Driving Repeat Donations After a Lower Minimum Lifted First-Time Donor Conversion

A company, call it Company Y, shipped an update that lowered the minimum donation amount. Afterward, its donation conversion rate went up tenfold. However, users tended to leave after their first donation, and fewer of them than expected came back to give again. As the product manager, what would you do to increase follow-on donations and improve donor retention? ```hint Diagnose before you prescribe Split the problem in two: whether repeat giving actually got worse for donors like the ones you had before the update, and at which step after the first gift the new donors fall away. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - What are people donating to: charities and causes, personal fundraisers, or creators, and does the company earn a fee or tip on each gift? - What was the "expected" repeat rate based on: donors from before the update, or a forecast? - What counts as a follow-on donation: any second gift within some period, or a second gift to the same cause? - Is the goal more repeat donors, more total money raised, or more value per donor over time? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A diagnosis of whether repeat giving really got worse, comparing like-for-like donors before and after the update - The reasons first-time donors do not return, traced through what happens after their first gift - Segments within the new donors, with one chosen as the focus and the reason given - Ideas prioritized by impact, effort and risk to donor trust, including what processing many small gifts costs - A primary retention metric with a defined time window, guardrails, and a plan to test the changes ### Follow-up Questions - If the repeat rate stays low but total money raised keeps rising, is retention still worth investing in? Why or why not? - How would you ask for a second gift without it feeling like pressure or spam? - Suppose payment fees make the smallest gifts lose money. Would you raise the minimum again?