Raise More Money Using Suggested Ask Amounts In Blackbaud Luminate Online®

When a constituent receives your fundraising email, several items can cause friction and slow down their donation - including wondering "How much should I give?" A 2016 study highlighted in the Harvard Business Review suggests for your loyal, frequent donors, a higher default amount would be better for securing larger donations. Despite this, suggested ask amounts are underutilized in email fundraising.


Read more of this post in the Blackbaud Luminate Online® community...When a constituent receives your fundraising email, several items can cause friction and slow down their donation process. They may wonder:

• How long will this donation take?
• How will my donation be used?
• How much should I give?

While suggested ask amounts are widely used in direct mail fundraising, they’ve been underutilized in email fundraising.


Direct mail appeals may ask donors to give 2x, 1.5x or 1x their last gift amount. (Or, a more sophisticated calculation based on gift history, wealth, demographic and/or behaviors may be used.)


Many fundraising emails, though, ask constituents to “Donate” without suggesting an amount.


A 2016 study highlighted in the Harvard Business Review suggests for your loyal, frequent donors, a higher default amount would be better for securing larger donations. And setting a low default amount can be effective when encouraging new people to donate.

So how do you set up suggested gift amounts in Blackbaud Luminate Online® emails? Insert a Dynamic Ask.




In the above example, the Dynamic Ask is inserting a $50 suggested gift in a Luminate Online® email.


That amount is based on a constituent's giving history - specifically their Most Recent Contribution, Highest Previous Contribution or other options. You can also increase that last gift by a percentage, like 20%, and also round up to the nearest multiple of an amount, like $10. Here's how it looks in Luminate Online:




When you use Dynamic Ask amounts in emails, measure how it impacts your average gift amount, email conversion rate and donor renewal rates.


Here’s an example of one Luminate Online® email using Dynamic Ask amounts in a donor renewal campaign. 63% of donors who gave to this fundraising email picked the suggested amount.



So how do you set up Dynamic Asks in Luminate Online® emails? Watch this short video:




Dynamic Asks can also be setup just for Luminate Online® donation forms.


If you're new to Luminate Onlines or need a refresher on how to create donation forms, take Luminate Online®: Fundamentals - Donations, part of the Luminate Online® Fundamentals Learning Path in Blackbaud University.