Adding Context to Boost Acquisition ??

Have you or someone you know ever fallen victim to the assumption that “people don’t read online?”?

It’s something we hear all?the time.

But here’s the truth — people do read (especially people who care about your cause). The caveat is that your copy needs to have purpose and it needs to be abundantly clear.

In this week’s experiment, let’s look at how adding copy impacted email acquisition for one organization.

Let’s see what happened??

Hypothesis

Adding brief descriptions to the petition summary cards for non-paid website traffic will lead to an increase in petition signatures.

Why might this work?

Adding short descriptions to the petition summary cards provides more clarity and strengthens the motivation of the user to click through.

Control

Treatment

Results

Adding brief descriptions to the petition summaries led to a 17% increase in petition signatures.

A bonus result of this test is that it unlocked a new opportunity for testing inside of one of the organization’s key donation funnels. While historical testing has focused a lot of effort on optimizing paid ad funnels, this test shows that there’s opportunity to further optimize the website to drive existing traffic through high-value marketing & fundraising funnels.

Remember: testing is not just about getting a lift. It’s about getting a learning. And those learnings can unlock new tactics, strategies, and opportunities.

Some tips for testing this (and other) ideas

1. Avoid using filler words or words that don’t serve a purpose — the copy you write should be clear and to the point.
2. Ensure the copy is consistent with the messaging throughout the user experience.
3. Keep the copy user-centric and focused on what they’ll get by taking action.
4. Consider how someone gets to a landing page or donation page—and see what opportunities there are to optimize the full pathway.

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