How visually increasing urgency in an email affects response rate
Dallas Theological Seminary
The DTS mission is, “to glorify God by equipping godly servant-leaders for the proclamation of His Word and the building up of the body of Christ worldwide.” They strive to help men and women fulfill the Great Commission and the Great Commandment, or more simply: Teach Truth. Love Well.
Experiment Summary
Timeframe: 12/30/2014 - 12/31/2014
December 31st is the biggest giving day of the year for many nonprofits. As the end of the year approaches, organizations often look for ways to increase urgency to inspire additional giving. DTS added some animation to their emails as a way to visually remind supporters of the approaching deadline.
Research Question
Adding an animated countdown clock to the email will increase the urgency in the mind of the donor which will increase the response rate of the campaign.
Design
Results
| Treatment Name | Conv. Rate | Relative Difference | Confidence | Average Gift | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C: | No Countdown Clock | 0.18% | $892.86 | ||
| T1: | Countdown Clock | 0.29% | 62.7% | 95.1% | $1,844.62 |
This experiment has a required sample size of 14,364 in order to be valid. Since the experiment had a total sample size of 29,102, 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
× 62.7% increase in conversion rate
× 106.6% increase in average gift
236.2% increase in revenue
Key Learnings
Since the countdown clock increased both conversion rate and average gift, this tactic will be used in future campaigns that contain an inherit deadline like calendar year end or fiscal year end. Interestingly, the countdown clock in the email did not actually increase the number of clicks to the landing page but significantly increase the number of donors that subsequently gave a gift.