Measuring the effectiveness of online search ads on blood donor recruitment and donation

Abstract Background Acutely highlighted during the COVID‐19 pandemic, the tenuousness of the blood supply continues to be a lynchpin of the most important medical procedures. Online advertisements have become a mainstay in donor recruitment. We set out to determine the effectiveness of online search ads and variations thereof on blood donations with an emphasis on first‐time donors. Study Design and Methods From September 01, 2022 through March 31, 2023, we performed a campaign comparison experiment through a major search‐ads platform with two distinct messages: one altruistic (“Altruistic”) and one with a prospect of rewards (“Promotion”). We developed a method to track donation outcomes and associated them with impressions, click‐throughs, and conversions. We compared the performance of the Altruistic and Promotion arms to a control group that was not associated with any search‐ads (“Baseline”). Results Analyzing 34,157 donations during the study period, the Promotion group, and not Altruistic, had a significant difference of first‐time donors over Baseline (24% vs. 12%, p = 7e‐6). We analyzed 49,305 appointments and discovered that appointments made from the Altruistic arm resulted in a significantly higher percentage of donations when compared to Baseline (57% vs. 53%, p = .009); however, the Promotion group had a higher percentage of donations from first‐time donors when compared to Baseline (12% vs. 8%, p = .006). Conclusion We developed a method for determining the effectiveness of online search ads on donation outcomes. Rewards/promotions messaging was most effective at recruiting first‐time donors. Our methodology is generalizable to different blood centers to explore messaging effectiveness among their unique communities.