Billy Belchev from Webitects and Peter Gehres from the Wikimedia Foundation present on results from the conversion optimization during 2010 and 2011 fundraising, including user research, live testing, banners and UX iterative design.

1. How user research helped Wikipedia
double its online fundraising
Billy Belchev Peter Gehres
Webitects.com Wikimedia Foundation
TechWeek 2012
June 23

2. Fundraiser statistics 2009-2011 (Daily amounts raised, Nov-Jan)
2009: $8,592,136
2010: $14,584,517 Up 70%
2011: $22,308,784 Up 53%
Source: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserStatistics

3. Fundraiser statistics 2009-2011 (YTD daily amounts, Nov-Jan)
2009: $34.32 Average donation
2010: $27.85
2011: $27.47
Source: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:FundraiserStatistics

7. People tell you what they You focus on what
think you’d like to hear or people actually do.
what they wish were true.

9. Wikipedia
Streamline the donation
flow with the goal of increasing
the conversion rate.
Lightweight usability testing
and interviews.
Iterating through form designs.
Live testing of different form
versions for 1 hour on
EN.Wikipedia.com

11. Wikipedia—donation process optimization

12. Wikipedia—donation process optimization
Banner Landing
One-step
PayPal Credit card
Workflow may vary for
other payment methods
(bank transfer, direct debit)
Thank you

14. Deciding which fields to keep on the form
Every removed field
increased the
conversion rate.
If some fields are really needed,
they can be on a second page.
*Depending on the test parameters. Data at: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2010/Banner_testing

15. Between 40-50% of
Wikipedia donations
come via PayPal.

19. Results
Giving the two buttons equal prominence and visual
treatment produced the best overall conversion.
Any other combination hurt the overall conversions.

21. Usability test comments
I didn’t know they are a
non-profit. I am not sure
where my money goes.
What will it be used for?
I appreciate having this
long letter from Jimmy...
But I am not going to
read it. I’m skimming.

22. Where your donation goes
From Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales
I'm a volunteer.
I don't get paid a cent for my work at Wikipedia, and neither do
our thousands of other volunteer authors and editors. When I
Make your donation now
founded Wikipedia, I could have made it into a for-profit company
with advertising banners, but I decided to do something different. $ $ $ $
Commerce is fine. Advertising is not evil. But it doesn't belong
here. Not in Wikipedia. $ $ $ $
Wikipedia is something special. It is like a library or a public park.
It is like a temple for the mind. It is a place we can all go to think,
Donate by Credit Card
to learn, to share our knowledge with others. It is a unique human
project, the first of its kind in history. It is a humanitarian project
to bring a free encyclopedia to every single person on the planet.
Every single person. Donate via PayPal
If all of Wikipedia's 400 million users would donate $1 each,
we would have 20 times the amount of money we need. We're Where your donation goes:
a small organization, and I've worked hard over the years to keep us
lean and tight. We fulfill our mission, and leave waste to others. • People
To do this without resorting to advertising, we need you. It is you who• …
keep this dream alive. It is you who have created Wikipedia. It is you • Technology
who believe that a place of calm reflection and learning is worth having.
• …
This year, please consider making a donation of $20, $35, $50 or whatever you can to protect and sustain
Wikipedia.
Thanks,
Jimmy Wales
Wikipedia Founder

23. Where your donation goes

24. Where your donation goes

25. Where your donation goes
Best!

27. Wikipedia—donation process optimization

28. Wikipedia—donation process optimization
Better!

29. Donation process and latency

30. Donation process and latency
The 1-step form had promising indicators, but wasn’t able to
surpass the 2-step in live testing. We strongly suspect it had to
do with the high latency of the platform behind the 1-step.

32. Banners
Including images of the authors
of the appeals always helped.
Tremendously.

33. Banners
The most effective banners may
not have the best overall effect.
We got some very high click-
through rates with very poor
conversion rates.
It’s a balance game.

34. Banners
Some movement, such as a
thermometer or bar, yielded
higher click rates on banners.
But performance depended on
how full the bar was. Donation
motivation increased only when
the bar was closer to full.

35. Banners
It’s not just about the money...
Community matters most.

37. Billy Belchev
billy@webitects.com
@bbelchev
Peter Gehres
pgehres@wikimedia.org
@in2thats12