Search Results for: ask less
Ask Amounts: $.99 and Upgrading
We wrote last week about the allure of $.99 pricing in the consumer world and argued for testing with $.99’s in the ask string. The best test is appending education to your file (cheap, quick and easy) as proxy for numeracy, and having a split test since more numerate and less numerate people process prices […]
Fundraising Lessons From the Liberty Ship Innovation
Shipbuilding pre-WWII was akin to fundraising before mass market channels existed—highly bespoke and tailored to the buyer, time consuming and with non-scalable labor as the primary input. Necessity often being the mother of all invention, the shipbuilding industry in the United States underwent a radical transformation to meet the needs of the Allied cause. But […]
Crowdfunding: A Lesson from World War II
As a kid growing up in rural Pennsylvania I got my news via the BBC on a short wave radio tucked under my bed. Gettysburg’s local radio station, WGET, was heavy on corn and hog prices, light on national and world news. To this day I listen to the BBC with their news and […]
Q: I came across a very interesting appeal from UNICEF: “Make one gift to save a child’s life…and we’ll never ask for another gift again.” Great way to get an envelope opened. However, upon taking a closer look at the package I discovered that the donor had to check a very small box”( ) This will be my only gift. Please do not ask me for another donation again.” in order to opt out. How did this appeal work? How many people opted out?
It sounds like UNICEF executed, in a cheeky way, what SmileTrain did in a very transparent way. In 2015, just like UNICEF, SmileTrain sent out a pack with the promise of not asking for another gift again if you gave this once. Same concept and OE/letter message. But, unlike UNICEF, SmileTrain explicitly asked those who […]
Q: Are there testing or white papers that confirm the need to make a specific ask in a fundraising appeal?
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
Q: Have you done research on fundraising messaging based a person’s known race, religion, ethic group, disability, etc.? I ask because I am presenting at a conference about fundraising from diverse populations.
I can only answer for the effectiveness of fundraising messages that use behavioural science. It’s true that the effectiveness of nudges might differ across cultures. Some cultures may be more (or less) susceptible to a certain bias. Hence, if that bias is used in a fundraising message it will be more (or less) effective for that population.
Year End: Ideal Asking Amounts
Do you really know the best “ask amount” for each donor? Many fundraisers really don’t know. They guess, or resort to traditional, tribal wisdom ask strings like 1X Highest Previous Gift (HPC), 1.5 X HPC, 2 X HPC and Other $_______ The result? They’re often leaving massive amounts of money on the table. The ask […]
The New PayPal: Touchless Transactions
70% of UK charities reported a decrease in their cash donations over the past three years. What’s going on? Have we Brits stopping caring about causes? No, but we’re carrying less cash. The government is estimating that by 2026 only 21% of all financial transactions will be in cash, down from over 60% in 2006. […]
The Opposite of “More” Is Not “Less”; It’s “Better”
For generations direct response fundraisers have been steering the fundraising car with little more than two controls: the gas pedal and the brake pedal. Want more monthly donors? Invest more money. More prospecting. More F2F. More DRTV. More campaigns to reactivate lapsed sustainers. More. More. Want more net income to “meet the numbers”? Cut back […]
Ask them. Ask them every time.
I for one am shocked – shocked! – in the revelations that Facebook has treated our data with all the care of a four-year-old with a new Hot Wheel. (Let’s see what happens when we run a user’s personal information OFF A RAMP AND DOWN THE STAIRS!) After all, packaging these data for ads is […]