


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Email

Landing Page

Donation Process

Value Force

Cost Force

(Mi) YES


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My First Experiment

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My First ExperimentVersion A - Control

139% Increase in Clickthrough Rate42% Increase in Revenue

Version B - Test

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Small Changes >> Big Impact

Optimized

Original

139% Increase in Clickthrough42% Increase in Revenue

Small changes, to the right elements,can produce BIG IMPACT.

Key I SIGHT #3:

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Optimizing Email CaptureBUT ThisNOT This

42% increasein Email Signups

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Optimizing Email Appeals BUT ThisNOT This

118% increasein donations

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Optimizing the Process-Level Value Proposition

NOT This BUT This

133.7% increase in Email Signups

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Optimizing Donation PagesNOT This BUT This

258.1% increasein Donations

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“How do we provoke a conversation about

optimization in the nonprofit space?”

Online Fundraising Scorecard• Study of 151 Nonprofit Organizations• Analysis of Four Key Functions

– Email Capture– Email Communication– Donation Pages– Gift Acknowledgement

• 46-Point Assessment• Based on MECLABS Optimization

Heuristics Download Full Study:nextafter.com/scorecard

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Not All Verticals Perform the Same

Download Full Study: nextafter.com/scorecard

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Most Organizations Prioritize Email Acquisition


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“Why would I want to give you my email?”


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“I can get a crappy newsletter anywhere!”


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Aggregate Donor Inbox: 51,364 Nonprofit Emails…and counting!

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Question 1:

If I signed up to receive emails from an organization, what might I expect to receive in the first 30 days?


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Question 2: We’ve been talking about the importance of doing a Welcome Series for new email subscribers for almost a decade now. How many organizations are actually doing it?


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Question 3: How long after subscribing do organizations start asking for money?


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“Mr. Owl, how many clicks does it take to get to the end of a donation form?”


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65% require 3 or more clicks.


Friction kills online donations.Key I SIGHT #4:

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Friction in the Online Giving Process: Defined

/ˈfrikSHən/ Noun.

Anything that causes psychological resistance to a given element in the online donation process.

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Identifying types of friction in the online giving process.

Types of FrictionFsc = lT + dT ©


Examples of Length (lT)• Page-Length

Friction• Steps Friction• Field Number

Friction• Field Layout

Friction

Examples of Difficulty (dT)• Decision Friction• Confusion Friction• Error Friction• Waiting Friction

Field Number FrictionA donation form with an

exorbitant number of fields adds unwanted friction to the giving process.

Field Layout FrictionA donation form that has

vertically aligned fields may be introducing additional mental cost or friction into the process.

Decision Friction

Unnecessary friction in the giving process is introduced when donors are forced to make unanticipated decisions about their donation.

Confusion FrictionUsing organization-centric language or “inside baseball,” or multiple conflicting calls to action elicits confusion that creates friction in the online giving process.

Error FrictionUsing cryptic error messages or requiring users to re-enter information adds significant friction to the online giving process.

Registration FrictionRequiring account

registration slows down the donation process by adding unnecessary friction to the online donation process.

Waiting FrictionWhen a page takes too long to load or makes the user have to wait to access the page, this adds unnecessary friction to the process.

Device FrictionHaving to “pinch and zoom” in order to make a donation on a mobile device adds friction to the mobile donation process.

Not Suitable for Smartphones


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How does form layout affect friction on a donation form?

Experiment #1007

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Overview: CaringBridge.org CaringBridge is a website where people in a time of need can securely share updates, photos and videos, connecting with friends and family who care and want to help.

Over 500,000 people per day access this web site.

Donation Form Friction

Background:Client: CaringbridgePrimary donation form on the websiteDefault settings of the payment form had vertically aligned fields

Control

Donation Form FrictionTreatment

Treatment Changes:• Grouped similar fields

together to shorten donation form

• As a result of the grouping, reduced the width of several fields

Donation Form FrictionControl Treatment

39.4% increasein conversion rate

Donation Form Friction

Key Learning:Even though the horizontal field layout required the same

amount of data, it created the perception that less was required, thereby reducing friction and creating an increase of 39%. This is a great reminder that friction doesn’t exist on the page, it lives in the mind.

✓

39.4% increase in conversion rate

Version Conv. Rate Relative Diff Stat ConfidenceC: Vertically Aligned 5.2%T1: Grouped Fields 7.2% 39.4% 100.0%

Your potential donor doesn’t fully understand

why they should give to you.

Key I SIGHT #5:

Only Half Communicate a Value Proposition


Why Did the Treatment Win?Control Treatment

74% increasein conversion rate

(Mi)YES

Y

Headline

(Mi)YES

(Mi)YES

(Mi)YES

(Mi)YES

(Mi)YES

Communicating Value at Each Step

First Paragrap

h

Body Copy

Call-to-Action

Donation Form

Valu

e Pr

opos

itio

n Value Proposition

The

Mes

sage

• Headline: Arrests attention and introduces value proposition

• Bulleted Copy: Provides reasons why you should give

• Embedded Quotes: Bolsters credibility

• Call-to-Action: Restates the value proposition and clarifies exactly what the donor should do

The Value Proposition Question

If I am your ideal donor, why should I give to you, rather than some other

organization, or not at all?

The Value Proposition Index Study

• Study of 127 nonprofit organizations across 8 different verticals

• Assessed the value proposition as communicated via four channels: Telephone Email Web site Social Media

• Value propositions scored in four areas based on research and methodology developed by MECLABS: Appeal Exclusivity Credibility Clarity

• Data collected from 11/4/15 through 2/6/16

Download Full Study:nextafter.com/vp

Email Response Time is an Issue

Of the organizations that had a “Contact Us” form, more than one third did NOT respond to our submission…ever!

35%

65%

No Response Responded

Email: How Long Does it Take to Respond?3% of Orgs did NOThave a “Contact Us”Form


3% of Orgs did NOThave a “Contact Us”Form

26% of Orgs responded within 48 hours of our request

Email: How Long Does it Take to Respond?




After 1 Week, 43% of Orgsstill had NOTresponded toour inquiry






After 1-month,35% of OrgsCompletely ignoredour request.



Social Media is not much better….

When we contacted organizations through direct message on Facebook, 33% never got back to us.

33%

67%

No Response Responded

Social Media: How Long Does it Take to Respond?

27% of Orgs had disabled direct messaging in Facebook and were uncontactable



27% of Orgs had disabled direct messaging in Facebook and were uncontactable





27% of Orgs had disabled direct messagingin Facebook and were uncontactable





After 1-month,33% of OrgsCompletely ignoredour request.

27% of Orgs had disabled direct messagingin Facebook and were uncontactable



Scoring MatrixWebsite Email Phone Social MediaAppeal Appeal Appeal Appeal

Exclusivity Exclusivity Exclusivity Exclusivity Credibility Credibility Credibility Credibility

Clarity Clarity Clarity Clarity

Graded on a Scale of 1 to 5

< 1 - - - 5 > < 1 - - - 5 > < 1 - - - 5 > < 1 - - - 5 >


Regardless of Vertical, Value Proposition Seems to be a Challenge

Christia

n Minist

ries

Col leges &

Universi

ties

Disaste

r & In

ternational R

elief

Disease

& H

eal th Service

s

Environment&

Wi ldl i f

e

Food Bank

Human & Socia

l Service

sOther

-

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

1.89

0.98

2.11 2.08 2.34 2.26 1.89 2.18

Value Proposition Index

B

D

A

C

F

C

F+

Download Full Study: nextafter.com/vp

Aggregate Scores by Channel

After filtering out nonresponders, Social Media was the highest scoring channel followed by Email.

Website Email Phone SocialMedia

2.8 3.2 3.0

3.4

2.3

2.9 2.8 3.0 2.7

3.1 2.8 3.0

2.3

3.0 2.9 3.2

Aggregate Value Proposition Scoring

Appeal Exclusivity Credibility Clarity


Aggregate Scores by Channel

Somewhat surprising, was discovering that website was the poorest performing channel.

Website Email Phone SocialMedia

2.8 3.2 3.0

3.4

2.3

2.9 2.8 3.0 2.7

3.1 2.8 3.0

2.3

3.0 2.9 3.2

Aggregate Value Proposition Scoring

Appeal Exclusivity Credibility Clarity


Website Example #1

Website Example #2

Website Example #3

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Optimizing Your Value Proposition

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How copy on a donation page affects the force of the value proposition.

Experiment ID: #111

Power of the Value Proposition

Background:Client: Senator John CornynPrimary donation page for JohnCornyn.comMinimal copy on the page

Control

Value Proposition Question

“If I am your ideal donor, why should I give to you rather than some other

organization, or no one at all?”

Power of the Value PropositionTreatment

Treatment Changes:• Changed headline to

convey value• Added copy outlining

reasons why donors support the Senator.

• Included evidentials to back up each claim

Power of the Value PropositionControl Treatment


Power of the Value Proposition

Version Conv. Rate

Relative Diff

Stat Confidence

C: No Value Prop 0.11%T1: Value Prop on Page 0.38% 258.1% 96.3%Key Learning:

There is a danger in assuming that your potential donor firmly graspsyour organization’s unique value proposition. By simply adding copyto the donation page to communicate value, we altered the force ofthe value proposition and conversion increased by 258%.

✓


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How increasing clarity affects the force of the value proposition.

Experiment ID: #900

Personalized Value Proposition Test

• Lack of copy assumes that the visitor is already motivated

• Lack of clarity assumes donor knows where the gift is going

Control


• Copy is personalized to tribute page

• Copy also adds clarity around the relationship between the tribute, organization, and donor

Treatment


Control Treatment

28.0% increase in conversion rate.


28.0% increase in donor conversion

Version Conv. Rate Relative Diff

Stat Confidence

Control 3.6%Treatment 4.6% 28.0% 99.6%Key Learning:

By adding simple, personalized copy to the donation page, we improvedclarity which increased the force of the value proposition. As a result, donorconversion increased by 28%.

✓

Increasing the force of the value propositionControl Treatment

127.6% increase in conversion rate.

Experiment ID: #294

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How the force of the value proposition can be altered with a radical redesign.

Experiment ID: #3793

Impact of Radical Redesign

Background:Client: Texas State Historical AssociationPrimary donation page for TSHAOnline.orgFour different membership options presentedCopy is not specific and makes unclear and unsubstantiated claims

Control

Value Proposition Question

“If I am your ideal donor, why should I give to you rather than some other

organization, or no one at all?”

Impact of Radical Redesign Treatment

Treatment Changes:• Radical redesign with

long form copy to appropriately convey the value proposition

• Added copy outlining reasons why visitor should join the TSHA as a member

• Included evidentials to back up each claim

• Headline arrests attention by conveying an exclusive offer

• First paragraph focuses on primary value proposition


The value proposition is reinforced throughout the copy


Impact of Radical Redesign Control Treatment



Version Conv. Rate

Relative Diff

Stat Confidence

C: Short Form 1.1%T1: Radical Redesign LF 2.6% 146.5% 100%Key Learning:

A radically different treatment is sometimes needed to get big increasesin conversion. By altering the page to more forcefully communicate acompelling argument that highlighted the exclusivity of membership, wewere able to increase donations by 146.5%.

✓


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How do I grow my online revenue?

There are three key metrics that effect online revenue– and all of

them can be optimized!

Key I SIGHT #6:

The Flux Capacitor of Revenue MaximizationTM

Exponential Impact of Optimization

Baseline 26.2% in one Area

26.2% in two areas

26.2% in three areas

Web Traffic 100,000 100,000 126,200 126,200

Conversion Rate 2.00% 2.52% 2.52% 2.52%Avg. Gift Value $70.00 $70.00 $70.00 $88.34

Revenue $140,000.00 $176,400.00 $222,617.00 $280,942.00

Change in Revenue 0% 26.2% 59.0% 100%

Revenue = Traffic X Conversion Rate X Avg. Gift

Exponential Impact of Optimization

Baseline 26.2% in one Area

26.2% in two areas

26.2% in three areas

Web Traffic 100,000 100,000 126,200 126,200

Conversion Rate 2.00% 2.52% 2.52% 2.52%Avg. Gift Value $70.00 $70.00 $70.00 $88.34

Revenue $140,000.00 $176,400.00 $222,617.00 $280,942.00

Change in Revenue 0% 26.2% 59.0% 100%

Strategic FrameworkWhen it comes to increasing online revenue, there are three primary strategies:

Increase Traffic Get more of the (right) people to show up

Increase Conversion Rate Get more people to say, “Yes!”

Increase Average Gift Get more people to say “Heck yes!”

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3 Challenges

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Challenge #1: Know Where You StandFCORM Report• Compare your

organization to industry benchmarks

• Identify your strengths

• Identify your weaknesses

Where are you leaking revenue?

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Request a Free FCORM Report1. Go to:

NextAfter.com/FCORM

2. Answer the following three questions:

A. Average number of unique website visitors per month?

B. Average number of online donations per month?

C. Average online gift amount?

3. I will email you a FREE FCORM Report:

http://nextafter.com/fcorm

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Challenge # 2: Give a Gift to Yourself1. Go to: NextAfter.com/Friction

2. Download the Online Donation Friction Self Assessment.

3. Go to your web site and give your organization a donation of any amount.

4. Complete the Friction Self Assessment as you go through the donation process.

http://nextafter.com/friction

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Challenge # 3: Launch an Experiment1. Create a hypothesis and design your

new treatment. Suggested areas to test:

a) Donation form/systemb) Headlinec) Body Copyd) Third Party Credibility

Indicators

2. Go to the NextAfter Research Library (nextafter.com/research) for inspiration and to validate and share your results.

3. Send me an email with your test idea ([email protected]), and I’ll help you set up your experiment.

Vs.

mailto:[email protected]

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“Toothpaste is peddled with far more sophistication than all of the world’s life-saving causes.”

- Nick Kristof

If you’d like to learn more about how Virtuous can help create personal relationships, reduce costs and maximize impact visit:

http://www.virtuouscrm.com/video-demowhere you can view a free 4-minute demo

http://www.virtuouscrm.com/video-demo



Questions?

If you’d like to learn more about how Virtuous can help create personal relationships, reduce costs and maximize impact visit:

http://www.virtuouscrm.com/video-demowhere you can view a free 4-minute demo



what works? results from over 600 digital fundraising experiments

Government & Nonprofit