How personalization and gratitude affects conversion rate and average gift
CaringBridge
CaringBridge offers free personal, protected websites for people to easily share updates and receive support and encouragement from their community during a health journey. Every 7 minutes, a CaringBridge website is created for someone experiencing a health event.
Experiment Summary
Timeframe: 03/27/2019 - 03/31/2019
CaringBridge was running a matching grant as part of a fundraising campaign. They had previously tested and found that a sticky bar on the main donation page increases results, as it reminds donors of the limited-time match. They hypothesized that they could further increase results if they made that message come from a person (in this case, Kelly Espy, a CaringBridge employee), instead of appearing like a site-generated message. They also had Kelly’s message thank the donor for their support, presumptively showing gratitude for what they hoped the donor was about to do.
Research Question
How will personalization and gratitude affect conversion rate and average gift?
Design
Results
| Treatment Name | Revenue per Visitor | Relative Difference | Confidence | Average Gift | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C: | with header (personal) | $12.02 | $56.17 | ||
| T1: | with header (KE Message) | $14.18 | 18.0% | 98.6% | $60.78 |
This experiment was validated using 3rd party testing tools. Based upon those calculations, a significant level of confidence was met so these 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
× 9.1% increase in conversion rate
× 8.2% increase in average gift
18.0% increase in revenue
Key Learnings
The treatment produced an 18% lift in revenue via a 9.1% increase in conversion rate and an 8.2% increase in average gift. This showed the power of delivering a message from a person, as well as showing gratitude while reinforcing a matching gift.
It’s common to mention a matching gift once and assume the donor will remember it throughout the entire giving process. But this test reinforces (and improves upon) research that suggests that it is important to repeat this throughout the process.