How a recurring donation interrupter affects recurring donor conversion rate
American Cornerstone Institute
Experiment Summary
Timeframe: 12/07/2023 - 01/05/2024
MSLF is running a petition through paid Facebook advertising, and they wanted to test how a donation pop-up interrupter would perform to increase the amount of recurring donors they get through acquisition efforts.
Once users finish the petition, they proceed to an instant donation page where they’re asked to make a gift to support this case and the work MSLF is doing. There are options to make a one-time or monthly gift on the donation form, but if the user chose one-time, they would receive a pop-up after hitting “Donate” asking them to convert their gift to a $10 monthly donation.
The pop-up included value proposition as to what they will receive if they make a monthly donation and become a member to MSLF.
Research Question
We believe that using a donation interrupter to ask users to convert their one-time gift to a monthly gift for potential donors will achieve a higher recurring donor conversion rate because they will be forced to think of the impact and what they receive in return to convert the one-time gift.
Design
Results
| Treatment Name | Conv. Rate | Relative Difference | Confidence | Average Gift | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C: | Control | 0.06% | $24.80 | ||
| T1: | Donation Interrupter | 0.16% | 154.5% | 75.1% | $20.05 |
This experiment has a required sample size of 8,889 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
The key learning from this experiment is that using a donation interrupter to ask users to convert their one-time gift to a monthly gift can significantly increase the conversion rate for recurring donations.
The treatment group experienced a 154.5% increase in recurring donation conversion rate, indicating that the interrupter was effective in prompting users to consider the impact of their donation and what they would receive in return as a member of the organization. However, it is important to note that the statistical level of confidence was only 75.1%, which falls below the recommended confidence level of 85%.
In addition, the experiment showed that the one-time donation rate decreased by 326% with a 97% level of confidence. This means that the interrupter influenced users to opt out of giving all together instead of making a one-time gift or recurring gift.
Future experimentation can involve refining the design and messaging of the interrupter to maximize its impact. It is also important to consider the potential impact of the interrupter on user experience and whether it could potentially deter users from making any donation at all. A/B testing with different variations of the interrupter can help in identifying the most effective approach.
Overall, the key learnings from this experiment highlight the potential of using a donation interrupter to increase recurring donations. However, further experimentation and validation are needed to make informed decisions and implement effective strategies.