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All your hard work driving supporters to your website to make a donation can be wasted if those supporters are faced with complicated and time-consuming donation pages once they get there. If donating isn’t easy, they’ll abandon ship and you’ll lose revenue—in an instant.

Now’s the time to get your donation pages ready for the holiday season. If I’m a donor heading to your site to make a year-end gift, here’s what I’m thinking:

Don’t Make Me Give You My First-Born to Donate

In other words, lose any unnecessary fields on your donation form. The more information you require, the more you kill your conversion rate. People are especially busy during the holiday season, so make giving quick and easy. When you’re done reading this, go to your site and try making a donation yourself. Is it painless? Or is it a pain? Now’s a good time to simplify your donation process if necessary.

Give Me One Single, Focused Call to Action

As much as I love your organization, I don’t want several options here about other things I can do, like sign up to volunteer, read your mission statement or watch a video. Those are all great things and I may have time later, but when I’m on your donation page, I’m there to do one thing: give you money. Keep my focus on the task at hand with a clear call to action.

Creating a Natural Conversation on Your Donation Landing Page

Every time you ask your site visitor for something – whether it’s a donation or just an email signup – you are entering a mental conversation. To increase the potential for success, it is important that the thought sequence of that conversation take place in the proper order.

Briefly imagine if you were approached by a stranger on the street, and they said, “Hey, my name’s Tim. Can I have your business card? I’m going to call you later!”

You probably would give this person a weird look, and think, “No way, I don’t know you! Of course you can’t have my contact information! Leave me alone.”

We would never give away something valuable to us, like our contact information, just because someone asks for it. The same is true online.

Not only does it matter how we ask, but the order in which we ask for someone’s information is crucial. When we ask for it out of order, we create anxiety in the mind of the person on the other side of the screen.

Let’s look at a couple of experiments we conducted with nonprofit organizations to help re-order the conversation in order to create a more logical flow, and increase conversions.

Getting the elements of your donation landing page in the right order

This is an email acquisition page for an e-book offer for a higher education organization. They have a good headline at the top of the page, and they use a three-column layout that mirrors their branding throughout the site. As you can see, they include third-party credibility indicators at the bottom of the page.

Do you notice any problems?

Notice your eye-movement as you work through page. A visitor has to read the copy in the first column, then move back to the top of the page to view the book, and then come back up again to complete the signup form. Up, down, up, down, up, down.

The horizontal layout forces you to slow down to work through the page, and affects the thought sequence leading to the final call-to-action.

We wondered if reorienting the thought sequence would affect the conversion rate on the page.

First, we put all these elements in a linear path from top to bottom on the page to create a more effective flow. We changed the headline to convey value, gave the copy contextual placement near the form, and moved the email acquisition form into the eye-path of the visitor. Then, we moved the book image and credibility indicators to the right column as supporting content. Below the first paragraph is the call-to-action restated as an opportunity to respond.

The treatment produced an increase in conversion by 10.8%.

From this experiment, we learned that matching branding throughout the site is not enough to influence someone to convert. We have to arrange the elements on a landing page so that they maximize the perceived value of an offer, and minimize the perceived cost.

Let’s look at another experiment.

Getting the thought sequence in the right order

This is an experiment that the Texas State Historical Association conducted on a landing page for an eBook download. The design below is something I call “above the fold.” For some reason, we’ve been taught to include all the important information in a header at the top of the page.

The “above the fold” idea was originally created for traditional newspapers so that a folded paper on a newsstand would still display the daily headlines. To see more, the reader has to physically pick up the paper and unfold it.

This problem doesn’t exist online, and yet, so often we follow this same practice! Scrolling up and down through a page is different than unfolding a newspaper, so our websites should function differently.

In this experiment, we reordered the elements on the page, removing the “above the fold” design and created a vertical sequencing path from top to bottom.

The treatment produced a 7.7% lift in conversion on the page.

What we learned from this experiment is that vertically stacking the elements on a landing page can help the reader to naturally flow through the conversation. It’s a natural behavior on a website to scroll down, so we should not be afraid of having elements placed “below the fold.”

Wrapping up…

Re-ordering page elements to create a top-to-bottom flow is a simple, easy change you can make on any page. Think of it like a real, face-to-face conversation you’re having with the person on the other side of the screen. It should be natural and have a logical flow.

The order of the conversation is crucial to establishing this flow. Don’t jump the natural sequencing process and require too much of your page visitors too early. This creates excess friction and anxiety in the mind of the user, and will cause them to abandon your page.

Do you think your donation landing page is optimized? Find out if there are elements on your landing page or donation page that are keeping your visitors from converting by taking the free friction self-assessment from NextAfter.

Looking for more resources to improve your donation landing page? Here are 5 Questions to Ask Yourself to Make Your Donation Page More Effective.

Authors

Tim Kachuriak
CEO & FOUNDER – NEXT AFTER

Tim Kachuriak is the founder and Chief Innovation and Optimization Officer for NextAfter, a fundraising research lab consultancy, and training institute that works with charities, nonprofits and NGOs to help them grow their resource capacity. A nonprofit thought leader, Kachuriak is the author of the book Optimize Your Fundraising, lead researcher and co-author of the Online Fundraising Scorecard, Why Should I Give to You? (The Nonprofit Value Proposition Index Study), and The Midlevel Donor Crisis. Kachuriak has trained organizations in fundraising optimization around the world and is a frequent speaker at international nonprofit conferences.

Kachuriak is also the co-founder and board member for the Human Coalition, a member of the board of directors for Open Doors USA, an Advisory Board Member for the SMU Digital Accelerator, and an Advisory Board Member for the Blackbaud Institute for Philanthropic Impact. Kachuriak lives in Prosper, TX with his wife Rebecca, and their four children: Max (14), Charlie (13), Gracie (11), and Joe (5).

Randy Hawthorne
FORMER ED & EDITOR – NONPROFIT HUB

As a Professional Certified Marketer, Randy shares his passions of marketing and education with nonprofits to help them implement marketing and organizational leadership principles so they can grow their organizations. Randy lends his marketing and organizational leadership expertise to a number of nonprofits in his community. Outside the office, Randy works with high school and college students and mentors young professionals to develop their leadership and entrepreneurial skills.

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Our most recent episode features Maggie Stuckey, Executive Director of the Lincoln Parks Foundation in Lincoln, Nebraska. She’s spent nearly her entire career in the nonprofit sector—living and breathing proof that young people can build their professional lives doing nonprofit work. She and our hosts discuss endowments, the blending of public and private funding for nonprofits and the importance of professional development for nonprofit staff.

If you prefer to get your nonprofit education through podcasts, check out our Hubcast page and follow us on SoundCloud!

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Nonprofit Hub is excited to announce Hub Radio, our new Hubcast series aimed at covering the ins and outs of nonprofit management in a holistic way. Each episode will feature a different guest with a different expertise, in hopes of providing a topic-by-topic look at the nonprofit sector.

In this episode of Hub Radio, host Randy Hawthorne is joined by Chad Williams, CEO of Five Q, a software and services company that builds products for nonprofits to bolster their impact. Randy and Chad go over the evolution of fundraising technology, including Five Q’s newest one-to-one experience platform, Journity.

Keep your eyes on our blog and our Soundcloud page for more episodes of Hub Radio!

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And hey, having to dissolve your organization isn’t the most awful thing in the world. It can actually be a really brave thing. After all, you were trying to do good for your community, and maybe there just isn’t a need for it anymore.

Are you financially stable?

As with any organization, dwindling funds is a tell-tale sign of trouble for nonprofits. If your donations have decreased, or if you’re not securing the grants that usually fund your programs, it might be time to reevaluate. Yes, there are always options for emergency funding, but relying on emergency grants and loans for an extended period of time is never advised.

A decrease in donations could indicate that members of your community no longer see the need for your cause. This could be due to a lack of marketing efforts on your end, or it could mean that you’ve done a great job alleviating a social problem in your community. If the latter is true, you shouldn’t feel bad about potentially dissolving—au contraire! You did exactly what you set out to do.

If you’re largely (or entirely) funded by grants, you might first consider diversifying your funding sources. What if those grants stop coming through? If you aren’t in a contractual agreement with a funder, there’s a good chance grantors will eventually look elsewhere.

If you see major funding issues on the horizon (say, you failed to secure a major grant), even if you’re relatively stable, it might be time to make decisions. It’s better to call it quits before you deplete your funds than to go into the red.

Is there market competition?

Examining other like-minded organizations is always healthy, whether you’re struggling or not. But if you are, and there are other nonprofits successfully fighting for your same cause, check out what they’re doing. How big are they? What kinds of campaigns do they run? How are they funded? If you can, adopt some of their strategies—it’s totally fair game. If you don’t have the capacity to do what those organizations are doing, collaboration could be an option. But if it becomes clear that your nonprofit doesn’t have the proper bandwidth to exist in the market, it might be time to consider dissolution.

Is there still a need in the community?

As mentioned, it’s possible that the cause you’ve been fighting for in the community has been solved, or at least alleviated significantly. This is less likely with larger, structural problems, but if you’re a niche organization with a highly specific mission, it’s completely possible. And again, this should be reason for celebration! Yes, your employees may have to search for new jobs, but being part of an organization that helped eradicate a community problem is quite the resume item. Plus, if you coordinate with your board well in advance, you may even be able to have jobs lined up before dissolution is final.

Are you still achieving your mission?

This is the question behind all the other questions. When it comes down to it, if you’re unable to do what you set out to do, even after a series of efforts, it’s time to consider throwing in the towel. It isn’t easy, especially with a staff, board and potentially volunteer base who care about your mission. But the longer you spin your wheels in their tracks, potentially amassing debt, the worse off you’ll be.

This also might not be an easy question to answer. How is your mission defined? Is it specific and goal-oriented? If you’re unsure about whether or not you’re achieving your mission, it might help first to rewrite your mission statement.

Don’t be afraid to ask yourself the tough questions. In the end, you’ll be glad you did.

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This episode features Lisa Guill, Communications Director of City Impact, a faith-based social services nonprofit in Lincoln, Nebraska. She and our hosts discuss what it means to be a young director for a small organization, content creation and the future of City Impact.

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In the second episode of Growing Good, co-hosts Randy Hawthorne and Kyle Cartwright chat with Graham Pansing Brooks, Founder and President of SEAchange, LTD, a consulting firm and certified Benefit Corporation that helps companies focus on doing good in their communities.

Graham is also spearheading the first-ever Do More Good Conference, an event to challenge and inspire businesses to find a higher purpose in their work.

We’ve been focusing heavily on our industry’s future in all of our content channels, and with good reason. We’re on the brink of a massive transition of leadership in our country, inside and outside of the nonprofit sector. We want our readers to be as prepared as possible. We hope this helps.

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Nonprofit Hub is trying to serve as that nurturing parent who teaches their children—in this case, new or yet-to-be nonprofits—the right way to do things, the smart way to do things. And, just like actual parents, it’s necessary that we teach the fundamentals during a nonprofit’s infancy to avoid an organizational unlearning even more daunting than a child’s.

Common misconceptions

Perhaps the most dangerous thing that nonprofits have been taught—or have adopted—is the mindset that they need to make the biggest possible impact with the least resources as possible. As a result, nonprofits are paying their employees less, using outdated, sometimes broken equipment, operating out of basements and rundown buildings, the list goes on. It’s a horrible way to think, especially considering the nonprofit sector’s undying turnover problem. Nonprofit workers are our communities’ backbone—failing to invest in them is failing to invest in the causes we care about.

There also seems to be a major misconception about where a new nonprofit’s money comes from. “Well, from grants of course!” Not so much. Grants are incredibly hard to come by as a startup, and as the nonprofit sector becomes even more saturated, it’s going to become harder yet. If you plan to secure grants to fund your nonprofit’s infancy, please, please think again. You need to have a backup plan in place. Grants work very well for some organizations, but for the rest of us you’ll need to raise money in other ways that aren’t as sexy: grassroots fundraising, major gifts appeals, incessantly nagging your friends and family. Grants, in almost all cases, should be used as a supplementary funding source, not a primary one.

Changing the way we think

Part of how we do this is with our Starting a Nonprofit class, offered each quarter, for folks who think (or know) that a nonprofit is the best way to help a cause they care about. I’ve started a handful of nonprofits myself, and I’d like to think I know when an idea has serious potential. But part of my class is to challenge people to think of what other forms their idea might take: a stand-alone campaign, a partnership with an existing organization, even a for-profit corporation. It’s important to understand that it might not be a nonprofit you want to start—after all, there are myriad ways to support a cause that don’t involve incorporation as a 501(c)(3).

Another way we’re trying to be the “parents” for our readers is through this blog. There are dozens, maybe hundreds of nonprofit education blogs out there, but we’re trying to make our readers think a little differently. The nonprofit landscape is changing—there’s no doubt about it—and our content is meant to guide you through some uncharted waters. That’s why we write ad nauseam about things like earned income revenue models, treating your nonprofit like a business, leadership transitions and culture.

We launched the What’s Next? Hubcast series last year, which investigates what’s on the horizon for nonprofits in the next five to ten years. If you haven’t checked it out, I strongly suggest you do so. We’ve had incredible guests who always bring perspectives I never thought of before. They’re helping me think differently!

Who else to look to

We aren’t the only ones urging nonprofits to think differently, to be sure. Vu Le, Kishshana Palmer, Ben Bisbee, Edgar Villanueva and more are putting out awesome content about how we can turn a page as an industry and focus on building stronger communities and a healthier world.

If you have thoughts on how the nonprofit industry can think differently for the better, take them to the comments or shoot us a note at info@nonprofithub.org.

The post How and Why Nonprofits Need to Think Differently appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

But now we want to tell the stories of those who will be taking the reins of nonprofits large and small. We want to show the world how young nonprofit professionals are already making a difference in their communities, and how they plan to sustain that impact for the future.

In our inaugural episode, Nonprofit Hub’s Executive Director, Randy Hawthorne, chats with Kyle Cartwright, who, at 27, is already heading up two nonprofits in Nebraska. They discuss fundraising, these inevitable transitions and how the next generation of nonprofit leaders are going to change the world.

This is Growing Good.

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