This Christmas Carol Will Leave You Smiling
The Agitator has few traditions at this point. But here is one of them.
To get into a mirthful holiday mood, listen to this remarkable rendition of O Holy Night.
[Just click directly on the arrow icon or song title. Allow a few moments to activate your media player and download … it’s worth it. Don’t forget to turn your audio on.]
The Agitator Guarantee: This performance will leave you smiling well into the New Year, or we’ll refund your Agitator subscription fee. But you must listen to the entire performance.
Happy Holidays!
Roger and Tom
5 responses to “This Christmas Carol Will Leave You Smiling”
Behavioral Science Q & A
Thanks so much for raising this. Yes, capturing donor information can be helpful for stewardship like newsletters, thank-you letters, impact updates. But how you ask matters. Forcing full data capture introduces friction that can significantly depress conversion, many donors may simply abandon the process. Beyond the friction itself, required fields also shift the emotional experience […]
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Unlike holidays that everyone already knows, Giving Tuesday is a created event. Many donors recognize the name but not the exact timing, so referencing it becomes a helpful cue. It serves as a reminder and taps into social norm activation (“everyone’s giving today”), which boosts response. However, we still want it paired with the mission, […]
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When a subject line leads with the match (“Your gift matched!”), it risks triggering market-norm thinking: the sense that giving is a financial transaction rather than an act rooted in values, identity, and care. This shift reduces intrinsic motivation and, over time, can weaken donor satisfaction and long-term engagement. It also makes the email indistinguishable […]
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There’s no evidence that QR codes suppress mid-value giving; all available research suggests they either help or have no negative effect. In fact, behavioral and usability research consistently shows the opposite: reducing friction at any point in the donation process increases completion rates and total response. And that has nothing to do with capacity and […]
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What you’re experiencing is very common. Resistance often isn’t about capability, but about motivation quality. If board members feel pushed into fundraising, that triggers controlled motivation (low quality motivation) i.e. obligation, guilt, or fear of judgment, which often results in avoidance. Instead, we need to create conditions for volitional motivation (high quality motivation) by satisfying […]
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That’s a really thoughtful question, and you’re not the first to raise it. Many of our clients have been cautious about placing the ask at the very end. To address their concern, we’ve tested both approaches, and the results are clear: when the ask comes last, even if that means it appears on the second […]
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OK, I listened to that rendition of O, Holy Night, and I guess I didn’t get it. I listened to the whole thing. Was it just a test to see if you could get your readers to do something foolish just because you told us to? Or, was it sung by someone with a disability, and it’s a lesson that everybody praises God in their own unique style? Please let me in on the joke.
Thanks!
I appreciate that you intended to spread a little holiday cheer with this. But to those of us who consider religious carols, well, sacred, this is the equivalent of Roseanne Barr singing the national anthem: offensive. I’m no Bible thumper, but please, next time, stick to the secular carols.
Gaaaack!
I’m not smiling, I’m cringing – worse than fingernails on a blackboard.
This kind of thing is truly one of the WORST side effects of modern technology. In earlier times a musical travesty like this would have stayed in the shower or at the worst someone’s office holiday party mis-using the kids’ kareoke machine.
And your point was…?
When I was in a boy’s choir, my favorite carol was O Holy Night. But I could never do it justice. That’s why I — and I suspect most others who have attempted the carol — get such a chuckle out of this fellow’s attempt. It puts me in a good mood … that’s why I posted it. No point to be made.
And forewarned is forearmed, I’ll post it again next Christmas!
Can’t wait to hear it again next Christmas!