At Network for Good, we love donate buttons. Big, bold, bordering-on-obnoxious donate buttons. They light up our collective fundraising fire (which we also use occasionally to make s'mores, but I digress).
Sadly, during an informal survey of more than two dozen nonprofit websites, we found tiny, buried buttons gasping to see the light of day and clicking action. Why does this matter? Research shows that size DOES matter: Bigger donate buttons help convert more donors!
Here are three surefire ways to get your button noticed and your donations up:
- Make it big. Visitors to your website should be able to find your donate button in two seconds or less. If it's a tiny text link at the footer of your site, how can on-the-fence (or even die-hard) donors find it? Not making your button prominent can imply that your organization doesn't need individual gifts. (If that really is the case for your nonprofit you can ignore all this button talk and go enjoy a nice s'more with the time.) Here's an example of what we consider a BIG button:
- Put it "above the fold." No, we're not newspaper folk, but the term carries some weight in online design: Above the fold is a concept in Web design referring to location of an item near the top of a Web page which can thus be viewed in a browser without scrolling. Get the most bang for your button buck--let your non-scrollers (i.e. the majority of Web-browsing folk) have easy access to your button. Check out a big button in action:
Even with all of the information on this page, a visitor will have no trouble understanding the importance of contributions and how/where to give! - Let what's behind the button shine. You've come this far in your journey to make it easy for donors to donate; don't lose them in the home stretch. Make sure you donation page doesn't subscribe to any of the seven deadly sins of donate page design:
- Scary, long forms with unnecessary fields
- Multiple non-giving options
- Long text, weird formatting, reversed-out type
- Amateurish looking design
- Layout that is not intuitive
- No security or privacy policy links
- No address or phone number
- Don't have a customizable donate page at all? Let us help you out.
- BONUS TIP: Be sure to include a link to donate in every communication you send out! Put a link in your email signature. Include your donate button in your email campaigns. Make sure your website is listed on any offline communications, too--when interested supporters at your page they'll have no trouble completing their donation!
