The Responsive Weekly is a space where responsive nonprofit leaders can debate, discuss and brainstorm the most pressing topics. Each week, we curate a list of conversations, reports, podcasts, and more to deliver directly to your inbox.
Then, we spend 30 minutes meeting together over Zoom to discuss each topic, present new ideas, and provide success strategies for our community of responsive fundraisers. (If you’re not already attending, subscribe here!)
This week, Stephen Boudreau of RaiseDonors joined us to live-critique nonprofit donation pages submitted by our community members. Special thanks to everyone who sent their page!
Top Tips for Optimizing Your Nonprofit Donation Page
1. Optimization is a process, not a destination
Optimizing your donation page and online giving experience is an ongoing effort. It’s not about achieving perfection, it’s about getting better and better as you learn more about your donors and online giving.
2. Aim for clarity first
Before you worry about making your donation page fancy or beautiful, consider the simple questions: Does it make sense? Are the steps for making a donation clear?
3. Reduce friction
Friction is anything that slows or distracts the donor away from making a gift. It includes overwhelming form layouts (“This will take forever, I’ll do it later.”), too many or irrelevant fields (“Why do they need to know my birthday?”), confusing third-party processing sites (“Am I even giving to the organization?”), and links to other parts of your website (“Oh! I wanted to know more about their events, I’ll just click right over here…”). To make giving as smooth as possible, consider removing the navigation menu from your donation page, making sure you have consistent branding across the the giving experience, and being selective about how many fields you include in your form and the order you put them in.
4. Tell a compelling story
Your donation page is an opportunity to connect the giver to the good they’re helping accomplish. Don’t assume that everyone who visits your donation page knows all about your mission and is ready to give. Including language that connects to the impact their gift will have and what they’ll be a part of can help convert people on the fence and makes the giving experience more human and less transactional for everyone.
5. Experiment and adjust
Your organization is unique, and what works for one organization may not be suited to your donors. Take an experimental approach with your donation page–try something new and see what you learn. Optimizing your donation page is a matter of collecting and responding to data and feedback.
RaiseDonors and NextAfter published an entire guide on this topic.
If you enjoyed today’s episode of The Responsive Weekly, you won’t want to miss The RaiseDonors Online Giving Breakdown, which launches on May 14. More information forthcoming the The Responsive Weekly emails.
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