This is a guest blog from Beacon Design by ChemArt
Making it easy for your donors to donate on your site is an essential piece to keeping them engaged with your organization and to keep their donation coming in, year over year. A user may feel frustrated quickly if they go to your site but can’t find the “Donate Now” button or a way to claim their free gift. Regardless of how you want them to donate, it’s crucial to make the process as simple as possible.
A great start, is to call attention to the “Donate Now” button by making it larger and more prominent. Use that call to action on the most visited pages on your website to ensure that they’re seeing it and can easily donate. Another tip is to have a pop up near the “Donate Now” button to remind them what their donation will help accomplish. When they get to the donation page, it should be easy to navigate. You can connect to services like PayPal, Apple Pay or Google Pay which are all trusted payment portals. Some users won’t even continue if there isn’t a connection to an easy pay service!
If you’re offering a free gift, be sure to include how they’re going to get it. Do they need to do anything now or will they be contacted later by the organization? If they need to do something now, take the time to write out what they need to include, so they don’t miss out on the free gift. Many of our customers will include a free custom ornament based on the donation they’ve made and will either hand them out at an event or ship them directly to their donor. If they’re expecting to receive something for their donation, it can cause frustration if they don’t receive it, so follow through is important and closing the loop on the donation adds to your credibility with your donor! Not to mention, if the gift is really cool, it can turn that donor into a collector, who will donate each year to get their next gift. They may even tell their friends to donate so they can get the annual ornament as well!
After they’ve made a donation, your outreach can continue by adding their name to your email automation campaigns, social media channels or direct mail campaigns to keep them informed about what’s new, upcoming events or additional fundraising initiatives.
All in all, you want your donors to have a great experience with your nonprofit organization from understanding who you are and what you do, to understanding how they can help via a donation and what that donation allows your organization to do to in the community. Creating an impactful experience will only help to solidify your relationship with donors and aid in donor retention.