Today The Agitator invokes Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and  his Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Yet to Come.

Actually, I’m most interested in the Ghost of Christmases Yet to Come.

As I write,  a diligent team is at work behind the scenes  crafting new features, special website sections and research to share with you. I’m especially excited by the preparatory work of the DonorVoice behavioral science team.

Led by Dr. Kiki Koutmeridou, the Behavioral Science Strategist at DonorVoice the team has enlisted a panel of distinguished behavioral scientists from the US, Europe and the UK they’ll be sharing research of practical value to fundraisers.

In addition DonorVoice and Kiki’s team will host a feature titled Ask A Behavioral Scientist on The Agitator where you can ask questions of interest and importance to you.  Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, here’s an earlier Agitator post that outlines how you can effectively put behavioral science to work on your donation page.

Roger

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Slowly, but surely, research in the field of behavioral science is making its way into Fundraising Land.

Over the past several years commercial marketers have begun to discover practices which those pundits and commentators who favor high-blown ‘strategic’ insights often consider ‘trivial’.

What once seemed relatively trivial has proven to hold monumental importance compared to the size of the intervention or ‘tweak’.

In fact the venerable UK Ogilvy agency now uses as a near-motto, “Dare to be trivial”.

And for several years the application of behavioral science in marketing has been recognized through the annual Nudge Awards, representing the “greatest examples of behavioural science in action”.

No doubt the name was drawn from the book Nudge by authors Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein. This bestseller draws on decades of research in the fields of behavioral science and economics. It offers a new perspective on preventing the countless mistakes we make and shows us how sensible “choice architecture” can successfully nudge people toward the best decisions.

Dr. Kiki Koutmeridou, Behavioral Science Strategist at DonorVoice, posted a piece yesterday titled, What your donation buys: How to get a 42% lift in revenue. It illustrates the importance of focusing on something as seemingly ‘trivial’ as constructing effective, suggested donation levels.

The illustration Kiki uses — the example for which DonorVoice won the ‘2017 Best Insight’ in the Nudge Awards — involves a test conducted for UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.

“Charities are very good at making the abstract act of giving more tangible by explaining what different levels of donations will buy. In the example below, UNHCR USA informs people that $45 can buy high thermal blankets while $85 can buy a heating stove. These symbolic gifts make the abstract donation amount feel more real and increase engagement. So far so good,” says Kiki.

Below is the ‘control’ donation page using what Kiki terms the ‘asymmetrical structure’.

Click here to enlarge

But there’s a catch, she warns:

“Donation decisions, especially the decision about the amount, can be highly influenced by the way we ask. This asymmetrical structure, where a higher donation amount is linked to a completely different symbolic gift, is the standard practice for many charities. But is it the most effective one?”

Perhaps not. Kiki goes on to illustrate with the ‘test’ donation page that was used against the ‘control’ by UNHCR USA. It shows a more effective way to present symbolic gifts on a donation page or gift form.

Click to enlarge.

The result? The test page produced a 42% increase in income over the control.

You can find the details of the test and the rationale behind it on Kiki’s post here.

And remember, the 42% increase in total revenue was achieved merely by changing the way gift symbols or descriptions are presented. A small, ‘trivial’ tweak with big consequences.

What are some of your ‘trivial’ fundraising pursuits?

Roger