My completely unscientific opinion about online fundraising is this: So many nonprofit landing pages are so bad, we are losing piles of revenue every day. They fail to connect with donors. They confuse donors. They just don't work right.
With more and more donors migrating their giving to the web, we should consider this a sort of fundraising "international emergency." Chances are, your landing pages are costing you dearly. And you don't even know it.
Here's some help, from the KISSmetrics blog, for getting the creative right on your landing pages: If Landing Pages Were People -- 3 Nasty Habits That Drive Prospects Away.
- Self-importance. Bragging. Trying to impress with jargon and overblown claims. Forgetting that fundraising needs to be about the donor's opportunity, not the organization's awesomeness.
- Impatience. Forgetting to make the case. Remind them why they're there.
- Coyness. Not quite asking directly, as if asking is too embarrassing.
Don't let your landing pages stay bad. While you wait for your IT people to get their act together, someone else is scooping up your donors by getting it right.
