You use your website for donors more than you think. In today’s COVID world, it will be even more.
“Can you send me a link to donate?”
Honestly, most of us don’t invest much attention to our donate pages, (although we should.) We tend to think: “How often does it really get used?” BUT you, your staff, even your board and existing supporters often need a simple link to share to collect a credit card donation. It’s a major tool that needs to present well and work easily when you’re not present to answer questions.
I actually wrote this post at the end of 2019. In preparing to post it now in post-COVID 2020, I went back to the sites I referenced, and guess what… MOST of these donation pages were FIXED. Along came a pandemic and their online donation pages NEEDED to work for them. Especially the one that landed on an error message when you tried to donate in English.
Answering “Can you send me a link?” should not fill your development staff or your board with dread.
Which link? To the homepage? The page with Paypal? Our third-party donation link? Our programs to sponsor page? What is on our donate page – what should be on our donate page? Whoa, where does our Donate button link to?! I wish I could fix this…
How Much Trouble Are You In?
In 2020, online gifts are estimated to make up the majority of donations, that is, if our donate pages don’t block them first. And, a recent study run by a leading UX research group illustrated that issue: 47% of donations died due to usability problems.
In short: 47% of donors simply gave up. They had their credit card out, they tried to donate, and couldn’t be bothered to finish the process — because of your website.
What Blocks Donors Online? Well, let me show you…
I ran a quick survey. I googled: Top Jewish Nonprofits which led to: The Charity Organizations You Should Know.
In 5 minutes, I had checked four major organizations’ websites, and all four made it difficult to donate and could potentially turn off their donors with their usability problems.
Donation Page Blunders
- Your donate button leads to an error page.
I’m. Not. Kidding.
This Israeli anti-poverty organization sports big name corporate sponsorship and assists more than 150,000 people a year, but the English Donate button leads to an error 404 page. You CANNOT give. (Update: This page was updated and is now open to accept donations!!)
- Your donate page looks like you put it together in Word, and your major payment options are obscure.
The presentation of your donation page builds or undermines your donor’s trust and confidence in your professionalism. (FYI, this Israeli educational services organization has a $30M annual budget and has existed since the 70s). Plus, never pigeonhole your donors to payment gateways, as they change faster than we can keep up. (Heard of Zelle? It’s currently outpacing Paypal in person-to-person payments in the US.) Where do I even put in a credit card?
Additionally – Links to multiple currencies and naming your payment processors is confusing. We just finished recommendations for a site with more issues than the one above. They too had no header displaying the organization’s mission and work. Worse, they had text links to donate: “Click JGive to donate in shekels or dollars. Click IsraelGives to donate in shekels, dollars, or GBP… etc. etc. etc.” This is wildly confusing to your donor. - Your page says it’s not secure, and you make your donor work too hard to checkout.
This is the credit card donation page (post-website upgrade) of a $14M Israeli health organization. The browser warning says: Not secure. Then the fields are confusing. “Flat no.”? Three phone area code choices? Fax?? (Update, this donation page was totally overhauled and simplified too.)
- Your design makes it hard to find key donation processes …and makes your donor nervous.
On the slick donate page of a major Israeli financial empowerment organization, the little dot by Choose Currency and the dot setting your default donation to $360 are impossible to see! Plus, the credit card input is on another page after you click “Donate,” so if you want to come back to change the amount, it actually takes you to the homepage!! Too difficult… especially after you find out your donation was set to $360.
Conclusion: You MUST ensure your online donation process is as smooth as possible. Remove all barriers. It’s the only way to ensure you’ll be open for donations 24/7 in our uncertain world.
Contact LSF for a donation page audit and custom plan for your designer/IT vendor to transform your donation page into an easy and powerful tool for you, your board, and your donors.
