All you need to know about building donation pages

Marta Fornal de Seixas

Agenda• Why is it important?

• Things to consider

• Get inspired – great client examples

• In the software – useful features and implementation

• Questions

Why it’s important• Attracting new donors

– Are your donation pages well designed and engaging

– People are more likely to share a positive experience

– Returning donors

• Convert traffic to your website into a monetary value

• Investing in great donation pages now will bring return on investment

Building your donors community - things to consider• Think about your donation pages carefully – are they engaging enough? Do

you create a positive experience?– Out of the box tools

– JavaScript, HTML changes, CSS

– Working with designers to achieve better results

• Importance of storytelling – it’s all about an emotional response– Tell new stories

– People share stories

– Video, Images, copy

• Reach further - are your pages optimised for mobile devices?– Increasing use of mobile devices to open emails and pages

– It is critical to format both email and landing pages for mobile

– Check how much of your web traffic is coming from mobile users - analytics

And more…• Don’t be afraid to ask your supporters to get involved a bit more – tie

fundraising asks with other supporter activities – connect advocacy and fundraising campaigns

• Create long term relationships – why not encourage monthly giving?

• Provide easy ways to share your appeals – social sharing buttons, email your friends page

• Build trust and confidence: branding – don’t send your donors to third part pages

• Form testing can have dramatic impact on conversion – have you tested your forms?

– It is unlikely that untested page will convert at a great rate

Make it easy

• Make the donation button prominent

• Simplify your pages– Remove navigation, adds, promotions

– Remove search tools

– Reduce content in side columns

• Give donors options – single/ monthly, suggest giving amounts

• Show how specific amounts help – help donors understand how their money makes a difference

Giving you money shouldn’t be hard

Get inspired

Get inspired

Implementation – write your copy

• Tell the story – embed videos, include images, animations

• Give examples of how the money is used

• Give your pages some structure – use headers to assure clear content flow: your gift, personal details, payment details

• Add logos of available payment methods

• Increase credibility of your pages – SSL certificate logo

• Thank you email & receipt

• Refund policy

• Show social proof – display widget

Implementation – create the form

• Think about form fields to include – make sure to include only the necessary fields

• Use different field types to make the process easier for donors (dropdowns, radio buttons vs. plain text fields)

• Recurring payment fields – encourage long terms engagement

• Dynamic forms– Hide/display fields depending on payment method selected

– Update currency based on the country selected

– Multiple gateways

Design and styling

• Html & CSS

• Widgets

• Themes

• Mobile optimisation:– Build-in template generator

– Keep it simple: one column, simple header and footer

– Full width form fields and buttons

Reach further

• Make it easy to share your appeals– Add share buttons on your

thank you page

– Email a friend page

• Action redirect – link advocacy and fundraising appeals

Test your pages

• Single vs multiple pages

• Form fields layout

• Page structure

• Different gift strings – values & formatting

• Trust seal placement

What works for one organisation might not necessarily work for another

Publishing your appeals

• Standalone pages – full website design & mobile template

• Iframe embed:– widgets, themed forms

– HTML campaigns (stripped website design)

Mobile: is your website optimised for mobile users?

• Reporting & Analytics– Publishing campaigns on different channels – tracking parameters

– Google analytics

Take away points• How many of the features mentioned today have you tried?

• Are you missing out on donations by not optimising your pages?

• Have you tried using CSS or Themes to improve the look and feel of your pages?

• Are your pages optimised for your audience? How much testing have you done so far?

Questions

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