What are the best practices for setting contribution amounts?
Learn how RevEngine's default and custom suggested contribution amounts can nudge readers to give more without reducing donation volume.
RevEngine helps drive loyalty and maximize impact among your contributors by showing pre-set suggested contribution amounts on your checkout page. This setting allows you to nudge readers toward contributions that appropriately value your work and put them on the path to becoming long-term supporters. While we recommend using our default settings for the best results, you can adjust the suggested contribution amounts to tailor them to your audience or revenue goals.
What we know
Our work with news organizations has taught us that people generally contribute the amount you ask them to give. If you suggest they contribute $5 to your organization each month, that’s what they’ll do. If you suggest $15, they’ll meet you there, or adjust their contribution to get closer to your ask. This is why we encourage our users to aim high with the pre-set contribution options they show to readers, and why the default settings on the RevEngine will prompt users to make a monthly contribution of $10, $15, and $25, with the $15 option preselected. (There is always a custom field where users can input their own contribution amount.)
When we studied the difference between a $10 suggested contribution and a $15 suggested contribution, we found the latter led more people to give at a level of $12.50.
Some newsrooms worry that asking for larger contributions will deter readers. But we’ve found that increasing the suggested donation amount has no impact on the number of donations our clients receive - it only adds to their bottom line.
Don’t sell yourself short
Be bold in your suggested amount. If a user doesn’t want to meet your suggested contribution, they can use the “custom amount” field to set their contribution exactly as they want it. Anchoring your users to a higher figure is likely to only increase the total value of their contributions.
Choose economically appropriate contributions amounts
Every community is unique. Our best practices are based on a wide range of publications and locations, but you can and should customize based on what you know (or suspect) about your readers and their socioeconomic status. Just don’t undersell yourself based on fear!