What GoFundMe learned from hundreds of tests

It’s December 30, and the email says the campaign is just short of its goal. 

The supporter clicks through to a plain donation form with no goal in sight and closes the tab.

GoFundMe’s new report, The Kindness Gap, puts numbers to what happens when donors can’t see where a campaign stands.

GoFundMe says more than 100,000 people give on its platform every day, and it uses that volume to run hundreds of controlled experiments on its fundraiser pages.

Two findings translate directly to email programs heading into December.

More clicks, fewer gifts
GoFundMe tested removing the goal amount and progress circle from fundraiser pages. 

Clicks on the donate button doubled, while conversions fell by 7%.

Hiding the feed of recent donations played out the same way, with donate clicks up 31% and conversion down 9%. Total giving fell too.

GoFundMe’s explanation is that people clicked around looking for the information that had disappeared, then left without giving.

The read? If your year-end email tells supporters how close you are to a goal, the donation page should show it too.

I’d bet plenty of December campaigns have this gap, because the email and the donation page are often built by different people on different timelines.

It also makes the case for judging tests by gifts and revenue, especially now that bots are behind so many email clicks.

Crisis giving doesn’t peak on day one
GoFundMe also looked at fundraisers started in response to a crisis. 

They beat non-crisis fundraisers on day one and keep pulling further ahead through day three.

After 24 hours, crisis fundraisers have 48% more donors than non-crisis fundraisers. After 72 hours, that grows to 71% more donors.

They also raise 19% more money than non-crisis fundraisers after 24 hours, and 32% more after 72 hours.

The read? When something big happens, people keep showing up to give for days. Keep them engaged!

A rapid response plan built around one big email on day one leaves those later donors on the table, so give the following sends just as much attention.

How to apply these learnings to your program
Compare your donation page copy to the email copy. For every year-end appeal, open the donation page beside the email it’s linked from. 

If the email mentions a goal or a match, the page should show it too.

Turn on social proof. If your giving platform can display a progress bar or recent gifts, test it before December!

Pick test winners by money raised, not clicks. If one version gets more clicks but raises less, the other version won.

Plan for more than one email. When a crisis hits, map out your day-two and day-three follow-ups while you’re writing the first email, instead of deciding later whether to send them.

The bottom line
When GoFundMe hid the goal and recent gifts, fewer people gave. 

If your emails mention a goal, test a goal progress visual or line on the donation page too.

And when a crisis hits, people keep giving for days, so don’t be afraid of increasing volume.

Check our events list for more or reply to this email to submit one for consideration.

‘Til next time!
Sara