10 Ways To Increase Donation Page Conversions

If you are a nonprofit that runs fundraisers, it’s important to drive traffic to donation pages. But even more important than that? Increasing your donation page conversions. 

Today we are giving you a roundup of tips for donation pages that actually convert. Act on just a few of them, and you will run more successful fundraisers as a result.

Let’s check them out below.

10 Tips To Increase Your Donation Page Conversions

1) Simplify

People don’t donate when they are confused. If there is one golden rule for increasing donation page conversations, it’s this: make it simple. 

Many donation pages ask for too much. That’s never the direction you want to take. Every additional field you add is a chance for someone to bounce. Is it absolutely essential? Include it. For the majority of fields that aren’t essential, it’s best to skip it. 

You should also enable autofill. The less people have to do, the more they take action. This naturally results in more donation page conversions.

2) Offer Suggested Giving Amounts

Donors often look for guidance when they are giving. Suggesting different amounts they could give removes decision fatigue and when used well, can nudge average donations amounts higher.

It also takes longer to input a specific amount, which slows people down. Suggested amounts = faster and easier donations. 

Here are a few best practices:

• Offer 3-5 preset options 
• Tell them what each amount funds 
• Include a custom “Other” field (if they want to give higher or lower)

You might also consider anchoring your middle option. This is called the “Goldilocks effect”, and it makes your cheaper options look much more appealing.

3) Make Monthly Giving Easy 

Nonprofits love to get giant donations. But even better if you can scale it? Recurring donations. These are often easier for donors to say “yes” to, and can be an absolute game-changer for nonprofit sustainability. 

Something to consider here is making monthly giving the default option. Even if you don’t opt for this, make the option clear. Monthly giving should be visible, easy to find, and easier to select.

4) Optimize For Mobile

Mobile optimization should be a top priority. Over half of nonprofit website traffic comes from mobile devices. If you don’t take mobile optimization seriously, your donation page conversion is going to suffer as a result. 

Here are a few ways to ensure your pages look (and perform) great on mobile: 

• Large, tappable buttons
• Clear font that’s easy to read
• A clean layout that loads quickly

One last piece of advice: always test your pages on your own phone. This helps you catch any weird formatting before you take the page live.

5) Add Trust Signals 

People only donate if they trust you. If they are going to give their money away, it will be to an organization that wins this trust. A donation page that converts takes this into account.

There are a few ways your page can reinforce that trust. They are subtle, but extremely effective:

• A brief statement on what donations fund
• Testimonials or other forms of social proof
• Consistent logo and brand style 
• Security icons to show your page visitors that their payment is secure.
• A photo that humanizes your fundraiser (a face of one of your beneficiaries usually works well)

Include just a few of these and people will trust you more. And when they do? They’ll also donate more.

6) Match The Page To The Campaign

The entire donation experience needs to be consistent. Where nonprofits sometimes mess this up is in the donation page design.

High-converting donation pages shouldn’t feel jarring when you land on them. If you are sending people to your donation page from an email, ad, or banner on your website, the design of the donation page should be consistent. The main goal here: making people feel like they are in the right place. 

7) Add A Sense of Urgency

Almost always, urgency will boost conversions. No matter which industry you are in, and regardless of what you’re trying to get people to do. Input a little industry, and people are more likely to act.

Here are a few tips for your donation pages: 

• Countdown timers (“Three hours left to double your gift!”)
• Progress bars (“We’re 84% of the way to our goal!”)
• Deadline language in headlines (“Our biggest fundraiser of the year ends at midnight – will you help?”)

The big caveat here: don’t fake it. As soon as people think your urgency is being faked, it is doing more harm than good. 

8) Write A Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)

For high donation page conversions, clarity is the gold standard. And one of the most important places to be clear? Your donation button copy. You don’t want to write something like “Submit” or “Donate.” These are generic CTA’s that create an obvious missed opportunity. 

Much better? A CTA that’s emotional and specific. The donation button is your last chance to inspire someone to action. Don’t waste it.

9) Test And Track Everything

You can’t improve something if you’re not tracking it. If you want to understand what’s working (and what’s not), you need to follow your data.

Here are a few things we recommend:

• Google Analytics: track conversion rates, bounce rates, and overall user behavior
• UTM tags: use these to keep track of which emails, ads, or posts drive donations
• A/B testing: experiment with different headlines, page copy, and images

Even small improvements can make a difference. And the only way to understand what actually does? Test, and keep testing.

10) Say Thank You

Our last tip for donation page conversions happens after the conversion takes place. Why? Because a donation doesn’t end after somebody has contributed. Your thank-you page and confirmation email are a necessary part of the process, and the first step towards donor retention.

Make sure you thank your donors. Send a heartfelt message to them, and reiterate what their donation is going towards. This makes people feel appreciated – and makes it more likely that they give again.

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Are you an enterprise, nonprofit or small business looking for help on your website? Give us a shout! We provide a free consultation. Email us at [email protected] or call us at (718) 855-1919!