Do you use direct mail fundraising letters to drive donors to your website to make their donations? If you do, make sure your online donation page answers the three most common questions asked by donors.
Question #1.
Am I at the correct place? What you say on your donation page needs to match what you say in your direct mail appeal.
Visually, this means that if you feature in your direct mail package a photo of a homeless man eating supper at your drop-in shelter, you should feature that same photo on your make-a-donation page.
If the ask in your letter is for your Tornado Relief Project, then the ask on your Donate Now page needs to match that.
Which, by the way, means you should never direct your direct mail readers to your home page to make their gift.
You should send them directly to your donation form, preferably one designed specifically for each direct mail campaign.
Question #2.
Where is the one thing I'm looking for? Donation pages, for some donors, have replaced business reply envelopes as the response device in direct mail fundraising.
A growing number of supporters like to read your letter offline but make their contribution online.
Which means your website giving form is not so much a webpage as a response device.
And Maxim Number One of direct mail response devices and order forms is to make them simple to understand and easy to complete.
So if you have invited your direct mail reader to sign a petition on your site, make that petition form simple to find and easy to complete.
If your appeal letter offers a tote bag in exchange for an online donation, show a picture of the premium and give instructions on how to get it.
If you're offering a discount that visitors receive by entering a discount code found in the letter you mailed them, make the place on your donation page where they enter that code impossible to miss.
Question #3.
Can I trust you? Trust is the deal breaker in fundraising, both online and offline.
Potential donors and members who decide they cannot trust you won't donate.
So if your direct mail piece wins their trust but your donation page loses it, you lose the donation.
And the donor.
Which means you must avoid the things that create suspicion online, and employ the tactics that increase trust.
Avoid donation page mistakes that arouse suspicion: 1.
No street address, just a PO Box 2.
No phone number 3.
No privacy policy 4.
No security policy Use donation page elements that create trust: 1.
Better Business Bureau logo and a link to your online BBB profile 2.
eTrust logo, or similar (so donor's know their privacy is secure) 3.
Toll-free customer service phone number 5.
Endorsements from trusted, objective, third parties, such as Charity Navigator Remember that your online donation page is part-two of your direct mail case for support and ask.
You'll convert more visitors into donors when you give them what they expect to find, make the process easy and quick, and avoid the tactics used by spammers and scammers.
Question #1.
Am I at the correct place? What you say on your donation page needs to match what you say in your direct mail appeal.
Visually, this means that if you feature in your direct mail package a photo of a homeless man eating supper at your drop-in shelter, you should feature that same photo on your make-a-donation page.
If the ask in your letter is for your Tornado Relief Project, then the ask on your Donate Now page needs to match that.
Which, by the way, means you should never direct your direct mail readers to your home page to make their gift.
You should send them directly to your donation form, preferably one designed specifically for each direct mail campaign.
Question #2.
Where is the one thing I'm looking for? Donation pages, for some donors, have replaced business reply envelopes as the response device in direct mail fundraising.
A growing number of supporters like to read your letter offline but make their contribution online.
Which means your website giving form is not so much a webpage as a response device.
And Maxim Number One of direct mail response devices and order forms is to make them simple to understand and easy to complete.
So if you have invited your direct mail reader to sign a petition on your site, make that petition form simple to find and easy to complete.
If your appeal letter offers a tote bag in exchange for an online donation, show a picture of the premium and give instructions on how to get it.
If you're offering a discount that visitors receive by entering a discount code found in the letter you mailed them, make the place on your donation page where they enter that code impossible to miss.
Question #3.
Can I trust you? Trust is the deal breaker in fundraising, both online and offline.
Potential donors and members who decide they cannot trust you won't donate.
So if your direct mail piece wins their trust but your donation page loses it, you lose the donation.
And the donor.
Which means you must avoid the things that create suspicion online, and employ the tactics that increase trust.
Avoid donation page mistakes that arouse suspicion: 1.
No street address, just a PO Box 2.
No phone number 3.
No privacy policy 4.
No security policy Use donation page elements that create trust: 1.
Better Business Bureau logo and a link to your online BBB profile 2.
eTrust logo, or similar (so donor's know their privacy is secure) 3.
Toll-free customer service phone number 5.
Endorsements from trusted, objective, third parties, such as Charity Navigator Remember that your online donation page is part-two of your direct mail case for support and ask.
You'll convert more visitors into donors when you give them what they expect to find, make the process easy and quick, and avoid the tactics used by spammers and scammers.
SHARE
