The online percentage of people who make it all the way from receiving your email to making a gift in response to it is downright discouraging. If it’s 0.1% — one in a thousand — we’re happy.
If that was happening in direct mail, it would be time to shut down the shop and go into exile.
A lot of the fault is the medium. Email and the web are “cool” (as in not warm), low-emotion media.
But there are things you can do to improve that final step of the online giving process — the step where they fill out the giving form. Here’s a list of conversion-improving things you can do, from the KISSmetrics blog:
12 Proven Ways Your Copy Can Get More Conversions:
- Write for an audience of one (know what the donor wants, and focus on that).
- Tell a story. A good one.
- Test like a madman. But be picky.
- Know your weaknesses.
- Offer one simple benefit.
- Testimonials are gold.
- Find a mentor. Ride their coattails.
- Help the reader.
- Keep writing. No matter how painful.
- Write like you talk.
- Ride your winners like Secretariat.
- Don’t be boring.
Jeff Brooks has been serving the nonprofit community for more than 35 years and blogging about it since 2005. He considers fundraising the most noble of pursuits and hopes you’ll join him in that opinion. You can reach him at jeff [at] jeff-brooks [dot] com.
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