Hoover Institution

How adding a quote in email copy impacts email acquisition and donor conversion with a donor audience

Experiment ID: #198506

Hoover Institution

Experiment Summary

Ended On: 07/09/2025

This experiment was conducted for the Hoover Institution, a public policy think tank that champions principles of individual, economic, and political freedom. This specific experiment was targeting their donor audience with an email promoting Victor Davis Hanson’s latest eBook: Ten Paradoxes of Our Age. Given this audience’s familiarity and affinity with VDH’s work, the goal was to explore whether featuring a direct quote from Hanson in the email body would increase engagement—particularly email acquisition and donations.

Research Question

We believe that by adding a quote from Victor Davis Hanson to the body of the email for Hoover’s donor audience will achieve an increase in email acquisition and donor conversion. because the Hoover audience is likely familiar with and influenced by Victor Davis Hanson’s thought leadership. Seeing a direct quote may deepen their connection, reinforce credibility, and drive more meaningful engagement.

Design

C: Control

T1: Treatment #1

Results

	Treatment Name	Conv. Rate	Relative Difference	Confidence
C:	Control	4.3%
T1:	Treatment #1	4.1%	-6.1%	72.7%

This experiment has a required sample size of 44,123 in order to be valid. Unfortunately, the required sample size was not met and a level of confidence above 95% was not met so the experiment results are not valid.

Key Learnings

Below you can find the impact on donor conversion: Control: 65 donations Treatment: 56 donations Here are our takeaways:

Familiarity Doesn’t Always Translate to Action - Despite the donor audience’s familiarity with Victor Davis Hanson, simply adding a quote—without new content framing or emphasis—did not improve performance. This suggests that passive recognition is not always a strong enough motivator to change behavior.
Subtle Changes Can Sometimes Dilute Impact - The quote was added near the end of the email, without prominent placement or context. It’s possible that the quote blended into the copy too subtly, failing to act as a clear call to action or point of differentiation. Strategic placement and visual emphasis may be critical when incorporating recognizable names or thought leaders.
Performance Declines Were Modest but Directional - While the treatment underperformed slightly in both acquisition and donations, the declines were not statistically significant. However, the downward trend is worth noting. It reinforces the idea that every added element must serve a clear persuasive function—especially when engaging a high-performing audience like Hoover’s donors.

Recommendations for Future Strategy: • Test Placement and Framing: Instead of inserting quotes passively, consider testing them as a lead-in or headline. Framing them as a call to reflection or a value proposition could better leverage their authority. • Segment Further by VDH Engagement History: If possible, target known VDH engagers (e.g. past clickers or donors to VDH content) with quote-led messaging to assess resonance within sub-audiences. • Use Quotes in Multichannel Reinforcement: While the quote may not have improved email results on its own, it could be valuable in retargeting ads, thank-you pages, or landing page banners, where it may feel more inspirational and less redundant. • Explore Narrative over Quotation: Hoover’s audience may respond more to coherent narrative framing (as in the control) than standalone wisdom. Test long-form storytelling or editorial summaries from the author next.

Experiment Documented by NextAfter

Question about experiment #198506

If you have any questions about this experiment or would like additional details not discussed above, please feel free to contact them directly.