Building and executing a successful fundraising campaign takes thought, strategy, and a lot of work. With Giving Tuesday and the year-end giving season fast approaching, now is the time to start putting together a top-notch Giving Tuesday website.
Whether you choose a simple landing page or a full-blown website, there are some practical things you can do to drive more visitors to your page and increase donations. This blog will help you build an effective Giving Tuesday landing page for your nonprofit.
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Landing Page Basics
A landing page is a single web page designed specifically for a marketing or advertising campaign. Many nonprofits use landing pages to share content and promote specific fundraising campaigns or programs.
They're called "landing pages" because it's where web visitors "land" after they click on a link in an email, Facebook post, other web pages--or on a "donate now" button. Landing pages are very similar to regular web pages with one distinct difference.
Unlike websites that usually have a lot of goals and encourage visitors to explore and click through different pages, landing pages are designed to accomplish one goal or call to action. Because landing pages are very targeted and focused, they are usually the best option for targeted fundraising campaigns--like Giving Tuesday!
Difference between a landing page and a nonprofit website
Why do you need a landing page for your Giving Tuesday or year-end giving campaigns when you already have an excellent website for your nonprofit.
A website is a multi-purpose tool, like a Swiss Army Knife. You provide general information about your organization, boost your visibility online, share case studies, and ask people to take various actions like sign up for your newsletter or make a donation.
A landing page is more like a fillet knife that's designed for a specific purpose or action. Good landing pages encourage visitors to take just one or two specific actions and directly support a particular goal. This makes landing pages ideal for Giving Tuesday!
6 Tips to Design An Effective Giving Tuesday Landing Page
You don't have to be a webmaster to design a great Giving Tuesday landing page! With some strategic steps and focusing on the right things, you'll have a great landing page in no time!
1. Start with a great headline
A great headline communicates your fundraising message in just a few simple words. Your headline should be clear, specific, and concise because it's the first thing visitors will see when they "land" on your landing page.
Experts suggest that your headline should be less than 10 to 20 words and have a clear call to action.
Effective headlines usually focus on demonstrating the impact or benefit of your nonprofit, creating a sense of urgency, highlighting a shocking statistic, or making a specific appeal.
Many landing pages take the headline one step further and add a subheading under the main headline. Subheadings can help offer more persuasion, details, or information to the headline content.
2. Give a compelling reason to make a donation
Getting people to visit your landing page is just the first step. Now it's time to give them a compelling reason to donate to the cause. This is where moving stories that help people connect with the cause can be very powerful.
One strategy here is to make sure your supporting copy answers the question, "Why should people care about this cause?" When you have a clear, compelling answer to that question, you're one step closer to boosting your donations.
The overall goal here is to gain peoples' trust while motivating people to participate in the mission.
3. Give a clear call to action and add a button
Just like on your regular website and donation pages, you need a clear call to action. What do you want people to do when they visit your Giving Tuesday landing page? Presumably, your primary call to action is to donate to your Giving Tuesday campaign.
Part of a good call to action is a prominent call to action button. Make sure your "donate" button is easy to find on your landing page, so people don't have to work hard to take action. Graphic design experts recommend using a contrasting color for the button, so it stands out on your landing page.
The standard "Donate Now" button is an effective strategy. Some nonprofits spice up their call to action button copy with action-oriented words and phrases like "Join the revolution" or "Get involved."
4. Add high-quality visuals to the Giving Tuesday landing page
Images, photos, and graphics aren't just for aesthetics. People remember what they see much easier than what they read. According to one study, people retain about 10% of what they read and about 65% of what they see in images.
Take the time to add images and other media to your Giving Tuesday landing page. It can increase your audience's emotional connection to the cause and increase the amount of time people spend on your landing page.
Make sure you choose high-quality images, graphics, and videos. They don't need to be expensive, but they should be of good quality and relevant.
Some great options for visuals include:
- Photos of people or animals who benefit from your work
- Infographics that present essential statistics that are relevant to your cause
- Images that reinforce or illustrate the benefits of donating
- Maps, calculators, and other graphics that generate interest and educate visitors
Really, the visuals you choose should support your financial appeal in some way.
5. Keep text to a minimum and use a logical, clean layout
When people see a "wall" of text on a landing page, they often leave the page. Plus, your goal is to get them to take action, not read lots of content.
Your landing page isn't the place, and Giving Tuesday isn't the time to go into extensive detail about your mission and impact. Instead, put a link somewhere on your landing page for people to head over to your main website for all that information if they're interested.
People are probably already on your landing page because they're either interested in or committed to making a donation. You don't need to overload your page with details, statistics, or extra information that might just distract from your call to action.
As you're designing your landing page, make sure the first thing a visitor sees is a compelling piece of information and your clear call to action.
6. Use a simple donation form that's easy to fill out on any device
All your efforts to create a quality, effective Giving Tuesday landing page might be for naught if your donation form is overly complicated, intimidating, or difficult to fill out. Make it as simple as possible for people to donate by using short donation forms that only ask for the most essential information. You can always follow up later to gather more details.
Some nonprofits use a clever strategy to include a survey in the thank-you email after someone makes a donation to gather more details about the donor. This is easy to do with a fully customized form.
Another great strategy to simplify the donation form is to offer giving tiers for people to select. Suggested donation tiers can influence potential donors by creating a sense of "normal" donation amounts and providing simple options people can just click on rather than type in their donation amount.
Whatever you do, make sure your landing and donation pages are mobile-friendly. About half of all visits to nonprofit websites come from mobile devices. People will likely leave quickly if your landing page and donation page aren't optimized for mobile devices.
Following these six strategic steps will help you design a powerful Giving Tuesday landing page and donation page that appeals to prospective donors and boosting your overall year-end funding.
Here are three more resources to help boost your year-end and Giving Tuesday fundraising efforts.
- 10 Giving Tuesday FAQs for Fundraising Success: Giving days create a sense of connection for donors to understand they're part of something bigger than themselves. Despite all the global uncertainty, overall giving increased by an estimated 5.2%. Check out these frequently asked questions for small nonprofits about how to leverage Giving Tuesday for greater fundraising success!
- Why (and How) Your Nonprofit Should Start a Recurring Giving Program: Monthly or recurring donations are perhaps one of the easiest ways for nonprofits to boost their fundraising revenue without bringing in many new donors. Online giving platforms and fundraising systems make it easy to create and run recurring giving programs for nonprofits of all shapes and sizes. This blog will help you understand the benefits of these giving programs and establish one for your organization.
- How to Choose a CRM System for Your Nonprofit: Whether you're a small organization or a large nonprofit, it's essential to be able to keep updated contact information, monitor your interactions, track donations, and grow your relationship with individuals and groups. That's where a CRM system comes in! But there are a lot of options available and too many bells and whistles to choose from. This guide will help guide your search for the right CRM system for your nonprofit.
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