Day 21: Lead Magnet vs. Petitions
Today is Day 21 of the Email Growth Challenge for Nonprofits and you are in for a special treat.
The one and only Katelyn Baughan is BACK—this time with an experiment.
She recently worked with an animal rescue group to help them find more supporters. To do this, her and the team decided to run some ads on Facebook and Instagram to see what would make people want to join their email list.
🧪 The Experiment:
She tested two very different "freebies" to see which one people liked more:
Option 1 (The Fun Idea): A "Summer Bucket List" for your pet. It was a cute list of 50 fun things to do with your cat or dog, like going on a picnic or making homemade treats.
Option 2 (The Serious Idea): A petition for animal education. This asked people to sign their names to help get animal welfare lessons taught in schools.
Before I walk you through how she did it—I'd love your guess: which do you think performed better?
🛠️ How to set up your test
Step 1: The Ads: We showed these two options to animal lovers across the US who didn't know about the organization yet.
Step 2: Set up a simple way to collect emails.
You don’t need a fancy website. Use Meta Lead Forms (the sign-up boxes that stay inside Facebook/Instagram). They are usually much cheaper and easier for people to fill out on their phones.
Step 3: Write a "Welcome" email for each option.
The Welcome:
➡️ If someone signed the petition, they got a "Thank You" email about the petition and their work with animal welfare education.
➡️ If they downloaded the summer bucket list, they got an email about having fun with their pets. This made sure everyone felt like we were talking directly to them.
Step 4: Run a test.
Put a small amount of money behind both ads at the same time. Show them to the same type of people (in this case, animal lovers) and see which one gets more sign-ups for less money.
Step 5: Follow the data.
After a week, look at the numbers. Don't guess! Whichever one is getting more people to join your list is the one you should keep running.
💡 Why it works
By testing both, Katelyn and her client didn't have to guess. They let the audience show us exactly what they cared about most, and now the organization has a list full of passionate people ready to take action.
📊 Results
Katelyn admits that she thought the "Fun Bucket List" would be the winner because everyone loves playing with their pets. But she was wrong.
It turned out that people were way more interested in the petition.
Katelyn and her nonprofit client learned that this audience didn't just want to sit by and "play"—they wanted to do something to help animals. They wanted to be part of a solution.
Ultimately they had 8,000 brand new subscribers in just 3 months!
🧰 Tools Needed
For the Petition: Katelyn used a simple website plug-in to host the form, but you can get started quickly with free platforms like Care2 or Change.org. Civic Shout from our friend Josh Nelson is also a great option!
For the Bucket List: Katelyn designed a high-quality PDF using Canva. (It’s a great way to make something look professional without needing a graphic designer!)
For the Ads: Katelyn ran Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) using simple visuals we also created in Canva.
The "Magic" Step: Katelyn connected the Meta ads directly to the Email Service Provider (ESP). This meant as soon as someone signed up, they were automatically sent a series of emails tailored to exactly what they signed up for.
🗣️ Last thought
If you have two great ideas for growing your audience—test them against teach other and let the best one rise to the top.
Happy testing!
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