A lot of online donations don't happen because donation pages get in the way of the donor's intention to give.
Here's a super-helpful post that can keep that from happening to your donors, from the Bloomerang Blog, at 20 Best Practices to Optimize Your Nonprofit Donation Page:
- Choose the right online fundraising platform. Make sure your platform can do what you need to keep donors on track! This is a combination of user interface and back-end tech that really needs to be good.
- Include a compelling reason to give. The page needs to remind the person who has landed there why they are there.
- Describe how donations make an impact. Connect donation amounts with specific activities.
- Brand the donation page to your organization. A page that looks like it's part of some other website will lose donors fast!
- Only ask for necessary information. Sure, you'd love to get their phone number and 17 pieces of demographic information -- but asking for those things will cause donors to abandon. Only as for what you really need to have.
- Make your donation form mobile responsive. If your donation page doesn't work on a phone, it doesn't work!
- Make your donation page accessible. Be respectful of all donors by making sure it conforms to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
- Consider making your giving form a multi-step process. Rather than have one huge page for the entire transaction, consider breaking it up into a few smaller steps.
- Offer suggested giving amounts. Donors are looking for guidelines on what they should give.
- Enable recurring donations. Make it easy for donors to give monthly. Their value skyrockets when they do that.
- Spotlight matching gifts. Make it easy for donors to apply employer matches if they have them.
- Offer multiple payment options. You may be able to encourage a larger donation by making it easy to break it up into more than one payment.
- Embed your giving page into your website. Don't make people leave your site to give. Many won't do it.
- Use a secure payment processor.
- Provide information about donor portals. On your donation confirmation page or follow-up email, show donors how to set up a giving account and describe the benefits of doing so.
- Ask supporters how they heard about your organization. But make it "optional."
- Optimize your donation confirmation page. Make sure it has a human-sounding thank-you, along with social sharing buttons and other ways to get involved.
- Use your donation page to collect donor information.
- Promote your donation page on all online platforms. It's the page you really want people to visit. Include links in social media posts, email footers, and any other place you can think of. In print, include a QR code that leads to that page.
- Encourage supporters to share your giving page. Make it easy for donors to share their connection with you with their own network.,
The post is packed with specifics and examples. Don't miss it. It could have an important impact on your fundraising!
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