How adding trustmarks to a donation page affected gifts
Buckner International
Buckner International is a global ministry dedicated to the transformation and restoration of the lives we serve. We are a Christ-centered organization that delivers redemptive ministry to the most vulnerable from the beginning to the ending of life.
Experiment Summary
Timeframe: 02/04/2021 - 03/14/2021
Buckner had a “100/100” Charity Navigator score so we wanted to test if adding the “Give With Confidence” trustmark to one of their donation pages would produce a lift in conversion. We rolled out the image as a form of social proof at the bottom of the page near the final decision-making point beneath the “Give” button to provide extra support through evidential proof for site visitors at the time of their gift that this is a trustworthy organization to help them be more confident in their decision.
Research Question
We believe that adding an evidential trustmark for donation page visitors will achieve a increase in conversion rate.
Design
Results
| Treatment Name | Conv. Rate | Relative Difference | Confidence | Average Gift | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C: | Control | 13.4% | $0.00 | ||
| T1: | Charity Navigator Seal | 10.9% | -18.9% | 57.8% | $0.00 |
This experiment has a required sample size of 1,247 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
After running the experiment for one month, we did not get enough traffic to this donation page to reach any conclusions about the impact of adding the trustmark to the page. The 14.7% lift in conversion rate was only supported by a 50.7% level of confidence so in reality it’s still a coin-flip as to whether or not the conversion rate would increase or decrease on the treatment. We’ll look for more high-volume appeals and donation pages to re-test this concept. One interesting takeaway is that we did note that the level of confidence was considerably higher for new visitors, so instead of a housefile appeal, we’ll test this in acquisition next.