We wanted to see what the current ‘best practices’ were in Canada when it came to online fundraising so we signed up for email and gave to 152 charities tracking the user experience and communications along the way.
The results will shine a light on where organizations are at today, the gap between best practices and what is actually happening, and the areas of opportunity when it comes to digital marketing with a focus on four key areas:
1. Email Signup
2. Email Communication
3. Online Donation Experience
4. Gift Acknowledgement
In this session, you will learn what other organizations from across the country are doing — well and not so well — and what you can be doing to accelerate your online fundraising. From email communications, to landing page design, to donation page gift arrays, you’ll get tons of research backed tips and insights in this jam packed presentation.
Vice President of Innovation and Optimization at NextAfter
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradyjosephson/
Brady is a charity nerd, entrepreneur, digital marketer, professor, and writer. He’s the Vice President of Innovation and Optimization at NextAfter — a fundraising research lab and consultancy on a mission to unleash the most generous generation in the history of the world.
Brady works with nonprofits, thought leaders, and philanthropic partners to develop research and create content that can help organizations reach more people, acquire more donors, and generate more dollars to fund their world-changing work.
Brady lives just outside Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with his wife Liz, dog Melly, and cat Thor.
7. Combines the perpetual learning of a marketing and
fundraising Research Lab with the practical application of
a Consultancy.
To help nonprofits reach more people, acquire more donors, and
generate more dollars to fund their world-changing work.
FORENSIC RESEARCH APPLIED RESEARCH
1100+ Fundraising Experiments
• 198 million donor interactions
• 2.3 million conversions
250+ Emails
• Subject Lines
• Copy
• Design
300+ Donation Pages
• General Donation Pages
• Instant Donation Pages
• Campaign Donation Pages
175+ Advertising
• Facebook Ads
• Google AdWords
• On-Site Pop-ups
150+ Landing Pages
• Email Signups
• Online Courses
• Petitions/Pledges
Some Research Partners
8. Combines the perpetual learning of a marketing and
fundraising Research Lab with the practical application of
a Consultancy.
To help nonprofits reach more people, acquire more donors, and
generate more dollars to fund their world-changing work.
RESOURCES COURSES TOOLS
25. $148 $159
$301
$494
$-
$100
$200
$300
$400
$500
$600
Online Only Offline Only Offline w/ Valid Email Multichannel
Source: Provided constituent and transaction data for 2015-2016 (excluding corporate and and $10k+HPC donors)
Average Revenue Per Donor by Cohort
Just adding email
communication
increases value
90%
26. WHAT ARE THE KEY
FRAMEWORKS NEEDED
TO UNDERSTAND THE
STUDY?
30. Email Signup
Email
Envelope
and Body
Optimizing Each Micro-Decision
Dec
(mi)
Decision
(mi)
Decision
(mi)
Decision
(mi)
Decision
Donation Page and
Process
Dec
(mi)
Decision
(mi)
Decision
(mi)
Decision
Cost
Value
(mi)
Yes
34. VALUE PROPOSITION:
An answer to one critical question:
“If I am your ideal supporter, why
should I donate to you rather than
another organization (or at all)?”
35. Appeal
0- No Interest
1- Possible Interest
2- High Interest
Exclusivity
0- Anywhere Else
1- Somewhere Else
2- Nowhere Else
How to Rate A Value Proposition
How bad do they want what you’re offering?
36. Appeal
0- No Interest
1- Possible Interest
2- High Interest
Exclusivity
0- Anywhere Else
1- Somewhere Else
2- Nowhere Else
How to Rate A Value Proposition
How bad do they wantto supportwhat you’re offering?
37. How to Rate A Value Proposition
How quickly and clearly do they understand
your offering?
Clarity
0- Takes 4+ seconds to understand
1- Takes 1-3 seconds to understand
2- Understand it instantly
38. How to Rate A Value Proposition
How likely will they believe what you’re claiming?
Believability
0- Unbelievable
1- Somewhat believable
2- Easily believable
Trustworthiness
0- Questionable, sketchy
1- Comparably OK
2- Feels safe
48. Overall Grade by Charity Type
78% 78%
81%
77%
72%
68%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Welfare Health Religion Benefits to
Community
Education Other
49. Overall Grades by Area
0 1 36 6 6
15
10 1014
23
28
117
112
105
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Email Signup Fundraising Emails Online Giving Experience
A B C D F
51. Curved Grades for Email Signup
6
38
56
38
14
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
F D C B A
52. Average Overall Score for Email Signup
51% 50%
54%
51% 51%
38%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Welfare Health Religion Benefits to
Community
Education Other
84. A New Model for Email Acquisition
We recently launched a full online course . . .
• Based upon learnings from over 300 tests
on email acquisition using Facebook
• We created benchmarks using over
50 different email acquisition campaigns
• 11 unique modules of content ranging from
offer creation and acquisition page layout to
key metrics and troubleshooting
88. Send an Appeal or Not By Type
30
22
18
12
5
1
27
9
11
13
3
1
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Welfare Health Religion Benefits to
Community
Education Other
Did NOT send appeal Did Send Appeal
89. Curved Grade for Fundraising Emails
94
12
24
20
2
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
F D C B A
90. Average Overall Score for Fundraising Emails
60%
63%
67%
62%
49%
74%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Welfare Health Religion Benefits to
Community
Education Other
106. Look Closer CONTROL TREATMENT
• More human
sounding
introduction to the
campaign
107. Look Closer CONTROL TREATMENT
• Logo placement
reduced
• Call to action
button moved to
text/link
• More personal and
relevant salutation
• More human
sounding
introduction to the
campaign
145.5%
IN DONATIONS
152. Online Giving Experience
Scores by Type
54% 53% 54% 54%
46%
38%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Welfare Health Religion Benefits to
Community
Education Other
The ability to understand and share the feelings of one another
The ability to understand and share the feelings of one another
Environment is in Benefits to Community
Some development and services are under Religion, some in Welfare
Total revenue
We looked at fundraising/receipted revenue, then fundraising expenses
Majority are in Ontario, then BC, then Alberta
A few in Quebec, Manitoba, and 2 in Nova Scotia
Quebec 5 Alberta 12 British Columbia 39 Manitoba 5 Nova Scotia 2 Ontario 89
Retention goes up 29% as well.
They are busy, don’t know or don’t care as much
They read every other email
They want to get
They are busy, don’t know or don’t care as much
They read every other email
They want to get
Credibility
Data can be overwhelming there’s tons of it but here’s what data does, two things
Data can be overwhelming there’s tons of it but here’s what data does, two things
Empathy
Raw, not curved
Slightly better religion, down for ‘other’, but pretty even
Many would have two steps, get people to start filling out and then communicate more, but why would they start if they don’t know what they’re getting?
No real pattern or main overlap
Didn’t appear to be many automated asks, mostly related to campaigns that fell in the window
Those that sent an appeal immediately scored worse thatn others
Looked at all appeals it would be smaller
Clarity
Incentives normally help
Fan of non-financial incentives
Incentives normally help
Fan of non-financial incentives
83% offered monthly giving (3 emails asked specifically for it) but only 10% had a special value proposition for it
Ran that experiment, helped increase recurring giving 64%