Dunham+Company featured an online fundraising scorecard report and showed some key areas where nonprofits are missing the mark in their online marketing campaigns. Click here to get the report for free.
In their study, 151 charities were looked at and rated the online giving experience in 4 major areas: email communication, email registration, gift acknowledgment, and donation experience. The report is filled with relevant tidbits that should keep nonprofits busy as they match their own experiences to the benchmarks in the report.
Below are 4 questions asked by this study, and it’s essential that you answer these questions as you evaluate the effectiveness of your online fundraising campaign:
1. Are you making it easy for people to sign up for your emails?
According to the scorecard, 76% of nonprofits’ email sign-up forms are easy to find, however, 66% of those prompts offered little in the way of incentives for donors to sign up. To build relationships with your supporters and grow your email list, you have to make it easy for them to locate your subscription box and sign for updates. Remember to make it clear to your readers what’s in it for them and feature your subscription options in a compelling way.
2. Can the average person read and relate to them?
The moment they subscribe to your list, your fans expect consistent, high-quality interactions that are tailor-fit to their preferences. Follow up on your promise and be consistent in offering updates, email newsletters, and alerts in straightforward content and clear calls to action.
Studies show that more than half of emails from nonprofits are not optimized for mobile. Even though approximately half of the donors could open and read emails on their mobile, the research reported that 1 out of 3 nonprofits sent their emails with numerous conflicting calls to action. To ensure that your emails survive a crowded inbox, make them simple, straightforward, easy to read and easy to take action from, regardless of how or where they are being read.
3. Did you make it easy for people to give to your nonprofit online?
If you are creating roadblocks that keep your donors from giving online, you are fighting a losing battle. Unfortunately, only about 65% of donation pages featured in the study required 3 clicks or more to complete a donation, and only 16% were optimized for mobile viewing. Keep in mind that donors have more options to give online these days, so it’s crucial that your donation process is easy, painless, and fast.
4. How is your post-donation experience?
We are happy to see that almost all of the nonprofits in the study thanked donors for their gifts. However, it is interesting to note that a lot of organizations still lack ways to further engage their donors immediately following the donation. Only 27% of the groups in the study offered a way to share the donation opportunity with their networks, and only about 37% presented donors with more ways to take action and find out more about their impact once completing their gift.
One of the ways you can keep that “helper’s high” going while he/she is feeling great about your work is through a donation confirmation. Utilize this moment to reinforce that feeling by inviting them to become champions of your cause.
A big thank you to the team at Dunham+Company for this insightful report and the valuable advice included with the findings.