web wise: creating a donor-centric web site

Web Wise: Creating a Donor-centric Web site

Daniel Gonzalez, Web Manager Sage Nonprofit Solutions

daniel.gonzalez@sage.com

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Such much info, so little time….

Understand your donor’s needs

Set site objectives

Create Donor-centric content

Eliminate obstacles and distractions

Set and track key performance indicators

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Importance of Web to Sector

Online Giving Outpaced Online Retail Sales

Online giving as % total individual giving*

Online retail sales % total sales**

* Giving USA, Ted Hart

** U.S. Census Bureau, they exclude travel booking/sales

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1H’09 Online Gift Growth

• First half dropped, then rebounded

• Average Online gift amounts increased

• December giving was 48% of total raised

• Major donor online giving increases

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Online Giving 1H’08 vs 1H‘09

1st Qtr 2nd Qtr

2008

2009

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What is “Donor-Centric” fundraising?

• Donor-centric fundraising puts donors’ needs for information as the top priority

• Improved communication through donor recognition in a unique way

(Source: Statistical Data Cygnus Applied Research)

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What Donors Want

Prompt, personal gift recognition (acknowledgment)

Confirmation that their donations are being used as intended (information)

Measurable, published results (accountability)

(Source: Statistical Data Cygnus Applied Research)

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What Donors Say They Get

Prompt but impersonal gift recognition

General appeals with few measurable results

(Source: Statistical Data Cygnus Applied Research)

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Why Donor’s Stop Giving

• Believe the charity is not fulfilling its mandate

• Disagree with a change in direction of charity

• Lost interest in the cause

• Believes that charity no longer needs donor’s support

• Feels there are more compelling causes out there

• Believes charity has not kept in touch

(Source: Statistical Data Cygnus Applied Research)

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What Donors Are Saying

1. Nonprofit Web sites lack inspiration, connection, and opportunity for deeper engagement

3. Cite speed, convenience and CC reward points for giving online

5. Online donating is more efficient and helps charities reduce admin costs

7. Online giving is easier to track over time

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5. Don’t want info about other organizations

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More Things Donors Are Saying

1. Only half believe charity websites make it easy to give online

3. Want year-end tax receipts sent electronically

5. Want electronic updates on charity’s finances

7. Concerned about online security issues

9. Expect to make greater contributions in future

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What Donor’s Find Valuable

• Personal stories by people whose lives had been transformed by the charity

• Volunteer information

• Reviews and summaries of recent news coverage of the cause or charity

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Agenda Check

Understand your donor’s needs

Set site objectives

Create Donor-centric content

Eliminate obstacles and distractions

Set and track key performance indicators

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Setting Site Objectives

What is the objective of your site?

Information? Donations? Subscriptions? Volunteers? Calls? All the above?

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Aspects of ‘Donor-centric’ sites

• Clear description of goals & objectives

• Info on what the organization is doing with gifts

• Visible “Call To Action” buttons and links

• Minimal clicks to completion of the action(s)

• Success stories and updated news

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Donor-centric site #1

Donate

Volunteer

Goals

Adopt

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Donor-centric site #2

SuccessStories

Where $Are Going

Results

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Donor-centric site #3

Join or Renew

Sign-Up

Sign Up

Vote

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Agenda Check

Understand your donor’s needs

Set site objectives

Create Donor-centric content

Eliminate obstacles and distractions

Set and track key performance indicators

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Visitor interaction with content on a site

First 3 seconds – if the page is what they were looking for & if they find it appealing

Next 8 seconds – if the content is relevant to what they are interested in

Next 60 seconds – they spend being engaged with the content. To see if sufficient content is available for them to make a decision

Next Step– if they have made a decision, then they look for their desired next step on the page. Has it been displayed clearly and is easy to locate

Yes

Yes

Yes

Visual Impression

Initial content Impression

Content engagement

CTA engagement

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Have a Content-Rich Site

• “Content-rich” means your Web site is full of relevant information that attracts and holds your target audience

• Maintain and update your content on a regular basis– Frequency of updates varies with each organization

• Understanding what your audience expects is critical

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Convey A Clear Message

• Write for people, not for search engines

• Content should help educate, engage and compel potential donors to act

• Content should be clean, concise and scanable. No keyword stuffing!

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Keep It Simple

• Simplify Content • Navigation• Call To Actions (CTA’s)• Don’t tackle everything at once

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Create Interlinking Pages

• It’s important for potential donors to find what they’re looking for quickly and easily

• Strategically linked pages improve usability and increase search engine rankings

• Include a site map of your Web site to increase ease of use

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Key PhraseInterlinking

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Summary of Content and Design Guidelines

• Site should have clear navigation, hierarchy and links• Provide a site map • Create an informative site, with clear, scanable content• Keep content relevant and updated• Use text, not images to display names, content, or links • Make sure <title> elements and alt tags are descriptive• Continually check for broken links and correct HTML

(Source: Google WebMaster Guidelines)

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Agenda Check

Understand your donor’s needs

Set site objectives

Create Donor-centric content

Eliminate obstacles and distractions

Set and track key performance indicators

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Eliminate Obstacles

• Remember you have about 3 seconds to get their attention

• You have less than 60 seconds to get a donor to where they need to be to make a decision

• Not more than two clicks to get to the core offering

• Don’t place barriers in the way

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The Critical Path

One click to sign-up form

Two clicks to sign-up form

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Effective Forms

Giving a clear value proposition can help visitors

decide to give their information

Creating a column form gives sense of less

information being asked

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Effective Forms

Introduce a Thumbnail of the info that

will be sent

Tell them know how they will receive this information and how long it will take for

them to receive it

Remove distractions so visitors can focus

on the form

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Agenda Check

Understand your donor’s needs

Set site objectives

Create Donor-centric content

Eliminate obstacles and distractions

Set and track key performance indicators

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Mind Your KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators)

• Select measures that provide visibility into performance of your organization

• Enable you to take action based on those indicators

• KPI’s are not raw numbers, but the relationship between them

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KPI Dashboards

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KPI Dashboards

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Determine your KPI’s

• What is the primary objective?– Increase Donations, Improve Donor Engagement, Provide Information

• What is the Call To Action?– Donate, Register, Subscribe, Download, Call

• What is the value to the visitor or donor for each action?

• To what metrics is the organization held accountable?

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KPI Dashboard Best Practices

• All marketing or optimization activity should impact top-level KPI’s– If not, you may be wasting time and money

• KPI’s should remain consistent and be measured over time

• Don’t mistake traffic (impressions, visits, hits, etc.) as a measure of site success

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Examples of Donor-centric KPI’s

• Avg. Visits Per Visitor = Total Visits / Total Unique Visitors

• Average Visit Duration

• Abandonment Rate

• Average size of gift

• Recurrence of gift

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Web Metrics 101

• Most hosting companies provide basic metrics, or Google Analytics

• Valuable to determine site performance over time

• Lingo can be confusing, numbers can be misinterpreted

Dilbert ©2009, United Feature Syndicate, Inc

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Web Metrics 101

Hits, Visits, Visitors, and Unique Visitors

Someone came to your Web site Viewed a page or multiple pages on your site It could be the same person over and over again

Good metric to know, but relative

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Web Metrics 101

Page Views, Page View Duration, Bounce Rate, Visibility Time, Session Duration,

Depth, and Frequency

Frequency and amount of time visitors spend on site How many pages they view before leaving

Loyalty metrics help determine site “stickiness”

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Web Metrics 101

Clicks, Impressions, Click-Through Rate

High ratio = High visitor engagement

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A deep breath….and begin

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Available Resources• Idealware, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, provides candid Consumer-Reports-style

reviews and articles about software of interest to nonprofits.

• TechSoup offers nonprofits a one-stop resource for technology needs by providing free information, resources, and support.

• NTEN is the membership organization of nonprofit professionals who put technology to use for their causes, and is a community of peers who share technology solutions across the sector and support each other’s work.

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Q & A

Daniel Gonzalez, Sage Nonprofit Solutions

daniel.gonzalez@sage.com