UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — People who have donated blood may recall receiving communications from the Red Cross containing a thank you for their past donation to encourage future donations. Researchers have now revealed that providing donors with specific details on when and where their blood was used boosts repeat blood donations more than the thank you, especially if that information is provided close to the time of donation.
Karen Winterich, the Gerald I. Susman Professor in Sustainability at the Penn State Smeal College of Business, worked with the international research team, including marketing scholars Edlira Shehu, from the University of Gronigen and Besarta Veseli and Michel Clement from the University of Hamburg. They published their findings in the Journal of Service Research.
“The practical implications of this research could extend beyond blood donations,” Winterich said. “By providing donors with information about how their contributions are used, charities and organizations may see increased contributions.”
She said the impact of increased transparency in donation processes could be a game-changer for various charitable causes, fostering trust and engagement internationally. For this work, the team partnered with the Austrian and German Red Crosses, but Winterich said that the results are applicable worldwide — and could help increase blood donations.
According to the American Red Cross, a nonprofit that collects 40% of the country’s blood donations, every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood, platelets or both. The ongoing challenge in recent years is addressing periodic blood shortages, which can lead hospitals to postpone transfusions and surgeries.
Although nearly half of the U.S. population is eligible to give blood, less than 10% donate at least once a year. Among those who give blood, there are some restrictions in place that require donors to wait at least 56 days before they can do it again. Other Red Cross organizations have similar statistics, according to Winterich.
“It is important to retain existing donors, since there are so few donors to begin with, and have them return when eligible,” Winterich said. “Our research shows that giving existing donors more information about how their blood was used increased the likelihood that they would donate again.”
In this work, the researchers conducted four studies examining how the timing and content of communication with previous donors impacted their likelihood of donating again.
In the first study, the researchers surveyed nearly 500 people who had previously donated blood. When prompted to imagine receiving a text message detailing the use of their past blood donation, participants said they felt a greater sense of care from the organization and would likely donate again.
The second study involved nearly 75,000 individuals who had donated blood in the previous two years. Participants were either thanked or given additional information about the date and hospital where their blood was used. The researchers found that those who received specific details were 10% more likely to donate again compared to the group that received only thanks.
In the third study with the Austrian Red Cross, short text messages were sent to donors either three weeks after their last donation or 10 days before they could donate again. Those who received details about their previous donation closer to their next eligible donation were 63% less likely to give blood again than those who received the same information closer to their last donation.
A subsequent fourth study with the German Red Cross involved over 16,000 individuals who had not donated blood for over two years. Participants were thanked for their previous donation, thanked and informed about the past use of their blood or thanked with information about how their next donation would be used. The donors who were told how their blood was used in the past were 11% more likely to donate again compared to those who received only thanks or information about their future donation.
In response to these findings, the Austrian Red Cross has already replaced its traditional thank you message with information about when and where the blood was used.
Further research will explore how repeated communication impacts blood donations over time, Winterich said.