3 Tips to Improve Your Nonprofit Website’s Conversion Rate
Picture this: a new site visitor lands on your nonprofit’s homepage. They scan through your homepage and, after reading about your mission and values, feel inspired to give. But after they click your Donate button, they’re brought to a lengthy donation form that looks cluttered and complicated to fill out. As a result, they decide against donating and click away from your organization’s site.
If this sounds like something that could happen on your website, it’s time to update your web design strategy to drive more conversions. Your website’s conversion rate refers to the number of users who take certain actions, like donating to your cause, signing up to volunteer, or registering for your next event. To improve your conversion rate, you’ll need an engaging and user-friendly design that points people to their next steps, inspires them to complete them, and makes it simple to do so.
Use these top tips to improve your conversion rate:
By tracking your conversion rate, you can create a data-driven strategy and make informed decisions when it comes to improving your website. Let’s begin.
Review your current performance
Using data and analytics generated by your nonprofit website builder, evaluate how your website is currently performing so you can break down your strengths and weaknesses. For example, you’ll want to look at:
- Current conversion rate: Your conversion rate is measured by the number of conversions divided by the total number of visitors, multiplied by one hundred. A high conversion rate indicates that your website content resonates with supporters and successfully moves them along their user journey to completing an action. A low conversion rate indicates that there is an issue with your website’s copy, design, or functionality that is stopping users from taking action. Measure the conversion rate for each desired action, like signing up for your newsletter or completing your donation form, to assess where your website is most in need of improvements.
- Sources of traffic: Take a look at how people are reaching the forms and pages where they can complete conversions. For example, supporters might navigate to your donation form by clicking the Donate button on your homepage, following an inbound link on a blog article, or clicking a link in your social media bio. Consider the rate at which these different sources drive conversions. For instance, if your blog articles have a low conversion rate, you may need to better contextualize your calls to action and adjust your copy so it meets users’ interests. Even traffic sources that are doing well can be further optimized to drive even more conversions.
- Fundraising metrics: One of the most important conversions on your website is submitting a donation. To better understand how you can motivate your target audience to donate, take a look at donor analytics like your supporters’ giving behaviors, including how often they give and their interest in your cause. These insights will help you generate content that is tailored to your donors’ preferences.
Metrics tell an important story about how your website is performing, so it’s important to dig into these numbers and find out the core causes behind low or high conversion rates.
Create compelling calls to action
According to Morweb’s roundup of the best nonprofit websites, incorporating thoughtful and direct calls to action throughout your content can motivate users to complete a given action. A call to action (CTA) is a brief word or phrase, often visually represented as a button, that draws your readers in with compelling copy and takes them to the relevant resource once clicked.
If your content lacks persuasive CTAs, or your CTAs aren’t strategically placed in areas that will drive conversions, it’ll be much more difficult to encourage users to take action. To perfect your CTA strategy, keep these tips in mind:
- Keep calls to action brief: Get to the point quickly and clearly so supporters understand what you’re asking of them. For example, “Donate to End Childhood Cancer” or “Volunteer to Save Injured Wildlife” are effective CTAs that are concise yet persuasive.
- Make buttons stand out: To bring attention to your CTA buttons, consider using bold lettering or incorporating a brand color that is different from nearby on-page elements. You might also add a shadow or border to make your call-to-action buttons stand out.
- Link to intuitive landing pages: Your CTA buttons should take users immediately to the relevant resource or form once clicked. However, if these pages aren’t in good shape, you’ll struggle to drive conversions when users arrive. Update these pages so they have inspiring copy and contribute to a positive user experience.
- Prominently position CTAs: Feature your CTA buttons in obvious places on your website to catch your users’ eye. For example, you might position your Donate button in the top left or right corner of your navigation bar on your homepage to draw supporters to click.
It’s also important to ensure that your copy contextualizes your CTAs well. For example, let’s say one of your volunteers authors a blog article on your website about their experiences. Before your CTA, you could write “Interested in playing a rewarding role in our nonprofit like [Volunteer’s Name]? Sign up for our volunteer newsletter today to learn more about opportunities to get involved.” This way, supporters understand the value of clicking your CTA button, which will take them to an email sign-up form.
Streamline your donation page
Your website can be a powerful asset for your fundraising strategy. To drive donations and improve conversion rates on your donation page, update your web design and create a seamless user experience.
Use these tips to improve your donation page and step up your fundraising efforts:
- Limit your number of prompts: If your donation page is lengthy and takes more than five minutes to complete, prospective supporters will likely click away before even beginning to enter their information. Only ask your supporters for the most essential information, like their contact information, donation amount, and billing details. You can always ask donors for more information later as part of your donor stewardship plan.
- Use ample spacing: Avoid clutter on your donation page by reasonably spacing apart each prompt and using ample white space. This can help to create a minimalistic feel, making your donation page more approachable.
- Suggest donation amounts: Take the guesswork out of how much supporters should give by providing suggested donation amounts with checkboxes. For example, you might include options to give $10, $25, $50, or $100. This not only streamlines the donation process, but can also encourage donors to give more than they originally intended to. However, you should still provide a write-in box to provide flexibility.
- Add a recurring giving option: Bloomerang’s guide to donation page best practices recommends including a checkbox that says “Make my gift monthly” so supporters can easily sign up for recurring giving. This way, frequent donors won’t have to resubmit their name and payment information every time they want to donate.
To revamp your donation page with ease, leverage a website builder with built-in website templates. Your website builder will take care of making your donation form accessible, mobile-optimized, and user-friendly; you just have to add your unique content to tie the donation process to your nonprofit’s cause.
Wrapping Up
Collecting conversion rate data can help you shape your website into an effective tool for meeting your goals. Keep in mind that a low conversion rate could be attributed to a variety of factors, so it’s important to dive deep into your web design and find out where you can easily make improvements. If low conversion rates are attributed to issues with the technical design of your website, do your research to invest in a website builder that can correct these issues.
