Context effect for regular giving
THE CHALLENGE
The most valuable supporters are those who make a regular gift. That’s why a USA international relief charity wanted to increase the number of new supporters that sign up for a regular gift.
Their strategy was to ask supporters, a few months after their first gift, if they wanted to give monthly.
OUR SOLUTION
Decisions can be highly influenced by the options available. Instead of just offering a monthly giving option, we suggested testing the inclusion of a quarterly giving option.
Compared to monthly gifts, quarterly ones might seem more appealing which might increase their uptake.
What is more, supporters now have an alternative option in front of them and not just a binary decision – yes or no to monthly giving. This might increase the overall number of supporters who agree to a regular gift; the ones that might not be willing to commit to a monthly gift, might still commit to a quarterly one.
In the test version, we asked and offered supporters to sign up to regular gifts – quarterly or monthly –, while in the control version we asked them to sign up for monthly gifts (see control and test reply form images).
THE RESULTS
The majority of supporters decided to make a single gift, even though this wasn’t an option.
In the control condition, 6% signed up for monthly gifts with an average of $32 resulting in annual revenue of $72,960.
In the test condition, 5% signed up for monthly gifts with an average of $34, and 4% signed up for quarterly gifts with a higher average of $40. The combination results in annual revenue of $72,344.
The test resulted in 3% more regular supporters but didn’t have a positive lift in annual revenue. This is because of the slightly lower uptake of monthly gifts in favor of quarterly gifts in the test condition. It’s possible that the presence of a quarterly option downgraded some supporters who might have gone for the monthly option.
That said, now that these supporters have agreed to a regular gift, even if it’s a quarterly one, it might be easier to upgrade them or convert them to monthly later on.
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