Improve Your User Experience To Increase Charity Donations!

Posted by Jordan Morris on 22 November 2019

Donating to charity can be an emotional decision, not a rational one. Therefore your website should reflect your story and goals in a succinct manner.

Do you want people to donate to your charity directly? Are you looking for volunteers? Or do you simply want to raise awareness of an issue? To motivate donors to give through your website follow the advice below.

What is user experience?

Defined by the International Organization for Standardization, it is a persons perceptions and responses resulting from the use and/or anticipated use of a product, system or service. In this case that would be your website or app, and how easy it is to use in order to reach your goals. Often referred to as UX, implementing simple changes to improve your user experience can directly impact the quantity of donations and the amount raised.

1. Make sure your website is mobile responsive

You’d think this would go without saying, but even now in 2017 there are still a number of companies out there that haven’t adapted their sites. Make sure that your site is mobile responsive, this means the pages will automatically fit to the size of any device, mobile or tablet screen, ensuring the font and images are still in a readable size and the viewer can easily move from page to page.

2. Ensure your message is clear

Explain in simple terms, what your cause is trying to do, who you are trying to help and more specifically – if you are asking for people to donate – where exactly that money will go and what it will be spent on. This should be mentioned upfront, in your headline or the first paragraph, to immediately inform visitors they are in the correct place.

3. Use case studies

Tell real stories about the people who you have helped. This can play on peoples emotions, offering them a connection to your cause and impact funds raised. PHASE Worldwide said encourage donations by clearly highlighting what each size donation can provide. E.g. 50 can feed a family for 6 months.

4. Make your donation button stand out and easy to find

CTAS (Call-To-Actions) should be in a prominent place, in a standout colour and clearly explain what the button will do. Repeat them on each page, if necessary, and use specific terms like donate here to clearly explain what the button will do, rather than just submit.

5. Use default donation amounts

Make life easy for people and give them a few donation amounts to choose from e.g. 10, 25 or 50. Look back at your donation history and see which amounts are most common. This saves the user having to think of an amount to donate and will also encourage those that were originally thinking of donating a lesser amount, to jump up to the next level, simply for ease of use.

6. Don’t ask for unnecessary information

Studies have shown that for every extra field you ask someone to fill out, your conversion rate will decrease. When the Norwegian Cancer Society reduced their donation forms from 11 fields to 4, the number of completed forms increased by 140%. Experts say this is because making a donation is an emotional decision, not a rational one. If you start making people use the rational parts of their brains by completing complex forms, you’re going to lose their gifts.

7. Use a trusted payment provider

Encourage donations by using a well-known and trusted payment provider. Using a third-party who is PCI compliant will put your sponsors mind at ease. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard ensure card details are processed and stored securely. Once you’ve chosen your preferred provider, include the PCI compliance stamp of approval on your payment check-out page, this will give donors ease-of-mind, knowing that their personal and financial details are secure.

8. Make it easy to subscribe

Email campaigns are proven to drive donations; the percentage of donors motivated to give online by an email has jumped up by 40% since 2015! Place an email subscription field in a prominent place to encourage people to sign up. Your previous donors will enjoy seeing how their money is making an impact and potential donors can be persuaded to support your cause!

How do you know what aspects of the site need to be changed?

Research and test! Ask individuals not associated with your charity to run through your website, analyse which pages they instinctively go to, how far down the page they scroll and what copy they skim over. Ask those individuals what they think the purpose of the site is. If their ideas don’t align with yours, then you’ll need to change your call-to-actions. Even if you have a small budget there are tons of free tools to provide the data points you need to make an informed decision.

Would you like further advice on the user experience you’re currently providing, contact us, we’d love to hear from you!

Jordan Morris

Givergy

Jordan joined Givergy after studying Politics with International Relations at the University of York. He has over two years experience within the charity sector working as a face-to-face fundraiser and as a constituency campaigner. After experiencing the sector from within and knowing first-hand the impact digital solutions can make to fundraising strategies, Jordan is now dedicated to innovating the way charities fundraise to ensure they maximise returns from every fundraising campaign.