5 steps to the perfect donation landing page

It is incredibly frustrating when an online purchasing process doesn’t work – and making a charity donation is no different.
Do you know how many people abandon making a donation on your charity’s website?
Your online donation page could be putting people off, denying you thousands of pounds of potential income.
We’ve scoured the web for charity donation pages, and created our perfect recipe for the best donation page.
1. Keep it clean
The best donation pages I’ve seen have absolutely no distractions. Nothing to take your potential donors away from the process of giving.
Take Unicef. There is nothing on this page except a clear way to donate. You’re immediately drawn into the donation process (which also looks super quick).
Unicef and the British Heart Foundation have both removed the main site navigation on their donation page. There is nothing on these pages to make me want to go anywhere else – and that means more income from donations.
2. Use powerful images
Charities are often blessed with access to truly powerful images.
It sounds clichéd, but a picture really does speak a thousand words. Nobody will read a thousand written words on your donation page. So say it with an image, ideally of a human face (we’re all programmed to respond positively to this).
Charity:Water and Shelter use large, powerful images:
Shelter go one step further, combining their shopping list with the visual element. When you use their nifty donation amount slider, the image changes. A strong visual representation of how your donation can help.
3. Make it easy
People expect things to work online, and it’s our job to make the user experience as smooth as possible.
I’m not just talking about a snazzy form with as few fields as possible. Have you ever thought you were at the end of an online form, only to find an extra page you weren’t expecting? Infuriating, isn’t it?
The British Heart Foundation include a progress bar at the top of their page, showing the user the steps to completion. This established usability feature almost makes completing the form fields feel like completing levels in a video game, encouraging the user through the process.
There’s also a nice touch on the new Crisis donation page, where the call to action button includes the selected donation amount. There can be absolutely no confusion about how much I’m donating here.
4. Don’t fill the page with text
If I’m on your donation page, I’m probably ready (or at least willing) to give. You won’t need to convince me too much.
So take away all unnecessary copy. Keep your donation form front and centre, and if you do want to include some copy, put it below the form. This will also make your donation page a dream for those on tiny mobile screens.
Again, Unicef and Charity:Water both do this very well. Charity:Water include a short statement about where the money goes, which acts as a reassurance. Similarly, Parkinson’s UK include a short but powerful statement on theirs, for one final reason to donate:
5. Use helpful language
Donating money is a very human action. So the language on the donation page should treat your user as just that – a human.
Medical Aid for Palestinians is a good example of a charity making the donation process simple by using helpful language.
Their inclusion of phrases like ‘I want to give a monthly donation of…’ and ‘Or other monthly amount’ makes the language first person, makes it clear, and puts the donor at the heart of the process.
You can increase donations to your charity by making a few simple changes to your donation page. Why not test some of these changes to see how they affect your donation page conversions?
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