How adding a $60 giving option to the Lamplighters monthly gift array impacted donations and revenue
Prison Fellowship International
Experiment Summary
Timeframe: 10/19/2022 - 11/19/2022
The PFI Lamplighters program gives people the opportunity to support prisoners in ways that help them become closer to God. The current monthly giving options for Lamplighters are $15 to support one prisoner and $165 to support an entire class. We hypothesized that adding a middle amount as a giving option would reduce giving friction, giving donors an additional option that might nestle in nicely between an amount that is too low or not impactful enough and an amount that is too high.
To test this hypothesis, we added a $60 monthly giving option to support four prisoners.
Research Question
We believe that adding a third monthly giving option as an “in-between” amount for potential donors will achieve an increase in donations and revenue as it will reduce giving friction.
Design
Results
| Treatment Name | Revenue per Visitor | Relative Difference | Confidence | Average Gift | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C: | Control | $0.65 | $31.12 | |||
| T1: | $60 Option | $1.38 | 114.0% | 98.3% | $56.65 |
This experiment was validated using 3rd party testing tools. Based upon those calculations, a significant level of confidence was met so these 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
× 17.6% increase in conversion rate
× 82.1% increase in average gift
114.0% increase in revenue
Key Learnings
Adding the $60 giving option to the monthly giving gift array resulted in a 79.3% lift in revenue with a 97.6% level of confidence. Donations saw an 11.8% decrease but only with a 54.4% level of confidence.
The impressive increase in revenue tells us that users responded very well to seeing a third giving option between $15 and $165. The $60 option reduced decision friction to where the donor did not have to think of an amount to settle in between the extremes of $15 and $165 – instead, the option was presented to them! Additionally, the $60 option will bring up our average monthly gift.
It’s worth noting that new visitors produced a 114% lift in revenue with a 98.3% level of confidence. This tells us that people that are less familiar with the Lamplighters program appreciate the $60 giving option, as they’re likely too new to the program to be willing to make a $165 monthly donation. But they are willing to commit $60/month to the program.