Surprise! More People Give If They Don’t See the Pitch Coming

The Theory

Nonprofits that want to transform more website visitors into donors shouldn’t give them time to hem and haw over their decision. Instead, a recent study found, catch them unaware.

Many would-be online donors avoid solicitations if they know they are coming. The fewer hoops they have to jump through on a website before a donation request, the better.

“People are more likely to give if they are surprised by the ask and not given time to find reasons why they might not want to give,” said Ragan Petrie, a behavioral economist at Texas A&M University and one of the study’s authors.

The Test

To measure people’s tendency to avoid gift requests, Petri and her colleagues set up an online contest for pet lovers in San Francisco that asked participants to name their favorite animal organization. The 6,000 people who participated were prompted to make a donation under several separate conditions. Some were tipped off that a donation request was coming: They were told to click through to another screen where they could vote and to donate if they chose to.

Others were just asked to register their vote. When they proceeded to a separate page to do so, they were immediately presented with a donation request.

Results

When a participant expected a donation request, 22 percent fewer proceeded to the donation page. In a follow-up study, the researchers found the drop in click-through rates resulted in a 10 percent decline in donations.

Dig Deeper

As is often the case in fundraising, a good story had the power to change the dynamic. In another phase of the experiment, potential donors were presented with a story about pet adoption. One group was presented with a story that foreshadowed a later gift request. For others, the story unfolded without a hint of a request for money; the pitch came as a surprise at the end.

The researchers found that donors responded equally well to both approaches. In other words, foreshadowing a gift didn’t seem to turn off donors when paired with a story that tugged at their heartstrings.

A good story, says Petrie, “inoculates people against their reluctance” to give.

Find it

“The Impact of a Surprise Donation Ask,” by Christine Exley and Ragan Petrie, Journal of Public Economics, Vol. 158, February 2018.