How including a donation ask earlier in an email appeal affects donor conversion rates
Experiment ID: #195608
The Navigators
Experiment Summary
Ended On: 02/26/2025
This experiment was conducted on Email 5 of The Navigators’ Sustainers Campaign, which focused on acquiring new recurring donors.
The goal was to determine whether placing the donation ask at the beginning of the email would increase donor conversion rates.
Given that email recipients often skim content or lose interest before reaching the end, we wanted to test whether an upfront call to action would drive more immediate engagement and donations.
This experiment was motivated by the need to optimize email structure for maximum impact, ensuring that potential donors saw and acted on the ask before disengaging.
Research Question
We believe that including a donation ask upfront will increase donor conversion rate because readers will see the call to action before they potentially lose interest or skim past it, making it more likely that they take action immediately rather than waiting until the end of the email.
Design
C: Control
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Results
| Treatment Name | Conv. Rate | Relative Difference | Confidence | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C: | Control | 20.3% | ||
| T1: | Treatment 1 | 6.8% | -66.4% | 97.4% |
This experiment has a required sample size of 55 in order to be valid. Since the experiment had a total sample size of 118, 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
× 66.4% decrease in conversion rate
× 0% increase in average gift
Key Learnings
Key Learnings: 1. Placing the donation ask at the beginning of the email resulted in a significant decrease in donation conversion rates compared to placing it at the end. 2. The hypothesis that including the donation ask upfront would increase donor conversion rates was proven to be incorrect in this case. 3. The control version, with the donation ask at the end of the email, outperformed the treatment in terms of donation conversions. Recommendations for Future Experimentation: 1. Consider the flow and structure of the email carefully. While it may seem intuitive to place the donation ask upfront for immediate action, this may not always yield the best results. 2. Test different placement strategies for the donation ask in future email campaigns to see which location generates the highest conversion rates. 3. Continue to track and analyze data from A/B experiments to inform decision-making and optimize future campaigns for better results.