People Are Different But In Predictable Ways
People are different in their motivation and interests and yet the sea of sameness of one-size-fits-all fundraising dominates.
The Control ad and a Test ad both going to a single audience; the unspoken assumption is that everyone’s the same. But what if the test failed because it did well with some people but poorly with others?
Enter the vibrant OCEAN Model, built on the Big 5 Personality traits. Why does this matter? Personality dictates much of what we pay attention to and click on. For example, we know people high in Openness like quizzes and “imagine…” rhetorical messaging, others less so. Appealing to Agreeable people is very different from those high in Conscientiousness.
Join our webinar to learn more.
But that’s not all. It’s time to get past the ‘make it emotional’ non-advice, 
advice and generic word clouds from open-end donor comments. We need tailoring to better match emotion to the person. Ads that match or “fit” donors’ personality and emotional traits are more persuasive.
How did these test Facebook ads increase ROAS?
Different words to match people’s different personalities.
Those Conscientious people in your life are the strivers, assigning value to hard work and effort. The Agreeable people you know are the ones for whom compassion strikes the resonant note. They’re hard wired to help others and they tend to skew liberal so the human right framing works for them.
We also need to send the right version to the right people. We know where to find these traits in the wild – on your donor file, in social, in display etc.
Join us to get more details on the how and why.
You might ask yourself; do we really need to be this sophisticated? Won’t traditional “best practice” be enough?
Three thoughts,
- It’s way past time for us to redefine our fundraising baseline.
- One-size fits all is never good enough unless you have only one donor.
- Which of your donors doesn’t deserve to have their messaging tailored so they feel psychologically rewarded and motivated?
Kevin
Behavioral Science Q & A
Integrating an individual giving appeal with other communications from a charity can have both positive and negative effects, and the outcome largely depends on how it’s executed. Advantages of Integration Brand Consistency: Maintaining a consistent appearance and messaging across all communications can reinforce the org’s brand identity and strengthen brand recognition and trust among your […]
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I’m not aware of any in-market tests specifically comparing recurring vs. gift frequency language. I suspect the answer might not be the same with all gift frequencies, nor with all people. It sounds like a great opportunity for you to test and find out what works for your audience. Based on the literature, here’s a couple […]
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Based on what we know from existing data, those renewal notices can actually be pretty effective in getting people to donate. They tap into our psychology – creating a sense of urgency, reminding us of past support, and using personalization to make the message hit home. They’re playing on our natural tendencies to feel obligated […]
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Interesting question. I had a quick look at the testing done on this topic. On the positive side, in all cases, over half of donors decide to cover the fee. In some cases, it goes as high as 65%. Not a negligible percentage at all. Here’s another test from iRaiser showing consistent results (see point […]
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There’s just one thing to consider when designing a supporter journey: the supporter. More specifically, you need to take into account: Who the supporter is i.e. their identity, which is the reason they support this cause, and their personality, which describes the way they “see” and process the world. These will determine the kind of […]
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I’m not an expert in this but a quick search surfaced this article on the effect of tax reforms on 2019’s charitable giving. The researchers didn’t find a reduction. Actually, they observed an “increase in charitable contributions in 2019, even with the lower tax rates and the dramatically smaller number of taxpayers who itemize their […]
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