Q: Are there testing or white papers that confirm the need to make a specific ask in a fundraising appeal?

October 19, 2018      Kiki Koutmeridou, Chief Behavioral Scientist, DonorVoice

I assume you refer to the mention of a specific gift amount.

There are many academic papers that show how the mention of a number – even if it’s not the actual price – can influence what people are willing to pay for a product. This bias is called anchoringand is more pronounced when we find ourselves in new situations where we try to find cues to help us make a decision.

The same bias can influence donations especially in acquisition efforts. New supporters won’t have a clear idea of what an appropriate donation amount is. Hence, by providing them with a suggested amount we help them make a decision. The suggested amount will function as the anchor from which they’ll adjust and decide on their gift amount. Higher suggested amounts have been shown to increase average gift while their effect on response rate is mixed: sometimes they decrease it, other times they had no effect on it.

Existing supporters mainly focus on their prior behaviour to inform future behaviour. But you can still use their previous gift as the suggested amount for their next donation.

Anchoring is one of the most robust effects and you can make use of it even in the structure of your ask strings. If you have 3 or more suggested amounts, test starting with the highest amount first instead of the lowest and observe any differences in average gifts and/or response rates. In principle, you should start receiving higher average donations. What is less sure is what happens to the response rate.

If you decide to do this test, I’d be happy to help.