One of the primary goals for any non-profit organization is to raise funds for their cause, or to sign up volunteers. Whether you’re relying on search, social media, email or paid ads, you’re most likely driving traffic to a landing page where you are hoping to touch people’s hearts and inspire them to click that donate button. So how do you make sure your landing pages have what it takes to inspire action? Here are some tips to set you up for success.
Lead with the most important information and make it scanable
When reading online, our habits are completely different from reading print. Our attention spans are shorter, we scan headlines and bullet points, often omitting long paragraphs. You have up to 30 seconds to engage or you lose your audience. Your headline and subheading should include the most important information. They should clearly and concisely explain what your goal is, why the visitor should help and how they can help. Any secondary details can be communicated in bullet points or short paragraphs. A powerful header image and caption is truly worth a thousand words but avoid including too much media—it may distract from the call-to-action. More on that coming up.
Make an emotional connection by demonstrating the impact
Many of us want to be charitable and helpful. But before parting with our hard-earned money we want to understand exactly where it is going, who it is helping and how. All of the content—the headline, subhead, bullet points—should be impact driven. For example, “your $10 donation will help feed one child for a week.” Clearly communicate your organization’s goal and exactly how a supporter’s donation or participation is impacting that goal. It will make them feel good about choosing your cause.
Add credibility and social proof
Another way to help persuade your visitors to take action on your landing page is to include quotes, testimonials, partner logos and performance metrics. Demonstrating that others are supporting and how much of an impact your organization has made, will help convince your potential donor that your organization is credible and the perfect choice for them. It’s human nature to want to conform to the behaviour of others if it is viewed as positive—tap into that need.
Include a clear call-to-action (CTA) and easy forms
Now that you’ve convinced your visitor to act, you have to make it very easy for them to understand how to do it. Place a CTA button where it’s visible—ideally one above the fold and another one at the bottom of the page. Make it big, bold and obvious. It’s a good idea to include a reminder of the impact in the CTA. For example, “Donate $10 to feed a child.” Keep the distractions on your landing page, especially around your CTA, to a minimum. This isn’t the place for loads of images, videos and links. Once they click on the CTA, you still risk losing your potential donor if they are presented with a bulky complicated form to fill out. To ensure they take that final step, make the form quick and easy to complete. Stick to just the basic information you need at this point and keep it down to one page—the more clicks you introduce the more likely you are to lose supporters.
Make your landing page mobile friendly
According to the CRTC, two thirds of Canadians own a smartphone and nearly half own a tablet*. More and more people are accessing the web on a mobile device versus a desktop computer or laptop. If your non-profit’s landing page isn’t mobile-friendly, you may be losing visitors before the 30-second countdown even begins. Develop and test your landing pages with mobile users in mind. With less screen real estate to work with, being clear, concise and to the point is more important than ever.
Test your pages
Some things are just hard to predict regardless of how much thought and preparation you put into it. A simple phrase or image can make or break your landing page. It’s highly beneficial to test different headers, images and CTAs. Often times one will perform much better than the other and it will become clear which one to invest your resources in. There are many tools available to support your testing, including Google Analytics Content Experiments which is freely available.
A landing page is your elevator pitch. You have 30 seconds to explain what you’re trying to accomplish, why and how the visitor can help. Making sure your content is focused, persuasive and demonstrates impact will go a long way in inspiring people to get behind your cause, click on your CTA and make a donation.
Feeling excited about applying these tips to advance your digital marketing but also a little intimidated on how to get started? Check out the CanadaHelps Online Donor Acquisition and Retention Course for more help.
*Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/crtc-telecom-report-1.3290603
Shannon Craig is the Chief Marketing & Product Officer at CanadaHelps. CanadaHelps.org allows donors to safely donate and fundraise online for any registered Canadian charity and also provides charities the secure online fundraising platform and education resources they need to succeed. As a registered charity itself, CanadaHelps has facilitated more than $600 million in donations to Canadian charities online since launching in 2000. Over 16,000 Canadian charities fundraise online using the CanadaHelps platform. Stay connected with CanadaHelps on Twitter @CharityLifeCA and @CanadaHelps.
