# Member benefits in a donation email: +32% revenue per donation

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Email (Lead-gen)
- Elements: Value proposition, Benefits
- Date shared: 2016-02
- Test run by: [MECLABS Institute](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/meclabs-institute/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/consumer-reports-summit-live-report
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/consumer-reports-donation-email-member-benefits/

Explaining member benefits in a Consumer Reports donation email raised revenue per donation by 32% and total revenue by 16%. MECLABS Institute ran this test live with Consumer Reports at MarketingSherpa Summit 2016, sending to about 450,000 subscribers, and it was published as a MarketingSherpa case study. The two treatments lost on clickthrough, so fewer people responded but those who did gave more.

## Result

**+32% revenue per donation**

- Revenue per donation: +32% for the treatments.
- Total revenue: +16%.
- Clickthrough and response: the treatments lost to the control. This is a negative result on engagement.
- The version that showed the $100 membership level produced the highest revenue per donation.

## Control

The standard donation appeal email to about 450,000 Consumer Reports subscribers, with a historic clickthrough rate of around 0.54%.

## Variant

Two treatments that explained member benefits: one added a call-out box listing the benefits, and the other laid out the membership tiers, including a $100 level.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Spelling out what members get gives donors a reason to choose a larger gift.
- Showing a $100 tier likely anchored people toward higher amounts.
- Both treatments made the email longer and more complex, which may explain the drop in clicks.

## Caveats

The treatments lost on clickthrough and won only on revenue, and results were reported for the treatments together rather than each one. The versions were chosen by a live conference audience, and significance was not shared.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we explain member benefits and show tier levels in our donation email, then revenue per donation will rise because donors see what larger gifts get them.
- Primary metric: Revenue per email sent
- Guardrail: Clickthrough rate
- Guardrail: Number of donations
- Guardrail: Average gift size
- Who should test it: Nonprofits, membership programs and subscription businesses with tiered offers. If your goal is the number of sign-ups rather than revenue, watch out, since response fell here.

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Credit: MECLABS Institute ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/consumer-reports-donation-email-member-benefits/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.