Citizinvestor is a crowdfunding platform with a separate section dedicated to ideas and petitions. Project creators can pitch their ideas to the crowd in exchange for “signatures” in the form of a digital thumbs-up from backers.
The section, formerly called Citizinvestor Petitions, has been rebranded Citizinvestor Ideas. The change follows an experiment of sorts and was recently described in TechPresident.
Citizinvesor co-founder Jordan Raynor explained that his team A/B tested differing language in their petitions section and found that users were more likely to click a button to “Like this idea” rather than “Sign this petition.” The section was rebranded and redesigned accordingly in hopes of generating more participation.
A/B testing is a process in web development where different visitors to a site are shown different versions of a page in order to judge one version against another. Amazon, Ebay, Google and countless others have made use of this approach over time.
It’s a good reminder that crowdfunding platforms should be willing to experiment with their designs and their user interfaces in order to draw the most from the crowd. Those that do will be providing their project creators a competitive advantage over other platforms that don’t pay attention to this small but important detail.
First, post an idea you have to improve your community. Want a dog park in your neighborhood? Or the litter picked-up in your town? Post your idea now! Be sure to tell all of your neighbors and friends to like your idea so that City Hall knows there’s momentum for what you’re proposing. Once your idea is posted, the appropriate government employees in your municipality will be notified of your idea and will have the opportunity to provide you with feedback. If your municipal government approves your idea but doesn’t have the budget for it, Citizinvestor is here to help get the project funded!
More info is available at the Citizinvestor blog. Also check out these 23 tips for effective A/B testing.
