Have you ever wondered why donate buttons are placed in a particular area of a web page? Are you struggling with getting people to click on the donate button? The donate button is one of the key features of your website. In 2011, more than 70% of people donated online while 39% did it in person and 34% by mail. More current data would certainly show that the percentage of mobile donations has increased even more due to the risen use of mobile devices to access the Web.
So before your next campaign starts, review where your donate button should go and do some tweaking to maximize online giving. Research shows that the wording, the place, the size, and the color of your donate button can increase donations.
We check the research for you and here is what we found.
The first finding we want to share is that we read a web page forming an F shape with our eyes. Eye tracking studies show that we tend to pay more attention to the top line of a website from left to right. Therefore placing your “donate” button at the top end makes sense.
Besides, if your button is at the top end of your website it will be visible on almost any electronic device.
Donate or support? Research shows that the word “support” follows by the name of your cause or even your specific pledge can increase your donation rate by 16% per page view.
Research also shows that adding a photo and amount also increases donations. Some effective campaigns state what the amount can get. We pay more attention when there is a photograph: We are human and we love it. Stating the amount helps the donor to figure out how much that amount of money can provide to a cause. Providing a picture will tie the cause to a person, to an action.
The sum of a compelling picture and the amount to donate targets the message and will certainly have a positive impact on the donation rates.
Several studies show that donations increase by 2% per page view when the page contains a donate button that stands out (larger size, brighter color, etc) against the rest of the webpage.
So go for a bigger button with a different color from your website scheme so it can be found easily and quickly. Most people do not want to spend time finding information or buttons. The average person scans a web page for 20 seconds max. Then you really want to make sure that when scanning your donate button is one or THE one thing they look at and click.
The landing page to process the donation needs to be as simple as possible. Yes, you want to gather information about your donor. You also want to get a donation. So your donation landing page must balance both issues.
The less you ask the more you get. Research shows that getting rid of fields such as title and phone number increased donations by 11%. You can gather further information through a following-up email.
The simpler the landing page the more effective it will be. Some experts even suggest eliminating navigation tools to avoid distractions.
Last but not least it is important to TEST. First and foremost after setting your donate button and your landing page test that the links are working. Test on your computer and other people’s devices too.
You can also establish preference tests, and A/B testing, and observe which button receives more clicks and which landing page gets more donations, etc., etc. You do not need to overdo or over-test. Again balance is everything. Test your website's key features only if you need to make the case for big changes.
Follow these already-proven tips and you may find that your donations increase by even more than what research says. Many campaigns have changed their donate buttons to increase their online donations.