The Secret to Building Amazing Donation Pages

A guest post by our partners at Neon One

If you google anything related to donation page optimization, you’ll find tons of results. There will be articles on donation page experiments, optimization best practices, step-by-step guides on how to set up a donation form, and lots more.

All of those resources are valuable. But every donation form best practice boils down to a single theme. Understand that theme, and you’ll have the secret to building great forms.

Are you ready for it?

The secret to building outstanding donation pages is simply putting yourself in your donors’ shoes.

That’s it. That’s the secret.

Let’s take a look at what that actually means!

Putting Yourself in Your Donors’ Shoes Prevents Friction

When you design a donation page with your donors’ experience in mind, you’ll find it easier to prevent friction in the donation process. “Friction,” here, refers to anything in the donation process that makes someone think twice about submitting a gift.

But when you put yourself in your donors’ shoes, you’ll stop trying to build a form that checks all the right boxes and collects all the right information and start creating a donation experience that your donors will actually enjoy instead.The improved experience will set the stage for better conversion rates, bigger gifts, and an ongoing relationship with that supporter.

When you’re building a donation page, step into the role of a donor and ask yourself three questions:

• How does the donation page design make me feel?
• Is this donation form easy to use?
• What do I experience after I make a gift?

Here’s a deeper look at each question and how they’ll help.

How Does The Donation Page Make Me Feel?

Imagine this: You come across a really cool organization on Facebook. You scroll through their posts for a while before clicking over to the nonprofit’s website. Their site is beautiful—the colors are great, their pictures are heartwarming, and every sentence you read makes you want to support their work. You click over to their donation page and … you land on a plain white page with a ton of form fields that’s adorned only with the nonprofit’s logo.

How would you feel?

Your journey probably looks a lot like the journey that leads many people to your own organization’s donation page. Your page’s look, feel, and content can reiterate someone’s instinct to support your cause. It can also inspire someone to give even if they weren’t planning to do so!

Donation Page Elements You Can Update

If asking yourself this question reveals room for improvement, here are some parts of your donation page you may want to update.

• Colors, logo, fonts, and other branding elements: When your donation page looks like the rest of the pages on your website, you’ll create a smoother, more enjoyable experience for your supporters.
• Your donation page’s images: Add a photo that relates to your mission and your work. The most effective images will include human beings (animals work, too, if that’s more appropriate) and will make the donor feel positive emotions like hope, pride, or connectedness.
• Your case for support: Remember, not everyone who visits your donation page will be familiar with your organization, your work, and how their donation will make an impact. Include some content on your donation page that summarizes how a donor’s gift will make a difference.
• Navigation and conflicting calls to action: Remove your navigation menu and outbound links from your page. Doing this will keep people focused on the task at hand—making a gift. You can always add them back to your confirmation page to give donors a better experience.

When you start asking yourself these questions, you’ll be able to build a beautiful donation page that gets visitors excited about supporting your work!

Is the Donation Form Easy to Use?

You could have the most amazing-looking donation page in the world, but your conversion rates will stay low if the form on that page isn’t easy to use. Long, complicated forms can turn donors off giving.

Make a test donation on your form. Or, better yet, ask a friend or a family member to do it! Look for opportunities to make your donation form shorter or simpler. Here’s a nonprofit donation form example you can use as a guide.

Donation Page Elements You Can Update

Did you (or your friend) get stuck anywhere? Did you run through the process and realize you have lots of room to improve? These tactics can help.

• Enable recurring donation options: Recurring donors are easier to retain, have a greater donor lifetime value, and provide reliable, predictable revenue. Make sure people can set up recurring gifts on your donation form!
• Add suggested donation amounts: Help donors decide how much to give by including suggested gift amounts. Make sure you always allow the option for donors to choose their own amounts, too. If that $20 donor truly only wants to give that much, they should be able to do so.
• Tie those suggestions to outcomes: Including compelling impact statements next to your suggested donation amounts helps donors understand how their gift will make a difference.
• Remove unnecessary fields: It’s very common for nonprofits to use their donation forms to collect lots of data about their supporters. But, since long forms reduce conversion rates, it’s best to ask only for the information necessary to process their gift. You can always ask them for additional information in a follow-up survey!
• Make donors feel safe: Your online fundraising platform probably includes security indicators on their donation forms, like a padlock icon next to payment information fields or a note at the end of the form about security measures. Take this a step further by making sure you’re using your donation form on an encrypted page (your URL should start with “https”).

When you combine great donation page design with a form that follows these simple best practices, you’ll give your donors an outstanding experience that makes giving quick, easy, and enjoyable.

What Do I Experience After Making My Gift?

That great donation experience shouldn’t end after they submit their gift. Keep the good feelings going by putting some thought into what happens afterward.

Donation Page Elements You Can Update

A few simple elements can turn a simple donation experience into the beginning of a long relationship between your donor, your organization, and the community you serve. Here are some steps you can take to make it happen.

• Add a thank-you message to your confirmation page: Add a sincere thank-you note and focus on making them feel good about their gift. This is also a great opportunity to give them additional ways to engage with your organization: Try including a link to a thank-you video, inviting them to follow you on social media, or asking them to fill out a donor survey.
• Make the most of your receipt: Your online fundraising platform probably sends an automated email after someone makes a gift. Take advantage of it! Add a heartfelt thank-you message and a compelling image to your receipt. This is a simple way to turn a transactional email into a fantastic donor experience.
• Don’t forget your thank-you letter: Whether it’s through email or the postal service, make sure you’re sending your donors a thank-you letter after their donation (this should be in addition to the receipt!).
• Try sending welcome email(s): Getting a first-time donor to make a second gift is tough. Try sending a welcome email—or even a short series of them—that shares more about what your organization does, shows donors how their support will help others, and makes them feel like part of a community that’s making the world a better place.

Donating to a favorite cause releases dopamine—the same brain chemical that we feel when we eat chocolate or hug someone we love. When you make donors feel really good about their gift in the hours and days after their gift, they’ll associate your organization with those extended feel-good emotions—and that can set the stage for future donor retention efforts.

Design Your Donation Page With Donors’ Experiences in Mind

If you want to build a donation page that gives your supporters a great experience, put yourself in their shoes. Pretend you’re a brand-new donor: What do you feel when you land on your donation page? Is it easy to make a gift? Do you feel appreciated after you’ve made your donation?

Experience your donor’s journey for yourself. Identify where you get stuck. Look for opportunities to delight your supporters. The result will be a more effective donation page, a better conversion rate, more online gifts, and a growing base of committed supporters.

About the Author

Abby Jarvis, Senior Content Marketing Manager at Neon One

Abby Jarvis is a writer, marketer, and speaker at Neon One, and she’s passionate about giving nonprofits the tools they need to connect with their supporters. Her 10+ years in the nonprofit technology industry have been dedicated to understanding how and why donors support their favorite causes, studying donor trends and behavior, and sharing data-backed best practices nonprofits can use to build successful fundraising programs.

Find out more about how we support nonprofits with their Neon One Implementations and support.