6 ways to use social proof to boost donor confidence
How often do you question the legitimacy of a text or email asking you to do something from someone – or an organisation – you know nothing about?
We’ve all been there. And as the number of unsolicited texts and emails rise, navigating what’s real and relevant becomes a job in itself.
Let’s take ‘cold’ emails, for example. According to Statista, over 100 billion unsolicited emails are sent daily. It’s also estimated that 23 – 25 billion SMS messages are sent daily, with 1.5 per cent of traffic earmarked as unsolicited. That’s between 230,000 – 250,000 ‘cold’ texts every day.
So, against this tidal wave of texts and growing piles of digital mail, how can charities ensure that their requests for donations are heard above the noise? Equally, how can you validate a donor’s decision to part with their money?
The answer is social proof, particularly when you consider that a field experiment conducted by the University of Zurich & Harvard Kennedy School evidenced how showing that others had already donated increased giving by 23 per cent.
Building trust, demonstrating legitimacy, and validating your charity (as well as the donors’ decision to donate) are as important as the ask itself. Here are six ways to do it.
1. Strength in numbers
There’s nothing more reassuring than knowing that you’re not alone in making donations. So much so that we’ll often specifically cite the number of people who have helped the charity we’re delivering an SMS fundraising campaign for.
For example, by stating how ‘9,598 people have supported our charity this month – could you be the 9,599th?’, you’re not only making your ask more human, but you’re also showing that the path to donating is well-trodden.
2. Leave no room for doubt
With SMS, you have a small window of opportunity to reduce uncertainty. However, a single line is all it takes to prove that you’re credible and illustrate how the recipient can make a difference.
Including a message such as ‘We’ve raised £10,000 this week from people like you’ speaks volumes and offers the reassurance needed to inspire action.
As fundraising campaigns delivered through Rich Communication Services (RCS) platforms such as WhatsApp become commonplace, the verified badge, used in conjunction with your charity’s logo, builds immediate trust and allays donors’ fears that they’re being duped.
3. Share personal stories
It’s one thing to tell people why your donors have supported your charity. Having other donors outline why they’ve supported you is another thing entirely.
With access to hundreds, if not thousands, of existing supporters, why not ask them why they donate and use a selection of the best one-liners in SMS appeals to make the case for donating on your behalf?
It’s so much more powerful to discover the motivation for donating from your peers, so why not use those who are already in your corner?
4. SHOUT about regular givers
People often give impulsively, and on a one-off basis – and that’s great. However, regular givers show a longstanding commitment that is likely to inspire trust from others.
If you’re able to talk about how 10,000 people donate every month – or, even better, reference regular givers by their name and location – then it’s likely to give prospective donors the confidence they need to donate.
5. Added credibility with RCS
As we’ve already covered, RCS enables charities to build trust by proving their legitimacy via the verified badge and by incorporating their logo in a message. However, RCS offers a much wider dimension when it comes to social proof, too, as a result of its ability to integrate user-generated video and images as part of a campaign.
If you can click on a video that includes video testimonials from existing donors as to why they’ve pledged their support, then this level of authenticity speaks volumes and provides social proof in its purest form.
6. Narrow it down
The beauty of data is that it can be segmented in a whole host of ways. Take individual towns and cities, for example. If, when issuing an SMS fundraising appeal, you can show the recipient that other people in the area in which they live are already supporting your charity, then it might be all they need to donate.
People like to feel like part of something bigger, and feeling like part of a community is reassuring. People also hate to feel like they’re missing out. Tapping into success at a regional level might just be what you need to get additional donors on side.
