How tone and shared values in Facebook ad copy affect donor conversion
Compassion International
Experiment Summary
Timeframe: 12/01/2017 - 01/22/2018
Compassion International ran Facebook ads through the month of December to remarket to people who had considered sponsoring a child on their site, but had dropped out of the funnel. They develop three variations of Facebook ads to test and understand what motivated more people to complete their sponsorship. The first ad made a simple, direct offer to the reader: Be the reason one of these children knows the love of Jesus this season. The second ad made an offer that was supported by a scripture reference from the book of Mark: “Will you serve and co-labor with us by sponsoring one of these children today?” The third ad made an attempt to established shared values of familyIs our highest priority after God. Then, it offered the reader the chance to “join the Compassion family” through sponsorship. Finally, as with the second ad, it supported the copy with a scripture reference.
Research Question
How does tone and shared values in Facebook ad copy affect donor conversion?
Design
Results
| Treatment Name | Conv. Rate | Relative Difference | Confidence | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C: | Direct ask | 1.1% | ||
| T1: | Direct ask plus Scripture | 1.8% | 64.5% | 93.2% |
| T2: | Shared values, direct ask, and Scripture | 2.6% | 132.0% | 100.0% |
This experiment has a required sample size of 1,059 in order to be valid. Since the experiment had a total sample size of 6,922, and the level of confidence is above 95% the experiment results are valid.
Flux Metrics Affected
The Flux Metrics analyze the three primary metrics that affect revenue (traffic, conversion rate, and average gift). This experiment produced the following results:
0% increase in traffic
× 132.0% increase in conversion rate
× 0% increase in average gift
Key Learnings
Both ads that contained scripture produced a significant lifts over the control. This shows that Scriptural backing may provide additional motivation for the reader to complete their purpose. However, the third ad produced a 132% lift in conversion over the others, which highlights the importance of establishing a relational link between the marketer and the prospect. In the for-profit world, this link is built in many ways—but in the nonprofit world, it is primarily built through trust. Shared values are just one example of a way to build trust. In this case, it helped build trust with an audience that had already considered sponsorship, and converted more of them when given a second chance.
Both of these learnings provide guidance for future remarketing Facebook ads.