The Eyes Have It
High powered commercial brands leave nothing to chance when it comes to marketing.
For example, product placement on grocery shelves is a fine art, and the care that goes into packaging what is offered on those shelves is equally informed by meticulous research. If you don’t think major bucks are spent on optimizing that shelf space, think again!
Caryn Stein at the Nonprofit Marketing Blog gives us this illustration from cereal packaging — What Cap’n Crunch Can Teach You About Fundraising. In this case … where do the eyes of the consumer focus and what do they see?
They look into the eyes of characters on the cereal boxes. And what does the research say? Eye contact increases brand trust by 16%!
Nonprofit Marketing Blog therefore recommends:
“Make eye contact.
Are you looking your donors in the eye? Do this both figuratively and literally with your fundraising materials. In your emails, in advertisements, and on your website and donation pages, feature strong images of faces looking directly into the camera.”
Think of all those child sponsor print ads, direct mail pieces and TV commercials you’ve seen. I think you’ll recall … the eyes have it.
Can anybody share some testing of eye contact versus other imagery?
Tom
P.S. How people buy things (and are maneuvered into doing so) is really an intriguing and fun topic. One of the bibles on this, highly readable, is Paco Underhill’s Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping.
2 responses to “The Eyes Have It”
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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Thanks for the mention, Tom. Would love to hear more about others’ experience with eye contact and imagery testing.
Brilliant and profound. I hope that everyone pays attention to this post. It really does sum up what we do … or what we *need* to be doing.