Dallas Theological Seminary

How the wrong value proposition can affect conversion

Experiment ID: #1441

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: 04/10/2015 - 06/22/2015

The primary donation form for Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) had remained consistent for the last several years. It was a well-designed form but it made the assumption that those donors that make it to the page are already convinced to give their gift. This was evident from the lack of any copy or significant calls to action at the top of the form.

In an effort to increase the perceived value of the donation to potential donors, we decided to create a new treatment. This new page would utilize the same donation form but would add copy to the top that discussed one of the unique value propositions of DTS. It also included quotes from well known figures in the Christian community supporting the work of DTS.

Research Question

Which donation page treatment will collect the highest number of donors and revenue?

Design

C: Original
T1: Value Prop with Quotes

Results

 Treatment NameConv. RateRelative DifferenceConfidence
C: Original 20.0%
T1: Value Prop with Quotes 14.4%-28.1% 92.8%

This experiment has a required sample size of 345 in order to be valid. Since the experiment had a total sample size of 584, and the level of confidence is not above 95% the experiment results are not valid.

Key Learnings

The new donation form treatment resulted in a 28.1% decrease in donor conversion. This would indicate that the value proposition communicated on the page did not appeal to the potential donors. Additionally, by adding the wrong copy and pushing the donation form further down on the page, we introduced friction into the donation process. These two factors combined to reduce the donors and revenue to the page.


Experiment Documented by NextAfter

Question about experiment #1441

If you have any questions about this experiment or would like additional details not discussed above, please feel free to contact them directly.