On the long road to building donor trust, social proof is a critical step

 

As fundraisers, we know that potential donors must trust our organization before they'll give. They need assurance that…

  • Their money will be spent responsibly

  • They will make a positive difference

  • They are helping resolve a pressing and important problem

This is a lot to prove and a big ask to potential donors, who are often taking a leap of faith each time they donate to a new organisation. 

That’s where social proof comes in: an invaluable tool for building donor trust.

But, what do we mean by social proof?

Nonprofitfundraising.com defines social proof as ‘the psychological phenomenon that occurs when people conform to the actions of others in order to feel like they belong’. 

And in the context of fundraising: when a potential donor sees someone else donating to your charity, they are more likely to do the same.

Seeing others give validates your cause as legitimate and credible; creates a feeling of community and social acceptance; and significantly reduces the perceived risk of donating. This fosters trust and encourages potential donors to take action and respond to your ask.

As fundraisers, we already use social proof in our daily work: testimonials from donors, public donation progress bars, publicising donor lists…

But what happens when we incorporate it more deeply into our creative propositions? What if social proofing in fundraising was more personal?

Some of our most successful recent campaigns at DTV have been centred around social proof and film as part of the creative concept.

Diabetes UK - Membership

An extremely successful product, and one where the strongest performing acquisition creatives are the ones that are led by social proof.

NSPCC - Legacy

CPL dropped by 80% percent compared to previous campaign (when we incorporated social proof into the creative concept).

RBL - Legacy

We consistently see social proof as a particularly powerful tool when in legacy campaigns. Our most successful Legacy DRTV campaign is for RBL - the concept is completely focused on social-proof and has consistently achieved one of the strongest CPLs in the market for over 5 years.

Plan Int - Sponsor a Girl

Plan International’s longest running Sponsorship DRTV creative is hooked on ‘Social Proof’ as the concept.

Our advice for using social proof in creative concepts

  • Understand your (potential) donors. For social proofing to be effective, aim to tell the story of individuals who genuinely reflect the experiences and values of your audience. And, film is a really effective way to bring these stories to life.

  • Invest in supporter relationships. We can’t produce ads like these without brilliant relationships with potential participants. They don’t just star in the ad; they offer vital insight and inspire the story.

  • Transparency and honesty is key. In order for social proofing creative concepts to work, we need genuine and authentic individuals to tell their story. Not staff, not actors – real people who care deeply about your cause. At DTV, we dedicate a lot of time to finding the right fit; lots of interviews, time spent making sure our participant is deeply informed, comfortable and feels free to speak in their own, true words on camera.

Email us on helloDTV@dtvgroup.co.uk or speak to your DTV Producer about what creative opportunities are available for your organisation.

 
Debora Montesoro