3 Tips For Generating More Online Donations

4 MIN READ

Humans are instinctively competitive and we are compassionate, so why aren’t online donations pouring into your nonprofit’s website? There’s this little thing called user experience (UX), if your website has poor UX you could be driving donors away and losing out on online donations.

Assuming you have a sound digital marketing strategy to drive donors to your website, here are three tips to employ on your website to establish a giving mindset with your website visitors to make sure you don’t lose out on any more online donations.

1. Micro vs. Macro Messaging – Use messaging and imagery that zooms in on individuals rather than a large group of people. Studies show when people are asked to think of people suffering in large numbers they actually become less reactive to the situation. Over-emphasis on statistics and large groups of people can end up creating a less emotional, and more analytical mindset among prospective donors. Think about it, if your website says there are 8 million kids who need your help, you’d think to yourself “I can’t help 8 million kids.” But if your website says this kid needs your help and has a photo of an individual kid, you’d be more likely to believe you could actually help and have an effect on that kid. Zooming in on individuals allows the prospective donor to develop more of an emotional connection to that one, making them hopefully more compelled to donate.

2. Track your progress – Create a set fundraising goal and visually track your fundraising towards that goal. This is often referred to as a “fundraising thermometer”. People seek accomplishment, we are all competitive, right? The closer you are to your goal; the more people will want to jump on board with you. Everyone wants to be the person to score the touchdown, to be the one who got it across the finish line! You need $8,000 to fund one house, good luck, I don’t have $8,000 to give…or conversely…you only need $200 more dollars to fund this family’s home…well shoot, I have $200, I can fulfill this family’s need for a new home!

3. Suggest giving levels – People rely on cues from others to make decisions, providing suggested donation amounts can lead to higher online donations. Think of it as a peer pressure effect, if your donation form has predefined amounts of $50, $100 and $200 that must be how much other people donate…so a donor may jump on that bandwagon and choose one of those amounts, even if they originally planned to only donate $25. Worth a try, right?! Of course, you can still have a field where they can key in their desired amount if it doesn’t match the suggested amounts.

These tips aren’t a silver bullet, there are many factors that could be affecting your online donations. For more information on digital strategy, website design on conversion optimization, contact Agency Creative today.

RECENT ARTICLES