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Improving campaign success rate by tailoring donation requests along the donor lifecycle

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  • G. A. VERHAERT
  • D. VAN DEN POEL

Abstract

Since charitable fundraising relies heavily on direct mail, this paper studies how tailoring donation requests along the donor lifecycle could improve campaign success rate. Our field study provides a unique combination of three parameters whose combined interaction has not been studied to this date: donor segment, suggested personalized donation amount and social comparison, resulting in a 3 x 3 x 2 between-subjects design. Taking into account the donor s zone of acceptable prices, we show that for acquiring and reactivating donors the use of a recently suggested donation amount is most effective, whereas for retaining donors, it is preferred to use an average amount. Our results also demonstrate that social comparison is an excellent acquisition strategy, but that it could be harmful when reactivating lapsed donors. Social comparison was not found to have an effect on the donation behavior of current donors.

Suggested Citation

  • G. A. Verhaert & D. Van Den Poel, 2010. "Improving campaign success rate by tailoring donation requests along the donor lifecycle," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 10/666, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    • Handle: RePEc:rug:rugwps:10/666
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    1. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Li, Jing, 2023. "I’m feeling lucky: How randomly drawn suggested donations affect donation choice," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    3. Soffien Bataoui & Emmanuelle Boch, 2023. "The role of socially rich photos in generating favorable donation behavior on charity websites," Post-Print hal-04809364, HAL.
    4. Ballings, Michel & Van den Poel, Dirk, 2015. "CRM in social media: Predicting increases in Facebook usage frequency," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 244(1), pages 248-260.
    5. Eric Van Steenburg & Nwamaka A. Anaza & Ahmed Ashhar & Andres Barrios & Ashley R. Deutsch & Meryl P. Gardner & Preeti Priya & Abhijit Roy & Anu Sivaraman & Kimberly A. Taylor, 2022. "The new world of philanthropy: How changing financial behavior, public policies, and COVID‐19 affect nonprofit fundraising and marketing," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 1079-1105, September.
    6. Sinha, Shameek & Malik, Sumit & Mahajan, Vijay & ter Hofstede, Frenkel, 2025. "Retain, reactivate or acquire: Can nonprofits reliably use community profiles as an alternative to past donation data?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    7. Bataoui, Soffien & Boch, Emmanuelle, 2023. "The role of socially rich photos in generating favorable donation behavior on charity websites," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    8. Moon, Sangkil & Azizi, Kathryn, 2013. "Finding Donors by Relationship Fundraising," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 112-129.
    9. Thole H. Hoppen & Rieke M. Cuno & Janna Nelson & Frederike Lemmel & Pascal Schlechter & Nexhmedin Morina, 2025. "Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials examining social comparison as a behaviour change technique across the behavioural sciences," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 9(8), pages 1595-1612, August.
    10. De Bruyn, Arnaud & Prokopec, Sonja, 2017. "Assimilation-contrast theory in action: Operationalization and managerial impact in a fundraising context," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 367-381.

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