Saturday, May 31, 2008

Online donation page: increasing contributions

A report by Donordigital says improving the online donation page can make a difference in online fundraising results. They suggest testing with own organizations to see what may work. Findings include:

1. Bigger donation buttons makes a difference;
2. Color of donation button can make a difference (e.g., use green vs. red);
3. Eliminate extra data fields with personal info (e.g., title and suffix fields);
4. Polite requests can be more effective than urgent requests ("please make tax-deductible gift" vs. "Help us");
5. Doesn't statistically matter if use firm language such as "Donate Now" instead of "Submit";
6. Include a brief appeal on the actual donation page too - as that can be where you'll lose them.

Their findings indicate less than half who click through to make a donation complete it.

I personally like when online donations have PayPal option. It's so much easier in my opinion when can just click a button that already has all my financial info rather than have to retype it (and walk somewhere else in the house to get a credit card). Obviously there are causes where I'll type numerous amounts of personal data into forms or write a check - but I agree with the report that the actual donation request and amount of info can make a difference in willingness to contribute.

In addition, personalized online contribution requests with personal page of the person asking for a contribution, or their picture, increases my interest too.

What works or hasn't worked for you with online fundraising?

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