8 Widespread Donation Web page Errors (and Easy Options!)

Donors respect the comfort of creating on-line contributions, and this development exhibits no indicators of slowing down. In accordance with the Blackbaud Institute, on-line giving noticed a rise of 8% in 2022 and 12% in 2023. To take part extra absolutely in on-line giving, your web site is your most important asset. And your web site’s most essential asset is your donation kind. It’s essential to maintain your web site up to date to draw vital site visitors and to characteristic your donation types prominently on the principle web page.

Appears straightforward sufficient, proper? In actuality, a variety of potential issues can stand between your group and a thriving on-line giving program. Let’s discover the eight commonest errors made on donation pages and easy options to repair them.

1. Hidden donation types
2. Requiring donors to present an excessive amount of data
3. Cluttering your donation web page
4. Not highlighting your safety coverage
5. Your donation web page just isn’t cellular pleasant
6. Not providing totally different giving ranges and recurring present choices
7. Paying for bank card charges
8. Failing to say thanks

Mistake 1: Hidden donation types

Make it straightforward for folks to present. Clearly show a donate button on all related pages of your web site, together with the house web page. Keep away from hiding your donation kind underneath menus or on much less seen pages. This might cut back the variety of donations you obtain. If folks should seek for a approach to donate, you’re vulnerable to dropping their present. Your donation web page needs to be prominently featured in your web site, and you need to drive site visitors to it by means of numerous promotional alternatives. Easy options:

• Embrace donation hyperlinks in your e-mail campaigns. Whereas not each e-mail needs to be a direct request for donations, some ought to embrace hyperlinks to your donation kind to make giving straightforward.
• Leverage social media. Many supporters are energetic on a number of social media platforms. In your subsequent social media marketing campaign, embrace hyperlinks to your donation kind the place applicable. Moreover, place the hyperlink in your bio on social media profiles.
• Make sure the donation course of is obstacle-free. Even essentially the most engaged supporters will grow to be pissed off if they can not simply discover your “Donate Now” button.

Mistake 2: Requiring donors to present an excessive amount of data

Chances are you’ll not all the time know what particularly drives a brand new prospect to your donation web page, however one thing has piqued their curiosity. It might be a peer-to-peer effort the place the prospect is aware of little about your mission. When your donation kind is prominently displayed and simply accessible, you shouldn’t lose that present. Nevertheless, if the prospect should create a profile together with your group to make a one-time donation, likelihood is excessive that the donor gained’t full the donation. Accumulating first-time donor data is essential, however asking for an excessive amount of may deter the donor from giving. Easy options:

• Select a greater donation kind. Your kind ought to suit your marketing campaign sort. As an example, Blackbaud Donation Kinds provide two kinds, Optimized and Commonplace Kinds. For a Giving Tuesday marketing campaign, the place fast donations are essential, the Optimized Kind permits donors to present with out making a profile. For a capital marketing campaign the place data retention is essential, the Commonplace Donation Kind collects extra donor data when accepting the present. Matching the donation kind to the marketing campaign sort makes giving simpler on your focused donor pool.
• Restrict the required fields. It has been confirmed that including only one additional discipline reduces the variety of accomplished donation types, and including two or extra extra fields can drastically drop your donation depend. Due to this fact, select your fields correctly and solely ask for what you really want to course of the present.

Mistake 3: Cluttering your donation web page

Your donation web page ought to focus solely on facilitating donations. Whereas your web site serves as a platform for sharing success tales, movies, occasions, and updates in your mission, this kind of content material shouldn’t be in your donation web page. When supporters go to your donation web page, they’re there to donate. Keep away from distracting them. While you add an excessive amount of content material to your donation web page, you might be decreasing the probability of them finishing the donation. Easy options:

• Restrict the textual content. Hold the copy to some sentences.
• Spotlight a single hero picture. Your kind ought to have just one picture. Make it a compelling one and place it on the prime of the shape.
• Tidy up the margins. Take away sidebar navigation and menus from the shape so donors give attention to submitting the present.

Mistake 4: Not highlighting your safety coverage

For those who don’t have a safe infrastructure, donors gained’t really feel secure sharing their private data by means of your donation types. Easy options:

• Use industry-standard safeguards. Work with an organization that complies with Cost Card Trade Knowledge Safety Requirements (PCI DSS) and Cost Utility Knowledge Safety Requirements (PA-DSS), at a minimal.
• Select built-in fraud prevention. Select an organization that has invested in fraud mitigation instruments.
• Present donors your safety measures. Show compliance data in your donation web page to reassure donors in regards to the safety of their transactions.

Mistake 5: Your donation web page just isn’t cellular pleasant

Most on-line donations are made on cellular units, so guarantee your donation types are mobile-friendly. At the moment, 6.84 billion folks globally personal smartphones, and 50% of Americans spend about 5 to 6 hours on their smartphones day by day. For those who rely solely on accepting donations by means of laptops and desktop computer systems, you’ll miss out on contributions from donors preferring to present utilizing their smartphones, tablets, and different cellular units. Easy options:

• Make your kind readable on a mobile phone. When formatting for cellular units, your kind needs to be uncluttered and user-friendly. Embrace solely a quick paragraph explaining your marketing campaign and your brand on the shape.
• Less complicated is healthier. For the very best person expertise, your mobile-responsive donation web page needs to be even easier than your customary kind. Use giant, easy-to-click buttons and a vertical format to eradicate the necessity for donors to pinch and zoom.

Mistake 6: Not providing totally different giving ranges and recurring present choices

Analysis exhibits that providing totally different giving ranges in your donation types can result in increased donation quantities. For those who’re letting donors enter any quantity, they’re more likely to go together with a much less beneficiant present. Easy options:

• Present predetermined giving ranges. Hyperlink these ranges to particular outcomes, serving to donors really feel extra linked to your trigger. For instance, a donor would possibly plan to present $25, but when they study {that a} $50 donation achieves a specific final result, they could resolve to present extra.
• Encourage recurring giving. Ensure that your kind prompts supporters to decide on between a single present or a recurring donation. This method may also help convert one-time donors into sustaining donors.
• Provide choices past month-to-month giving. Statistics present that recurring donors usually favor to present month-to-month, however some select to present weekly, quarterly, or yearly. By giving donors the choice to show their single present right into a recurring donation on the cadence they like, you may considerably improve the long-term advantages to your mission.

Mistake 7: Paying for bank card charges

The times of your group needing to cowl bank card charges are behind us. It’s now acceptable for donors to cowl the processing charges so that you just obtain 100% of their donation. However not all donors will select to do that. Easy resolution:

• Provide charge cowl choices. Choose a donation kind that offers donors the choice to cowl the charge, whereas making certain that in the event that they decide to not, the charge remains to be coated. Blackbaud Donation Kinds characteristic Full Cowl™ and donor cowl. With both selection, you’re ensuring your bank card processing charges are coated, leading to extra income on your mission.

Mistake 8: Failing to say thanks

After a donor contributes, it’s important to take care of ongoing communication and all of it begins with a thanks. For those who don’t have an automated thank-you web page, with a follow-up thank-you e-mail, you’re lacking a possibility to nurture your relationships with on-line donors. Easy options:

• Customise your method. The scale of the donation determines the following step after a web-based present is made. Even first-time donors who make a modest present ought to obtain details about upcoming fundraising occasions, engagement alternatives, and progress updates in your mission. Bigger presents ought to immediate extra detailed and customized communications. 
• Create a stewardship plan. Having a well-defined stewardship plan is important for sustaining donor relationships at each giving stage and at each stage of your relationship.

Donation types function the entry level for what might typically be a donor’s preliminary contribution. Since first impressions are irreversible and also you desire a lifelong relationship together with your supporters, it’s essential that your donation web page feels such as you’re rolling out the welcome mat, thanking your on-line donors for coming and welcoming them to remain for the nice of your mission.