Is Your Donation Page Turning Would-Be Donors Away?

The Donor Attraction Letter

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Last week I shared some tips with you about creating a DONATE button that stands out and gets clicked.

Now, once someone has clicked your DONATE button and arrived at your donation page, what will happen?

Will this would-be donor:

• Feel confident enough to make the donation she has in mind?
• Feel inspired to make a bigger donation than she has in mind?
• Feel inspired to become a new monthly donor?

Or will she question her decision to give and leave your site feeling frustrated?

According to a study on donation landing pages conducted by Convio and Donordigital, their experience shows that a typical web donation page that hasn’t been tested converts less than 15% of visitors who reach it.

So, if you haven’t tested and optimized your donation page, you can expect that 85% of would-be donors who visit it WILL NOT make a donation.

But you can fix that!

And it’s so important to focus on this NOW.

The biggest giving season of the year will be here very soon.

If your nonprofit is like many, you may be anticipating raising 40% or more of your annual revenue in December alone, with a significant portion raised online.

Along the way, testing is an important tactic you’ll want to consider.

For now, though, take a look at some tried and tested improvements that may be just what you need to draw in your would-be donors and get them giving once they land on your donation page:

Use a high-impact, heart-tugging photo.

Use a photo that helps tell your organization’s story visually and connects on a deep emotional level. Choose a photo of one person (or perhaps a puppy if you help animals) that’s close-up, where the person is making direct eye contact with the reader. You want an endearing expression on the subject’s face with her eyes open wide.

Use brief, emotion-evoking copy to make your case for giving.

With a little compelling introductory copy, help create a scene in your donor’s mind about how her gift will improve someone’s life.

Here’s a good example on the donation page for Operation Warm:

Your donation to Operation Warm will allow more children to receive the gift of warmth. By providing a new winter coat, you make a child feel valued and happy. School attendance often suffers during winter months due to inadequate clothing. Your gift means children can get to school where they are safe, warm and receive the education and nutrition needed to become healthy and productive citizens.

Studies tend to show that a donation page without this kind of copy performs worse than when similar copy is used.

Go with a one-page form and streamline it.

A one page form tends to outperform a two-page form. And, the more streamlined, the better. This means removing any unnecessary fields so that the donor can move more quickly and swiftly through the donation process.

Remember, when your donors land on your donation page, they’re likely in a hurry. So, don’t include too many fields to fill out. It can be tempting to try and gather a lot of data during this interaction. Please resist. You can get in touch and ask more of your donor AFTER you’ve received the gift.

Get rid of distractions.

Don’t tempt your visitors to click away from your donation page before they make their gift. To accomplish this, avoid displaying your full site’s navigation and other links (such as those for your social media icons) on your donation page.

Your goal is to keep the donor focused on one call-to-action: Making her donation.

Make your buttons large and colorful.

Large, colorful, high-contrast call-to-action buttons tend to convert better than smaller buttons with dull colors. However, different factors like seasonality can influence results.

Showcase your fundraising goal.

Research shows that including your fundraising goal and how much has been raised thus far can improve response. So, for a special holiday fund drive, for instance, share your goal, how much you’ve raised, and how visitors on your donation page can help take you over the top!

The list above isn't exhaustive, and naturally there’s no specific set of changes that’s guaranteed to result in better outcomes for all organizations. But, the tips above should give you a good place to start with testing out some improvements.

The big takeaway is this:

Step into your would-be donor’s shoes and help deliver the giving experience she’s looking for on your donation landing page. With some optimization, you can create one that does a better job of capturing your donors’ hearts and more donations.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!

Dedicated to helping you attract and keep your donors,

Jen Viano
Nonprofit Writer/Consultant
Editor, The Donor Attraction Letter

PS: Need some help creating a new donation page that’s more effective at converting visitors into donors? Contact me at Jen@JenViano.com or 248.957.8918 to get started. I’d love to work with you!

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