Why Your Gut is Wrong: The Science of How Donors Behave Online

cancerresearch.org @CancerResearch | wholewhale.com @wholewhale #19NTCdonorscience
Why Your Gut is Wrong: The Science of
How Donors Behave Online
NTC - March 2019

Contents
● Behavioral model
● A/B testing overview
● How to run A/B tests
● 5 things you can try

#19NTCdonorsciencecancerresearch.org @CancerResearch | wholewhale.com @wholewhale
Who we are

About Ann
● Design Whaler | Head of NY
● Build sites, products, and
systems
● Love A/B tests
#DollarBetBattles

Who is Whole Whale?
Whole Whale is a digital agency that leverages web data and
technology to increase the impact of nonprofits.

About Alice
● Senior Marketing Manager
at Cancer Research
Institute
● Juggles a variety of
marketing responsibilities,
especially digital
● Loves data and
evidence-based marketing

Who is CRI

Game 1
When I say go
Everyone raise the same hand in the air.

Game 2
When I say go
Everyone raise your left hand in the air.

Behavioral Model
Theory & reality

What makes people do something?
Passive Engaged

Behavior = motivation*ability*trigger
● Motivation: Undying love for
food
● Ability: Abs + toned shoulders
● Trigger: Human command

Behavior = motivation*ability*trigger

A/bility - Can I do this easily?
● Give perception of ease
○ Time: “quick survey”
○ Effort: “no credit card required”
● Minimize number of taps

Motivation - Do I want to do this?
● Focus on need fulfillment
● Social proof: Others are using it
● Authority: 3rd Party Validation
● Scarcity: Leverage FOMO (missing out)
● Reciprocity: Give something away

Invigorated
Confident
Challenged
Joyful
Connected
Angry
Fearful
Anxious
Defensive
Resentful
Relaxed
Mellow
Peaceful
Tranquil
Serene
Depressed
Exhausted
Burned out
Hopeless
Defeated
Positive
(pleasant)
Negative
(unpleasant)
High
intensity
Low
intensity

Trigger - What do I click?
● Clear calls-to-action
● Ask at the right time
● Ask at different moments

“Sticky”
CTA

Why A/B Test?
Everybody’s doing it

A B
What is A/B Testing?
A/B testing is comparing two or more versions of something to
see which one performs better.

Designs = best guesses
Build
Measure
Learn

Netflix + chill

40.6% lift in conversion
2.8m email addresses
$60m +/-
👏 ...👏 ...👏

What to Test?
Look good, sound good, do good

What to test: copy
● Body copy
● Headlines
● Calls-to-action
● Menu item name
● Donation amount

What to test: Visuals
● Hero images
● Icons
● Colors

A B
Higher
clickthrough
rate
6.8%

What to test: layout
● Order of elements
● Position of elements
● Element “staticness”
● Form length

A B
Improvement
in conversion
rate
21%

Running experiments
Ready, set, test

Build - WYSIWYG

Measure

Learn

Some A/B testing tools
Website Popup EmailWebsite Popup Email

Getting your feet wet: 5 things to try

1. Hero image

2. Headline

3. Preset amount

4. Recurring opt-out vs. opt-in

5. CTA

Don’t stop A/Believing!
#TurtleTip

Open to #dollarbets
Get in touch
ann@wholewhale.com
anorthover@cancerresearch.org
More resources at
wholewhale.com/ntc19donorscience

Why Your Gut is Wrong: The Science of How Donors Behave Online

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