USING BEHAVIOURAL INSIGHTS TO BOOST DONATIONS

Are you using behavioural science techniques to boost your fundraising campaigns?

The answer for most charities is more than likely ‘yes’. But whether it’s baked into your strategy and being used to maximum effect is another matter.

What is behavioural science?

Behavioural science considers what people actually do rather than what they think they should do. If you understand someone’s motivations for considering and taking action you can apply insights more widely to your fundraising approach.

There are many strategies you can use to make this happen, and in our latest whitepaper – Appliance of Science: Using Behavioural Insights to Boost Donations in 2024 – we get to grips with four of them:

Social norms: are a comfort when we find ourselves in a new situation. We often look for social cues for guidance. So, by highlighting other donors’ activity in marketing campaigns, charities can leverage those social norms to potential donors. This builds trust and creates resonance for your cause.

Anchoring bias: occurs when our actions or decisions are influenced by information they initially receive. It subsequently shapes their cognitive process. If fundraisers change the first thing a potential donor sees on their journey, their thoughts and feelings can be influenced, and a more generous donation encouraged.

Cognitive bias: we can generally unhelpful mental shortcuts: a systematic pattern of thought that can skew information and prevent rational perceptions. This is a key barrier for charities to overcome – estimates identify around 180 different cognitive biases. Thinking more closely about people’s preconceived ideas about your cause and who you’re supporting can change minds and get your message across.

Cognitive ease: refers to the amount of messages we’re asked to process. The simpler a request from a charity, the greater the chance a potential donor will respond. The paper explores techniques for making the online donor journey better so supporters can donate more easily.

Charities have a big opportunity by using behavioural science to boost donations with carefully crafted online donor journeys. According to CAF, donating to charity through a website or app increased from 20% pre-pandemic to 26% in 2022.

Behavioural science is key to building and managing online donor journeys. You may well recognise some of the techniques described above as being part of your existing fundraising armoury. But have you tried them all? Are you using them to their full potential – and is your fundraising team fully equipped and ready to seize the opportunity?

Download the whitepaper, where you can discover more about in-depth behavioural science fundraising techniques and examples.