For this model, we will tell you how many donations you can expect from a customer in a cohort. Test one set of donors against another, until you find the one most likely to respond.
How you build the cohort here is important and should be given some thought. The group needs to have something in common. It could be donors you acquired on Giving Tuesday, or in a given quarter.
Create a csv file that has three columns: an ID from your system, then Date, then Amount. A little more about these data points:
Your ID
An alphanumeric, unique identifer of the person or organization. Typically this is the constituent or donor ID from your database. For example: 123 or 456 or 7890123. Please label the ID column "My ID" or something similar. Just naming it "ID" causes problems in Excel.
Date
The date of donation, in month/day/Year format. Year must be 4 digits. For example: 12/13/2016 or 12-13-2016.
Contribution Amount
The amount of a constituent's contribution. Any denomination, but no symbols. For example: 1234.12 or 1234. Include hard or soft credit - whatever your campaign or appeal is hoping to achieve (pledges, outright gifts, shared credit from spouses, etc.)