Online donations are becoming an increasingly important fundraising source for charities – but when is the best time to ask for a donation? Should there be a recommended donation amount? And with so many different reasons for visiting a charity’s website, how can a charity determine the best engagement triggers for each user journey?
Getting the timing right will not only boost donations but also provide a chance to improve donor engagement.
Diverse User Journeys
The ways in which individuals can donate to charities continues to expand, yet to date very few charities have applied sophisticated optimisation techniques to improve the value and volume of online donations. There is no simple, one size fits all approach – not least because visitors to a charity’s website will have a broad array of objectives. From those looking for vital information or signing up for a fundraising event, to receivers of support or advice and those who have their work funded by the charity, very few visitors are actually coming to the site simply to donate.
Most charities present a donation button in the landing page header. But with so many different user journeys there are many, many ways of presenting an additional request for a one-off donation. Timing is everything – ask for a donation too soon and the individual is likely to be disengaged; wait too long and he or she may have already found the required information or pledged support for an event before the Call to Action is delivered.
Triggering Engagement
Optimisation plays an essential role in refining the message content and determining the best timing. Specifying a recommended donation amount, for example, has certainly proved to increase the average value of donations. An engagement trigger is also a great way of encouraging donations. For example, we have seen charities tailor their messaging to those looking for specific information. After a certain number of pages, the charity can then present a widget with a message that explains the importance of online donations and ask if individuals would like to donate to enable the charity to continue to provide this information.
Optimisation can also play a key role in achieving other performance indicators, such as ensuring the site meets the information needs of different content users. For example, providing a link with more room on the page can result in increased clicks; changing the titles of menus to better fit the content can improve the user journey and click forwards from a landing page can be increased by personalising the content to send users messages relevant to their location.
Of course some charities are very protective of their valuable content, opting to retain information behind a log-in barrier. The problem with this model is that casual users have no incentive to donate. There is a clear role for optimisation to play in determining the most effective balance between safeguarding information and demonstrating the charity’s value without requiring log in, and hence improving user engagement and encouraging more ad hoc donations.
Personalisation Opportunity
While the timing and content of the message will vary depending on the user journey, combining information about existing donors with the online optimisation process also ensures a far more personalised experience. For example, rather than presenting regular donors with the same message asking for a one-off donation, these individuals can be shown a message that demonstrates the value of the charity’s work, perhaps followed up with a request to increase the regular commitment. Similarly those who have already made a one-off donation can be asked if they would be willing to become a regular donor.
Right now there is no clear best practice across the charity sector – and given the diversity of user journeys, which varies from charity to charity, there will never be a simple one size fits all approach. However, there is huge untapped potential, and those charities that are beginning to explore optimisation to improve the relevance and timing of content are reaping the rewards of both greater donations and more engaged visitors.
By Bethany Spencer, Digital Optimisation Analyst at Oracle’s Maxymiser.
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