How personal tone and copy affects clickthrough rate for an email fundraising appeal
Experiment ID: #4117
Americans for Prosperity
Experiment Summary
Timeframe: 05/15/2016 - 05/20/2016
Americans for Prosperity had scheduled a send for an appeal offering membership to their exclusive Torchbearer club. When we read the email copy, we saw that it was centered around AFP’s results, which felt disconnected from the weight of the ask — a monthly recurring donation. We hypothesized that sending an email that looked like it came from a person, rather than an organization, would increase clickthrough rate and response.
We hypothesized that a monthly recurring ask requires a more personal tone, and should be fashioned as an invitation, rather than an ask. This treatment went beyond just copy approach too — we removed any elements that seemed like “marketing”. The control version of the email had several graphical elements that we thought might instantly clue the reader in to the intent of the email, before they were able to consume the value proposition in the copy. The email started with an AFP Torchbearer logo. There was also a large green “donate” button at the top of the email, and a large branded “donate” button at the end.
The treatment removed these graphical elements and took a radically different copy approach. We started by addressing the reader with a personal greeting. We gave context for the communication, and put the organizational results into context as well — like a person might write them. Then, we extended an invitation to Torchbearers — not an ask. If we were presenting Torchbearers membership as something worthy of honor, then we wanted to present the invitation in a manner that reflected that weight. We also cut and pasted a link directly into the email — just like a person would do. Finally, we offered to answer questions, which meant that the reader could reply. This action further reflected the personal tone, and gave the reader the feeling that they had a personal contact on the inside of the organization.
We then tested the two emails in equal segments to determine a winner.
Research Question
Will removing marketing elements from the email and increasing the personal tone of the copy increase clickthrough rate?
Design
C: Marketing email
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Results
| Treatment Name | Click Rate | Relative Difference | Confidence | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C: | Marketing email | 0.31% | ||
| T1: | Personal tone | 0.60% | 91.3% | 99.0% |
This experiment has a required sample size of 4,248 in order to be valid. Since the experiment had a total sample size of 14,619, 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:
91.3% increase in traffic
× 0% increase in conversion rate
× 0% increase in average gift
Key Learnings
The email with the personal tone produced a 91.3% increase in clickthrough rate, which led to a directional (though not statistically valid) increase in conversions for the Torchbearer program.
This is another data point in our research that underlies the principle of the Fundraiser’s Creed: people give to people, not organizations or marketing machines.