How offer imagery influences email acquisition rates
Buckner International
Buckner International is a global ministry dedicated to the transformation and restoration of the lives we serve. We are a Christ-centered organization that delivers redemptive ministry to the most vulnerable from the beginning to the ending of life.
Experiment Summary
Timeframe: 11/20/2018 - 12/21/2018
For Buckner’s Advent Devotional offer, we wanted to test out the imagery that was used to promote the offer on the email acquisition page. The control version utilized an animated gif that came from the promotional email and the devotional PDF itself. However, our hypothesis was that without the context of seeing it in the PDF, it didn’t add perceived value to the offer. We wanted to see if showing the same image as an eBook cover or simply removing the image all together would improve conversion.
Research Question
Will changing the image on the page to a 3D eBook or simply removing the image all together improve email acquisition rate for the Buckner Advent Devotional?
Design
Results
| Treatment Name | Conv. Rate | Relative Difference | Confidence | Average Gift | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C: | Control | 40.7% | $0.00 | ||
| T1: | eBook Image | 44.3% | 9.0% | 85.9% | $0.00 |
| T2: | No Image | 46.1% | 13.3% | 97.1% | $0.00 |
This experiment has a required sample size of 964 in order to be valid. Since the experiment had a total sample size of 2,374, 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
× 13.3% increase in conversion rate
× 0% increase in average gift
Key Learnings
After running for a month, we found that not having any image at all increased email acquisition by 13.3%. We also noticed that the eBook image was approaching validity with a 9% lift.
A big takeaway from this experiment is that the imagery on the page needs to increase the perceived value of the offer. For the visitor that had not yet seen the PDF, the animated gif served as more of a distraction than a “value add.” The eBook cover would appear to have added some clarity to the offer but not enough to overcome the benefit of simply removing the image.