How a radical redesign that reduces friction and increases the force of the value proposition affects donor conversion
Americans for Prosperity
Experiment Summary
Timeframe: 09/22/2016 - 12/01/2016
Americans for Prosperity wanted to increase the conversion rate on their main donation page. Even though visitors clicked the button “donate” to get there, only two percent of them actually followed through. They hypothesized that there were two factors that reduced conversion rate:
- Lack of an effective value proposition. The original page did not offer much reason to give. The headline “Join the fight” could be used by many organizations, reducing its exclusivity. The copy talked a lot about AFP, but did not address the donor’s involvement or have a clear call-to-action.
- High friction. The donation page had navigation links in the header and footer that led to other parts of the site, which gave visitors plenty of opportunities to leave. It also had a striking background image that possibly distracted the eye from engaging with the copy. And finally, it had a three-step donation form, which might imply that making a donation takes a long time.
The AFP team created a treatment that removed the potential friction factors by taking away the navigation links, removing the background image, and simplifying the form to a single step. They also significantly boosted the value proposition copy by addressing the donor in the headline, creating a sense of “problem” in the copy that AFP was set up to solve, and providing evidentials for the claims of value.
They launched an A/B test to determine a winner.
Research Question
Will a radical redesign that reduces friction and increases the force of the value proposition increase donor conversion?
Design
Results
| Treatment Name | Conv. Rate | Relative Difference | Confidence | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C: | Control | 2.6% | ||
| T1: | Radical Redesign | 6.1% | 134.2% | 99.7% |
This experiment has a required sample size of 268 in order to be valid. Since the experiment had a total sample size of 1,143, 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
× 134.2% increase in conversion rate
× 0% increase in average gift
Key Learnings
The radical redesign produced a 134.2% increase in conversion, raising conversion above 6% on the main donation page. The combination of reduced friction and increased force of the value proposition more than doubled donor conversion. However, a 6% conversion rate means that 94% of people still aren’t giving when they arrive at the page, so it prompted future testing to refine and further increase the force of the value proposition.