Using decision sciences to nudge people to donate

Goals: Get people to donate to the organization.

What I did: Recommend strategies to get more donations.

Company Mission

The company believes crime happens because people aren’t taught to make good decisions. The organization believes that teaching good decision-making to people would improve their lives and the communities.

Business Goals

1. Get more people to subscribe to their blogs

2. Get people to donate to the organization.

The website

Limited to 3 pages; home page, blogs page, and donation page. I was responsible for the strategy applied to the donation page.

Customer profiling

1.The higher-educated Christians

• They believe charity is love and love is the core of their religion.

• By not doing charity means they don’t believe in God.

• By not doing charity would also violate their identity. 

• Higher-educated people tend to value education, achievement, reputation, and appreciation. These factors make them likely to support the cause of the non-profit organization.

Network:

• Christian has a responsibility to share their faith.

• If the company can reach one person, it could expand through the whole network.

2.The new Asian immigrants

• They are family-oriented, they care about health, life qualities, safety.

• They also value education as they believe that good education will lead to success.

• The new Asian immigrants are also highly educated. They are likely to support the cause of the non-profit organization.

Network:

• Asians are Groupement, they have a tendency to do group activities.

• They want to find belonging for themselves and their family here.

• These increase the chance of outreaching from one person to another in this group.

Donation Page: Content Recommendations

I recommended these elements as they are the key features that affect the target groups’ decision and outreach to others in the groups.

1.Before donate

1. Fundraiser banner with a progress bar

2. An Influencer donor

3. Donation options; Option to subscribe to blogs and newsletters

4. Our Staff Information 

2.after donated (page/ popup)

1. Thank you message

2. Option to share on social media

Fundraiser banner with a progress bar

Strategies applied

1. The text: “Join 50,000 others who give young people a second chance”

• Using the science of social contagion, by telling people what the majority of people are doing would nudge them to join that group.

• As the target audiences are non-native English speakers, I recommend keeping the language simple. For example, using “young people” instead of “juvenile” or “adolescent”

2. The progress bar

• Appear once the fundraise reaches 60% of the fundraising.

• If the % is low, it would revert the social contagion effect. People don’t want to be in the minority.

• Counter the bystander effect. Showing many people donated might make people think the company got a lot of help already. The progress bar would show them that the help still in need. It also symbolizes proceeding, in progress, and ongoing. 

3. Share option

Play on social contagion. The more people share the more traffic to the site and more possible subscribers and donors.

An Influencer donor

When the organization first launched, there aren’t any data to nudge prospective donors using social contagious like the prior feature. The non-profit could use this feature instead. 

Highlight a donor who represents the identity of our target audience. 

1. He/She should have many of these traits

   • Well-known and being admired by people in the community

   • Someone who held a bachelor’s degree or higher.

   • Have good relationships with Asian immigrants community and Christian community

   • Be a parent in a loving family.

   • Highly successful professional. 

2. These traits symbolize  what our targeted customer value ( achievement, education, faith )

3. It resonates with who they are or who they want to be (their identity).

4. Using a highly admirable person plays with social influence. Their credibility has high persuasive power to people in the community

5. This feature can also be an incentive to the donor as it contributes to their fame. 

Donation options example

Strategies applied

1. Map the choice to tell prospective donors what the amount of their money can do.

“$30 could provide a decision-making class for 1 child”

Basically,  I’m telling them their power/money power. Once donors would feel empowered and confident, it would nudge them to donate.

2. Setting a default choice to monthly donations and subscribe to blogs and newsletters.

1. The default choice encourages options you want them to choose.

2. Put them in an omission bias state of not wanting to go through the burden of all other options and stick with the default.

3. Monthly donations would be more sustainable for the organization. 

4. Subscribe to blogs would lead to more traffic and chances for prospective donors to engage with the content (more shares, and comments)

*Once becoming our monthly donors, they will acquire a new status quo. To cancel, they will have to overcome the action cost. Therefore, once they status change they will likely stay in that status - status quo bias.

3. Listed choices from low (left) to high (right)

• This will encourage increases in donations if the prospective donors choose their own amount.

4. Having up to 4 choices include a custom amount.

• Not overwhelm prospective donors with choices.

• Allow the decision-making (donate) fast and easy.

• Too many choices could lead to choice deferral, prospective donors postpone the decision as they aren’t sure which to choose because of the trade-off in the long term for example.

5. Hide one-time donation choice

• Increase friction to choose a one-time donation.

• To choose the choice, donors have to go through the action cost of seeing the option, making sense, and choosing it.

6. Tell them the most popular choice

• This plays into social contagion, people are likely to follow what the majority are doing. It will help them make this decision easier.

7. Tell them the choice is reversible

“You can cancel any time you want.”

• This makes our prospective donors feel they are in control of the choice they are making.

• It helps eliminate anticipated regret and go forward with the choice.

Our Staff Information

Display staffs who represent the target audience

1. They should have many of these traits. 

   • Someone who held a bachelor degree or higher; JD; Ph.D.,

   • Studying or graduated in a well-known university

   • Be in or have good relationships with Asian immigrants community and Christians community

2. These traits are the symbol of achievement, education, and faith which our target audience values.

3. This also plays on social belonging.

   • Display the company image is an organization full of achievement educated faithful people who want to educate juveniles good decision making.

   • It would make the target audiences want to involve in our org. I.e. donate.

Thank you message and Option to Share on social media

Sample

1.The photo

Sample photo

• Choose a photo to represent the children’s image they would help.

• The photo should symbolize appreciation and repentance i.e. what would be the outcome of the decision-making classes for the children they donated for.

2.The message

“Thank you for your donation!
You help us continue to deliver good decision-making classes to children. We and the children really appreciate your generosity”.

• The message would act as an incentive for donors. It shows appreciation and reminds them of the cause that they donate for.

• Word symbolize good cause: Thank you, donation, help, deliver good, appreciate, generosity 

• Trigger more share on social media.

3.The share option

• People want to show that they are doing good things.

• Also, lead more traffic to your site and more possible subscribers and monthly donors.

• The more people share the more this play on social contagion as more people will see the organization on social media