Visible goals fuel donor behavior
Test period: August 2025
Hypothesis:
Consumers rely heavily on social proof and trust signals when making quick or uncertain decisions. Visible progress toward a fundraising goal provides a tangible indicator of collective participation, creating both a sense of belonging and urgency for donors. By removing this signal on campaign pages, we expect a significant drop in conversion due to a diminished perception of community momentum and reduce the psychological drivers that convert intent into action.
Design:
Control
- Campaign with progress tracker
Test
-9%
- Campaign with progress tracker removed
Results:
| Name | Control | Challenger |
| Conversion |  Baseline | -7.2% |
| Donations | Baseline | -9% |
Key learnings:
The removal of goal progress indicators led to a 7.2% decline in conversions and a 9% drop in donation volume, confirming that visible collective progress is a critical motivator in donation behavior. Without this signal, donors lacked the social proof and urgency cues that drive follow-through, resulting in measurable decreases across both engagement and giving. These findings reinforce that progress indicators are not just decorative elements, but essential levers of trust, motivation, and community alignment.
So what: These learnings underscore why progress bars are included as key elements of our timebound optimized campaign templates like Giving Tuesday, End of Year, and Disaster Relief. In these moments, nonprofits need to quickly build trust, convey urgency, and highlight community momentum—cues that social proof such as progress metrics naturally provide. By making them a built-in feature, we promote a best practice that helps organizations maximize donor engagement and overall giving.