There’s an old rule of thumb that says 95% of the people only use 5% of the functions. This is never more true — as Donald Norman pointed out in his excellent book The Design of Everyday Things — than with the humble washing machine.
If your washing machine is anything like mine (and it probably is) there are many options for temperature, time, speed, water level, dirt level, and the list goes on. Typically, I toss in the load, pick hot or cold, and hit start. In fact, most washing machines have sensors built in to tell the size and relative cleanliness of the load. It should be as easy as hitting start.
But, you will not find a washing machine that simply has a “start” button because no one would buy it. No matter how much we say we want things to be simple, we humans are cognitively biased to give undue credence to complexity. It’s a logical fallacy known as Complexity Bias.
And it can be a real problem for your digital fundraising.
I will be co-leading a webcast — hosted by the Christian Leadership Alliance — on shifting your mindset away from complex marketing campaigns and focusing on optimizing your digital media for what is working best to achieve your goals.
My co-host — Annie Nichols, VP of Direct Response Marketing at Prison Fellowship — will share how transitioning away from a campaign approach to new donor acquisition helped her ministry decrease its cost to acquire, exponentially grew its donor file, and explosively expanded its ability to connect prisoners with the Gospel.
I hope you can join us. Sign up here: https://Masterworks.zoom.us/webinar/register/3716506599885/WN_NFw_pgKPRCGhLVr2OdmmFw
Even if you cannot attend, be sure to sign up so we can send you a recording of the webinar to watch on your own time.