Get a Second Gift From First Time Donors
Experiment No. 003
Donor Retention
Retaining donors is a struggle for nonprofits. The donor retention rate continues to drop.
The main reason lies with new donor retention. According to the Association of Fundraising Professionals, less than one in five donors who gave for the first time in 2019 didn’t give to the same charity again in 2020. The new donor retention decreased from 28% to 19%.
High donor retention rates allow organizations to spend less money on marketing. It costs 10X more to acquire a new donor than it does to keep them.
With the saved money, nonprofits can devote more resources to upgrading current donors, securing legacy gifts and improving fundraising.
Get the Second Gift
The first step in donor retention is getting the first time donor to donate again. Data from Neon One shows donor retention improves to 60% after the second gift.
People don’t give again for a few reasons. They were never asked for another donation. The organization neglected to thank them for their first gift. Individuals weren’t engaged with the organization after their donation.
To remedy this, continue communication with first time donors. Donors want to see how their money makes a difference. Use multiple channels to send impact stories, updates, and newsletters.
Ask for a second gift anywhere from 2-3 months after their first one.
Second Gift Strategy
Stats from softwareadvice.com
Before asking for the second gift make sure to thank them. Donors prefer to receive thank you notes via personalized letter, email, social media, and/or phone calls.
One approach when thanking them is to offer a free resource.
Offering the resource has a few benefits. It thanks the donors in a tangible way. The resource provides value to the donor and makes them feel like part of an exclusive group.
At what point in the process does an organization ask for a donation after giving them the resource?
A nonprofit organization tested two different user experiences. They learned what type of landing page to use and how many steps it should include.
Audience: First time donors from the previous year.
Context: An email was sent thanking them for their support. It also offered a free resource. The only call to action on the email was to get the resource.
The landing page included a way for people to download the resource. People were also asked to donate once they received it.
Research Question: At what point do we ask for a donation?
Hypothesis: A landing page that includes a button to download the resource and a call to action to donate will reduce friction and encourage more people to give.
Test Element: Landing pages
Control- One page to download the resource and donate.
Test- Landing page to download the resource. The confirmation page has the donation call to action and form.
Key Metric: Conversion rate
Sample Size: Used a 50/50 split. The control landing page went to 20,122 people. The test pages went to 20,147. This test reached 99% statistical significance.
Results: The two-step donation ask, with the resource on one page and the ask on the confirmation page performed 78% better.
Number of gifts - 65% higher
Donation amount - 54% more
Application: Add the donation call to action and form to the confirmation page.
Future Tests: This test was conducted with first time donors from the previous year. Run another test with different audiences such as:
Email subscribers but non donors
Lapsed donors
Recurring donors
Test different types of resources, ebooks, pdfs, videos, etc. Is there a difference between offering a resource or sharing an impact story?
Final Thoughts: Including the resource and the donation form to one page seems simpler. It also reduces the friction. Yet, less people donated because the page missed an important step, the acknowledgment. Use a two-step process in this case. A landing page to download the resource. Then, a confirmation page to thank them and ask for a donation. This experience provided the necessary fulfillment in the donor journey.
