How adding additional options to a donation form affects conversion
Media Research Center
The Media Research Center (MRC) is the nation’s premier media watchdog. The sole mission is to expose and neutralize the propaganda arm of the Left: the national news media.
Experiment Summary
Timeframe: 05/29/2013 - 06/14/2013
Paypal offers the ability to accepted additional forms of payment but at the expense of taking the potential out of a contextualized donation experience. Before adding the Paypal button to the page, MRC wanted to ensure that by adding the additional payment option, it would increase the number of gifts collected.
Research Question
Will a Paypal button increase the number of gifts made to the donation page?
Design
Results
| Treatment Name | Conv. Rate | Relative Difference | Confidence | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C: | No Paypal | 9.3% | ||
| T1: | With Paypal | 3.2% | -65.3% | 98.4% |
This experiment has a required sample size of 150 in order to be valid. Since the experiment had a total sample size of 373, 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
× 65.3% decrease in conversion rate
× 0% increase in average gift
Key Learnings
The additional payment button decreased the number actual donations. The increased number of options seems to have led to additional distractions and, for those that did go to Paypal, the lack of value proposition prevented completion of their gift.