How adding a personal testimony strengthens the value proposition and impacts clicks
Harvest Ministries
Harvest Christian Fellowship exists to bring Christians closer to God and to bring nonbelievers to a saving relationship with Him by showing how God's Word and faith in Him are applicable and relevant to everyday life.
Experiment Summary
Timeframe: 06/01/2017 - 06/20/2017
Harvest Ministries ran a high-urgency fundraising campaign leading up to a large-scale evangelism event, Harvest America. They sent a series of emails for the campaign to acquire donations and revenue. One of the emails they sent had a strong message about the eternal impact Harvest America has. In an effort to increase clicks to the donation page from the email, they tested putting a person’s testimony in the email copy. They split their file and sent the control without the testimony and the treatment with it.
Research Question
Would a personal testimony increase clicks?
Design
Results
| Treatment Name | Click Rate | Relative Difference | Confidence | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C: | Without a testimony | 1.7% | ||
| T1: | With a testimony | 2.0% | 22.2% | 100.0% |
This experiment has a required sample size of 10,330 in order to be valid. Since the experiment had a total sample size of 65,184, 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:
22.2% increase in traffic
× 0% increase in conversion rate
× 0% increase in average gift
Key Learnings
The treatment with the personal testimony increased clicks by 22%! The testimony added credibility to the ask and strengthened the value proposition of the email – motivating more people to click-through to the donation page.