Great Testing That Works!
The recent webinar, Great Testing That Works, looked into successful testing strategies and tactics to help your organization find what will help your fundraising—and what won’t.
Why Testing is Important
Fundraising is frequently counterintuitive: To avoid assuming what inspires your donors to give, you must get data to inform your strategic decisions.
That’s why we test. Testing helps you get the most out of your fundraising program, because it affirms—or refutes—your intuition as a fundraiser. Testing is also key to unlocking a world of potential through an intentionally data-driven approach. Meaning, you don’t have to guess.
Where and what you can test (to name a few):
- Social: platform, audiences, image, copy
- eAppeals/Digital: sender, subject, image, copy, landing page
- Direct Mail: package, carrier, copy, reply device, ask array
Consider testing digital before print. It’s cheaper. Easier. And results are quicker. Even better—you can roll some of the learnings you receive into your print packages, informing what you choose to test in your more expensive channels.
When Not to Test
Testing is great. Until it isn’t. That means when it’s not measurable. Ensuring you have accurate tracking through a digital coding structure or through print appeal codes is vital to a successful test. Because if you can’t read the results, there’s no point in testing.
Other no-go signals? If a test isn’t going to provide statistically significant responses, hold off. Since the math behind calculating this number can be complicated, we’ve created a free-to-use tool for you to check this for yourself at douglasshaw.com/testcalculator.
Takeaways
Remember why testing is so important in the first place. It helps you get the most out of your fundraising program—and your funds. It affirms or refutes your instincts as a fundraiser. And it’s key to unlocking a world of potential through an intentionally data-driven approach. Remember: test, don’t guess!
And join us November 13, 2019 at 12:00 p.m. CST for our next webinar: Emerging Trends for Digital Fundraising Growth. It’s all about digital solutions, so you definitely won’t want to miss it! Register online today.
