KKitabisa, a leading crowdfunding platform, connects donors to causes they care about. However, donor retention posed a challenge.
While many users donated out of personal beliefs or religious fulfillment, these motivations were beyond the platform’s control.
The team hypothesized that creating a sense of emotional engagement through a "hook" model could encourage more frequent donations.
The key question became:
How might we empower Kitabisa users to donate routinely and actively?
Amen feature as post-donation experience improvement
Company
Kitabisa
Duration
3 months (2020)
My Role
Researcher
Responsibilities
Research Plan, Concept Testing, Focus Group Discussion, Usability Testing
Impact
The emotional engagement feature had significant outcomes:
Retention increase: The growth of user retention within three months of release.
Viral Marketing: The feature sparked widespread attention on social media, generating valuable user-generated content.
Behavioral Change: Donors engaged more frequently with the platform, with many expressing positive emotional connections to the feature.
Approach
My approach was grounded in research and iteration. I divided the project into two phases:
Exploration: Understand donor behavior and motivations through desk research and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs).
Validation: Test concepts using prototypes and refine based on donor feedback.
Journey/ Process
We first studied donors’ habits through desk research and focus group discussions. We looked for the deeper reasons behind giving: not just financial generosity, but emotional and spiritual needs.
Hook model theory discussed in FGD
Our research showed that many donors saw giving as both a social and spiritual act. For medical causes especially, people wished they could share words of hope. That insight sparked the idea of a “prayer + Amen” feature.
We tested it in stages. The first version was simple: a comment box turned into a prayer-writing space. Even with this minimal MVP, donors started using it.
Tweaking existing comment feature into prayer-writing as MVP
With that signal, we created a higher-fidelity prototype and returned to FGDs to hear how it felt. Participants described a stronger sense of connection and community.
Then we ran usability tests to ensure the steps were clear and quick. Writing a prayer and pressing Amen had to feel obvious and easy. It felt natural, almost like a reflex, not a burden.
Testing final design within donation flow.
Finally, we integrated the feature into the donation flow so donors would encounter it at the right moment. Donors could write prayers during the donation process, and others could engage by adding Amens, fostering a sense of community and emotional connection.
Result
The project delivered a transformative feature that:
Integrated a "prayer and Amen" system directly into the donation process.
Created a social and emotional reward mechanism to enhance donor engagement.
Supported Kitabisa’s mission by encouraging frequent, meaningful donations.
These outputs not only strengthened donor retention but also highlighted the importance of aligning product features with users' emotional and social behaviors.
The feature’s success showcased the potential of human-centered design to drive impactful, scalable changes in user behavior.
