Today, it’s not enough to just have a donation landing page.
In the current marketing environment, a landing page is one of your most essential assets, and creating a high-converting nonprofit donation landing page has become a science. It involves mixing the right elements to create an experience visitors can’t resist. Luckily, it’s an attainable goal.
Here’s how you can take your donation landing page to the next level:
5 Things Every Donation Landing Page Needs
Bring these things together on your landing pages to drive more conversions, more engagement, and higher donations:
1. A Great Headline
A good headline grabs readers, tells them what the landing page is about, is short enough to digest quickly (it should be no longer than 10-20 words), and drives action.
If you have a difficult time coming up with headlines that are compelling enough to drive visitors, it’s okay to look to templates. Some of the most common include the following:
- The testimonial. This is a headline drawn directly from the mouths of your customers or beneficiaries. These headlines reverse risk for your visitors, immediately increasing your credibility, and can boost your conversion rates significantly.
- The cliffhanger. Cliffhanger headlines start with words like “This is,” and they stop short of giving everything away. For an NPO, something like “This Village is Affected by Something That Only Happens in One Country,” etc., will work well.
- The value proposition. Possibly the most useful for NPOs, the value proposition lays out some information about what our cause seeks to solve, and uses verifiable numbers to draw interest.
2. A Compelling Subheadline
Take your headline a step further with the help of your subheadline, which is positioned right under your main headline. This subheadline should be persuasive, detailed, and informative. Check out how Minnesota-based NPO Adoption is Love does it on their homepage:
As you can see, this subheadline offers a more in-depth and detailed explanation than the primary headline, and will provide the context readers need to venture deeper into the page.
3. Images and Media
Images on landing pages are much more than just a “nice to have.” The reason for this is simple: people remember what they see much more than they do what they read.
According to Hubspot, people retain only 10% of what they read and about 65% of the information they see. With this in mind, don’t miss the opportunity to make your landing pages more impactful by adding images and media.
Not only does this support behavioral economics tenants like the identifiable victim effect, but it can also increase the amount of time people spend on your landing page, increase emotional connection, and make your pages that much more compelling.
As always, make sure your videos or images are high-quality, professional, and relevant before putting them on your donation landing page.
4. A Full Explanation of Your NPO
If you’re going to ask people to donate money to your cause, you owe it to them to explain fully who you are and what you’re doing. In addition to enhancing trust, this also educates the consumer and enables them to make a smart decision about where their money is going, and what they want to support.
For best results, help visitors quickly understand your “about us” or mission statement, and make it benefit-orientated.
How will their donation help? Do they get anything out of it? How, exactly, does your organization use their contribution to help the target population? What results have donors created in recent years?
5. A Logical Layout
A landing page, like any other form of marketing material, should move users through a funnel.
Make sure that the “donate” CTA is above the fold, but not the only thing above the fold. It should be positioned with a compelling piece of information (e.g. an individual’s story whose life has been altered because of the work your nonprofit is doing).
Also, remember that the visitors are on the donation page because they likely have intent or interest in donating. As such, do not overload the page with information, stats, and other irrelevant information that will just distract them from donation. As a general rule of thumb, the layout should flow something like: compelling hero image with short, hero image copy –> donation CTA above the fold –> a short form for them to make their donation –> some additional information about how their donations contribute to your nonprofit’s beneficiaries.
Improve Your Donation Landing Pages This Year
There’s a method to the seeming madness of the donation landing page. By implementing specific “must-have” features and ensuring your pages are laid out with donors in mind, you can enjoy more conversions, more donations, and more support from followers this year.
Need some help improving your donation landing pages? Contact Creative Science Labs for website design and development services!
