6 THINGS THAT SCARE DONORS AWAY ON YOUR WEBSITE
Did you know that over 80% of donors will scope your website out before donating?! THAT HUGE! So whats keeping those visitors who are legit stalking you from converting to active donors?
Check the list of “6 things that scare donors away” to see if you are doing any of these spooky practices.
#6 SPOOK
NO VISIBLE IMPACT
If you don’t have a page that says “Your donations at work” or “Your impact” or something of the sort with numbers and stats that display how you use your donations and what your cause is, its scaring donors off. They want to see, without having to know or meet someone in your organization the image and real life work that is done with a single donation, $1, $100, $1000 gift. Make impact statements clear, simple and short. What is your real impact? Who have you helped? How much more of an impact can you make if you were to get more donations? Are you having a campaign that supports a specific initiative. State it. Make it BOLD.
#5 SPOOK
TOO MUCH CONTENT…
paragraphs + paragraphs…
More pictures, fewer words. Works every time! For instance, overusing staff or board members instead of images that communicate your cause will cripple your donation efforts every time. Stop using content and save that for your reports and presentations. Your website is marketing with a large dose of emotional response. Treat it as such.
#4 SPOOK
NO TRANSPARENCY
Spending, credentials and contact (with a phone number, email, and physical address) should all be linked and visible on the home page and preferably in the footer. Link and display those Guidestar and CharityNavigator badges with pride! They can mean the difference of a donation for you. Show your impact numbers and stats with honor. Link and make your annual report visible. Dont hide your work. Make sure people can also do some more digging on you. Make contact information readily available. So that trusty ole google search brings up what you want them to see easily. Validating your credibility.
#3 SPOOK
CLEAR WAY TO DONATE
(OUTDATED DONATION PRACTICES)
Great, so you have made it to #3 and haven’t scared away your donors from your website yet. Awesome job! But wait… your donation links are hidden in the text copy? Or even worse, long hyperlinks to random sub pages are visible instead of hidden on a button or link text. GASP! How many clicks does it take your donor to donate? If its more than 5 its too many! Is your donation process responsive on all mobile screens? If not, you NEED an update + FAST! You don’t need a fancy and expensive donor management system either. There are tons of resources that we can get you connected with that make it super donor friendly while not bringing in more checks than digital donations.
#2 SPOOK
NO HTTPS
What the what? HTTPS? Yeah. Ok so it verifies that the site is Secure. Thats what the S stands for. On most browsers, it will display a little lock icon next to the browser address and Favicon. In many more instances, you have to go through a scary “DO YOU WANT TO PROCEED” wall to even view non HTTPS sites now a days. If you site has not enabled HTTPS yet, you are shooting yourself in the foot. The best part about HTTPS is that with my favorite platform (Squarespace), its apart of your hosting and included. Other hosting like Wordpress it will be a nominal add on to your domain. I repeat. YOU MUST ENABLE AND ADD THIS TODAY. Its that scary.
#1 SPOOK
OUTDATED WEBSITE
I mean. You KNEW I would go here right?! If your website is clearly outdated. Not just with technology but with content. News/ Events and content that hasnt been refreshed since 2018, you have a clear problem that is HIGHLY VISIBLE to your potential donors, foundations and volunteers. Its embarrassing and its hurting you. Don’t get me wrong. Investing in updated digital tenchology is important too. You do know that google ranks your website lower if its not responsive now so thats just one example of why we need to update that 2005 site 😆. Updating is refreshing and good for you. Trust me.
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