20 ways to trick out your donation form

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20 Ways To Trick Out Your Donation Forms PRESENTED BY:

TOM THAYER & DOMINIC TAVERNITI

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SIMPLIFY YOUR FORMS

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•  Resist the urge to request/require non-essential information. •  The hard work of getting visitors to the form is complete. Now reduce

the hurdle to give. •  Consider presenting only required fields, reducing the need for

constituents to decipher what needed and what’s not. •  The upfront transparency and simplicity is refreshing for constituents.

SIMPLIFY YOUR FORMS

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REMOVE DISTRACTIONS

By Ion Interactive

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REMOVE DISTRACTIONS

•  While simplifying forms, consider the big picture as well – the wrapping page design, content and competing calls to action.

•  A landing page has singular goal, unlike the general website. All of the doors and windows (links, buttons, distracting content) that lead away from the goal should be removed.

•  How do you identify which distractions to remove and why? Review actual visitor behavior with Google Analytics.

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TRACK GOAL CONVERSIONS

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TRACK GOAL CONVERSIONS

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TRACK GOAL CONVERSIONS

•  Remove the emotion that comes along with cutting content and simplifying a design through the use of web traffic data.

•  Goal Funnel Visualization reports in Google Analytics -  Track visitor behavior on a donation page and visualize where constituents

abandoned the donation form. -  Identify and remove links and paths that lead prospective constituents away

from completing the form.

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FIELD LEVEL FORM TRACKING

•  Use JavaScript to execute an if/then statement on event tracking and determine whether or not users are completing each field.

•  In this case, Steve has skipped the Nick Name field and moved straight to the Street Address field.

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FIELD LEVEL FORM TRACKING

•  Based on event tracking data, Steve isn’t the only visitor skipping the Nick Name field. It’s a likely distraction and should be removed

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THINK SMALL

•  Try intercepting the donation user experience further up stream.

•  Add a miniature form in the side-column of the page to facilitate a conversion path

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MOBILE FIRST

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MOBILE FIRST

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MOBILE FIRST

• Single Column • Taller Input Fields •  In-Field Labels • Larger Hit Areas • Larger Text • Progressive Disclosure

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http://goo.gl/KOwJcX

CHECK OUT A MOBILE DONATION FORM

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BUILD A BUSINESS CASE TO GO MOBILE

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BUILD A BUSINESS CASE TO GO MOBILE

•  Analyze mobile adoption in Google Analytics through a year over year comparison

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BUILD A BUSINESS CASE TO GO MOBILE

•  Compelling numbers emerge when the mobile traffic growth rate is viewed from one year to the next.

•  Consider the following example, where 12% of total site traffic may not appear significant won its own :

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USABILITY TESTING •  Usability testing captures audience behaviors and helps to identify

effective form designs and layouts, leading to improved donor experiences.

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A/B TESTING

•  Version A received 26.88% more clicks on the ‘donate’ button

•  Consider the example of a 26% increase for an organization with $200K in annual online donations:

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A/B TESTING

•  Version A got a 10.2% life in average donation amounts per page view, contributing a total of $1.02 million in donation to Haiti

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TIME SAVING TRICKS & TECHNIQUES

•  Field and label alignment improves user eye tracking and reduces the time required to complete a form.

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ERROR MESSAGES & INSTANT VALIDATION

•  Error messages are often abrasive and only delivered after the fact

•  Instant validation will notify the visitor of missed fields as they go

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STORY TELLING - MICROSITE

http://fuelinginnovation.iit.edu/

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STORY TELLING - MICROSITE

•  Campaign sites and microsites are a great opportunities to set aside competing objectives of the organization and focus on the story and a single ask.

•  After the audience has taken the narrative journey and landed on the donation form – remove all distractions and bring a singular focus to the form.

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CONTENT STRATEGY

•  Know your brand •  Adhere to a content and messaging strategy that fits the organization’s image

and objectives. •  Two great examples of succinct content strategy approaches are ASPCA and

Girls Scouts’ To Get Her There campaign, though the tone and emotional appeal between the two are polar opposite.

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DREAM A LITTLE

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GAMIFICATION

•  Incorporate principles of gamification into a standard donation form

•  Tie the org’s mission to the act of donating through illustrations

•  Build the illustration in sync with field validation

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GAMIFICATION - VIRTUAL TOUR / GIVING

•  Is there a physical representation of your use of funds?

•  How about turning an interactive virtual tour into a donation form!

•  Immerse the donor in a true-to-life user experience that encourages them to take action.

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CROWDFUNDING

http://middstart.middlebury.edu/

•  Crowdfunding is an exciting way to engage donors and link them directly to the project, program, beneficiary.

•  This approach tends to incorporate: Target funding minimums, deadline dates, as well as donor access to progress reports and a community.

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USER GENERATED CONTENT

http://www.weizmann-usa.org/tomorrow-lab/fighting-cancer.aspx

•  Harnessing enthusiasm, voice and content of your constituents •  Aggregating and presenting user generated content offers an authentic

audience-centric view, while reducing content production demands on the organization

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YOUR TURN, WHAT TRICKS DO YOU HAVE? . . . OR QUESTIONS?