June 3, 2011 Banner Size Test[edit]

In June, the fundraising team started testing the banner, landing page and analytics systems to be used in the 2011 fundraiser. We wanted to start testing several months before the fundraiser launches so that staff are well trained and systems function effectively during the fundraiser. This first testing session was really useful to start training more people to code banners and landing pages than last year.

During the 2010 fundraiser, we received several comments about the size of our banners, so we decided to start off our testing this year with an A/B test of banner size. We started with one of our banners from the last campaign and tested it in the US for one hour against a banner that was 67% smaller. These two banners were identical in message and style, with the only difference being the size of the banner. The larger banner had a height of 172px and the smaller banner had a height of 115px.

The resultｓshow that the larger banner had an increase of about 49% over the smaller banner, in terms of both number of donations and total amount raised. This shows that if we ran the smaller banner during the fundraiser, we would have to run the banners for nearly twice the time. In future tests on banner size, we'll want to use the larger banner as the starting point.

For our next round of testing, we're working on gathering an appeal from the WMF tech staff to test against the Jimmy appeal. The letter from our founder, Jimmy Wales, was the most effective message in the past fundraiser. This year, we'd like to work on other types of effective letters such as appeals from editors, readers, donors, staff, and more. Our donors support the technology and staff that keep Wikipedia running, so we definitely want to test an appeal that focuses on those key points. As we test, we'll continue posting regular updates and asking for your feedback.

For a recap on testing results from the last fundraiser, you can see the testing section of the 2010 Fundraiser Report