ways to raise more money from your donation pages · you will raise less money if you make people...
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Inside Look...Ditch The Vintage PayPal Button
Write A Powerful Headline
Use Less Words
Limit Paragraphs To 2-3 Sentences
Use Pictures
Use White Space To Direct The Eye
Remove The Sidebars And Navigation Menu
Reduce Steps To Donate
Only Ask For What's Required
Write Copy In Second Person Narrative
continued...Pick One Call-To-Action
Repeat The CTA Three Times
Use Bullet Points And Numbered Items
Use Big Fonts
Use Big Buttons
Keep It Above The Fold
Make It Mobile
Optimize Your Donation Pages For Search Engines
Create A Seamless Donor Experience Across All Marketing Channels
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John Haydon, author of Facebook Marketing for Dummies and Facebook Marketing All-in-One, is one of the most sought-after digital marketing experts for
nonprofits and charities. He has helped hundreds of nonprofits realize and achieve their best marketing and fundraising goals.
The highlight reel includes:
- Helped Epic Change launch one of thevery first fundraisers on Twitter.
- Helped Komen Greater NYC increasetheir walkathon revenue by almost 300% in one year.
- Helped the Ellie Fund win a nationalonline fundraising contest ($53,000 in 24-hours).
- Helped Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity raise over $215,000 during a 24-hour giving day.- Helped Go East, Young Dog raise $200,000 in 10 days to save 70 dogs from being euthanized.- And more...
SPEAKER. AUTHOR. COACH.
John has spoken at CauseCamp, the Nonprofit Technology Conference, New England Federation of Human Societies, New Media Expo, BBCon, Social Media 4 Nonprofits, AFP New Jersey, Boys & Girls Club, Jewish Family Services, and many other conferences throughout the United States. If you’re looking for more from him, John is also a regular contributor for the Huffington Post, Social Media Examiner, Social Media Today and npEngage.
OWNER. TEACHER. PARENT.
- Founder of Inbound Zombie, a consultancy in Cambridge, MA that develops mobile websites fornonprofits.
- Leadership council member at Social Media for Nonprofits.- Instructor for Top Nonprofits and Charityhowto.- Regular contributor to the Huffington Post, npEngage, Top Nonprofits, Social Media Today, and
others, Constant Contact- Artist – Yes, you want someone creative on your side. A natural-born storyteller.- Parent – a proud dad, committed to making a better planet earth.
Meet the Author
What makes a kick-ass donation page? Is it the words? Images? Where buttons and fields are located?
The short answer is yes. Together, these elements must convey enough emotional punch and urgency to inspire people to donate.
Your donation pages reflect your brand.
Your community is totally unique, so slapping the latest best practice on your donation page just won’t cut it.
You have to understand your community first, then get super-clear about objectives. Only then should you start designing your donation pages. Seth Giammanco of Minds On Design Lab says “the donation experience is a direct expression of your brand.”
Introduction
01.02.
DITCH THE VINTAGE PAYPAL BUTTON
WRITE A POWERFUL HEADLINE
Ditch the vintage PayPal button – Yes, it has that nostalgic 90s look and feel, we all love. But it’s for amateurs. Get rid of it! Steve Heye, Manager of Technology at The Cara Program adds “Establish a professional and secure setting. Make your audience feel safe giving personal and financial info. A quick way to lose people is having a donation page that looks like it was created
in your garage.”
Write a powerful headline – Focus attention with a compelling and concise headline that states the outcome. Malaria No More
does this very well.
04. WRITE A POWERFUL HEADLINE
Only focus on your story and your call-to-action. A good practice is to take your first draft and cut the word count in half. Check
out how Girl Effect gets right to the point!
USE LESS WORDS 03.
No one reads the text on landing pages. They scan it. Then, if they’re interested they’ll take a minute or two to read it.
You know your stories are worth 1000 words each. But expecting someone to read 1,000 words while Twitter and Facebook notifications ring in their ears, is completely unrealistic. That’s why you use pictures! But not just any picture, a compelling picture
that tells a story. Like the one below from Invisible Children.
USE LESS WORDS 05.
06. WRITE A POWERFUL HEADLINEWhite space at the margins will help direct your visitor to the center of the page and downward, like in the example from
charity:water below.
When someone is on your donation page, you’ve got their attention for a very limited time. Allyson Kapin of Rad Campaign says “Suppress all navigation so donors don’t get distracted by it and instead focus on making the actual donation." This will increase conversions. Link the logo back to the main homepage.
REMOVE THE SIDEBARS AND NAVIGATION MENU 07.
08. REDUCE STEPS TO DONATE You will raise less money if you make people take too many steps in the donation process. And why would you want to raise less money? Ritu Sharma of Social Media 4 Nonprofits recommends: “Make it easy for people to donate without having them jump through hoops. Reduce the number of steps and clicks throughout the entire transaction. Don’t collect more information than you need – name, billing address, donation
amount and credit card details.”
09. ONLY ASK FOR WHAT'S REQUIREDRemember, making a donation requires filling out a lot of fields. Name, address, credit card info are required in most cases, asking for more just increases the likelihood they’ll get frustrated and leave. So less IS more – more donations! Ephraim Gopin recommends “one page, one form, KISS (Keep It Simple,
Silly). No one has time for a long form.”
The word “you” (second-person pronoun) directly addresses the reader, and makes the privilege of donating about them, not about your organization. In fact, try to avoid talking about your nonprofit with the words “we” and “us”. Talk about the greater cause – the one where the donor is changing the world. For
example, “You can make a difference in a child’s life today.”
WRITE COPY IN SECOND PERSON NARRATIVE10.
11. PICK ONE CALL-TO-ACTION
If you’re looking for donations, don’t ask people to follow you on Twitter. Don’t ask them to like your Facebook page. Look at it this way: You’ve got one shot on donation pages. Will it be the donation, or the new follower on Twitter? Remove every other call to action, aside from donating or getting more information
on donating.
12. REPEAT THE CTA THREE TIMES
Make sure you ask three times. For example, “You can make a difference in the life of a child” in the first paragraph, followed by “…stand with a kid today” in the second paragraph, and then “make a difference now” in the last paragraph. Both ask (call) the
visitor to take action. This applies to e-mail marketing too.
Bullet points are extremely humble little creatures. But they subconsciously convey two powerful messages: “You will be getting several things here” and “These things will be very specific”. What are your top three most recent outcomes? What items are purchased with donations? What impact will happen after someone donates? Make these lists stand out with bullet
points to display these items.
USE BULLET POINTS AND NUMBERED ITEMS13.
14. USE BIG FONTS
A study conducted by Stamford confirmed that font size influences trust. 16 point or bigger.
15. USE BIG BUTTONS
Amnesty International found that bigger donation buttons help convert more donors.
16. KEEPT IT ABOVE THE FOLD
Keep the important stuff above the fold (area of browser that’s visible without scrolling down).
17. MAKE IT MOBILEMore and more of your supporters are visiting your website from their smart phones and tablets (Google Analytics shows you great detail about your mobile traffic). This can mean a decrease in donations if your donation pages aren’t mobile. Zan McColloch-Lussier, Director of Marketing & Community Engagement at Food Lifeline says “Make it mobile responsive, as donors are coming from the emails they’ve read on their mobile
devices.”
18. OPTIMIZE YOUR DONATION PAGES FOR SEARCH ENGINES
Make sure the title tags and description include popular keywords people use when searching for information about the
cause.
19. CREATE A SEAMLESS DONOR EXPERIENCE ACROSS ALL MARKETING CHANNELS
Maintain the same branding throughout the donation process. In your email campaign template, in your direct mail piece, on your Facebook custom tab, and on your donation page. This can easily be done by using the same images, copy, colors, and fonts
across all touch points.
What did you learn?
Have any questions about website design and how it can benefit your organization?
Go to www.johnhaydon.com for more information!
Thanks for Reading!For more from John Haydon, check him out on Social Media
https://www.facebook.com/JohnHaydon.Marketing/
https://twitter.com/johnhaydon
https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhaydon/