1. Institute of Fundraising
Increasing donations through your website
September 18, 2012

2. starting with the obvious
why it’s important
• are you spending money to drive traffic to your website?
★ social media (e.g. YouTube / Facebook / Twitter)
★ search engine optimisation (SEO)
★ ad words / banner advertising
★ tell-a-friend / social sharing
• what percentage of this web traffic are you converting in online
donations, donor leads?
• is your website brochureware, or are you trying to engage your
visitors?
• it’s important because you are encouraging the public and supporters
to visit your website!
www.engagingnetworks.net

3. one more reason....
why it’s important
• how much does your direct mail cost?
• a recent study of donors by Dunham+Company found:
★ 50% of donors surveyed in 2012 said they prefer to give online when they
receive a letter in the mail from a charity.
★ The proportion of donors ages 40-59 who reported giving a gift online in
response to a direct mail appeal rose from 34% in 2010 to 47% in 2012.
★ The study found that websites lost ground in driving online giving: Only 11%
of donors said what they saw on a charity’s website motivated a gift (down
from 15% in 2010).
• direct mail donors that want to donate via your website deserve a
good experience and can still be influenced to give more
www.engagingnetworks.net

4. start with the basics
form optimisation
• it is unlikely that an un-tested donation form will convert at more
than 15%
• some of the elements that make a difference:
★ vertical versus horizonal gift strings
★ one column versus two column layout
★ field group order
★ form length (one page / two)
★ trust seal placement
• what works for one organisation may not work for another - you must
test your forms
www.engagingnetworks.net

5. an interesting form from
charity: water
•required label
•no asking string
•dynamic form behaviour
(payment methods trigger)
•single column
•trust seal at the bottom
www.engagingnetworks.net

6. rational versus emotional
effective story telling
• donating to charity is not a rational process; successful fundraising
requires an emotional response
• story telling is at the root of successful online fundraising:
★ copy writing (blog, emails, web content)
★ images
★ video
★ games
• people are more likely to share stories
• the ultimate hero of your story needs to be the donor
• don’t tell the same story over and over again
www.engagingnetworks.net

7. now there’s a story
grocery store wars
•“Not long ago in a
supermarket not so far
away”
•Cuke Skywalker
•Obi Wan Cannoli
•Darth Tater
•launched in 2005
•20 million views

8. have you ordered the new iPhone 5?
getting mobile
• over a 6 month period an animal charity generated 58,882 advocacy
letter writing actions: 5,120 were converted on a mobile device (9%)
• the same charity had 3,329 donations over the same period: 150 were
converted on a mobile device (4.5%)
• landing pages were not optimised for mobile
• supporters are increasingly consuming your content on smart phones:
★ formatting email for mobile is critical
★ email landing pages should also be optimised
★ links posted on social networks
★ general website optimisation is a distant priority
www.engagingnetworks.net

9. this is a good one
emails are read on mobiles
•simple format to render in
mobile devices
•single ‘ask’
•view in browser option
•text links and image links
•tie-in to Olympics and the
need for local champions

10. don’t be afraid to ask
your web pages
• don’t be afraid to ask supporters to donate or fundraise for you
• give donors options to donate and make it easy for them
• build brand trust and don’t send supporters to third party websites
to donate
• build fundraising asks into other website activities (campaigning,
surveys, event registrations, etc)
• thank supporters when they donate
• set out a strong case for donations: why you need the money
www.engagingnetworks.net

11. you can’t miss this
a great example
• the Arctic Emergency takes over the
Greenpeace UK homepage with a focus
on direct fundraising appeals and
limited options to take action
• web traffic is supplemented with email
push to existing supporters
• on day one, over 1,200 transactions
and almost £30,000 raised
• the takeover is continuing

12. getting personal
email, data, segments, content
• email marketing is still the most effective way to build online
donations: build your email list
• how this can be successful:
★ build lists (segments) based on interest and send conversion messages
(conditional content)
★ incorporate social sharing
★ pre-populate landing pages with supporter data
★ automate email ‘triggers’ linked to behaviour / activity
★ track and test
www.engagingnetworks.net

13. Find out more by
CONTACTING US
www.engagingnetworks.net