How introducing “donor fees” impacts conversion
American Cornerstone Institute
Experiment Summary
Timeframe: 01/21/2022 - 02/06/2022
As part of the instant donor conversion page for an education survey, ACI wanted to find a way to increase the overall revenue. One of the more popular options for nonprofits is a “donor covers fees.” The software being used, “Anedot,” had this feature so we decided to test it.
Research Question
We believe that allowing donors to pay the credit cards fees for potential donors will achieve and increase in overall revenue.
Design
Results
| Treatment Name | Conv. Rate | Relative Difference | Confidence | Average Gift | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C: | Control | 12.0% | |||
| T1: | Donor Pays Fees | 7.4% | -38.5% | 100.0% |
This experiment has a required sample size of 314 in order to be valid. Since the experiment had a total sample size of 4,194, 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
× 38.5% decrease in conversion rate
× 0% increase in average gift
Key Learnings
The biggest impact of the test was a 38.5% decrease in conversion for the “donor pays fees” option. It is worth noting that ~60% of donors opted to cover the fees but this resulted in a 3% increase to their average gift which didn’t make up for the significant decrease in overall giving.
A big takeaway from this experiment was the negative impact that adding transactional language had in the conversion process. Donating is a largely irrational action and introducing transactional language like “fees” resulted in potential donors abandoning the process
Notable changes to other metrics due to the experiment Was that overall revenue experienced a 20.5% decrease with a 95% level of confidence.