Case Study:
Driving Donation Behavior
The case:
A well-known research hospital uses emotional response data to identify and measure key drivers of charitable donation behavior.
The challenge:
A renowned privately funded hospital asked The Rational Heart to help them keep donors engaged with the brand, encouraging them to become regular, reliable supporters of the hospital. This included addressing KPIs for the brand:
Share of charitable wallet
Urgency to donate
Likelihood to donate
The emotional
insights:
A key finding was that the level of donations, the donation urgency, and the likelihood to donate did not vary statistically based on whether a person was currently donating to the hospital. But why? It turns out that the emotional profile of the brand was so positive (trust and admiration) that even non-donors were motivated to donate.
The answer was to shift to understanding drivers of a positive personal response to the brand to help donors feel emotionally connected in a unique way. Using our TRH method, we learned which emotions triggered each component of giving (amount, urgency, likelihood), and through this, how the hospital might drive the desired personal engagement.
The resulting strategic actions:
Shifting to personalization of giving resulted in developing an understanding of how each of the brand’s key segments emotionally connected with the brand, allowing for specific messaging and donor engagement to speak directly to what mattered most to each different segment.
Case Studies
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Confirming a new emotional approach
As one of the largest banks in the US, the brand wanted to do something different, namely to appeal to consumer’s emotional side. To do this, the bank needed to understand how consumers currently connected with the brand emotionally and compare this emotional profile to the banking industry/ category to set strategy for moving forward.
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Personalizing emotion to drive donations
A well-known research hospital uses emotional response data to identify and measure key drivers of charitable donation behavior.
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Shifting messaging based on emotional insight
A top-5 Clinical Research Organization (CRO) actively changed their messaging and business development materials, focusing on trust and curiosity.