What do online fundraising campaigns live and die by?
It’s not their supporters. It’s not their timing. It’s their call to action.
A call to action is a specific, defined, and measurable action, such as making a donation or sharing your fundraising site on Facebook.
I’ve seen nonprofits spend months on creating the perfectly designed site with the perfect video, but not get off the ground because their call to action was weak. The site doesn’t guide their supporters through defined actions that they should be taking.
Let’s see how we can solve that problem.
With any online fundraising campaign, you have to have a compelling story. You can share this story through video, images, or text.
The main purpose for your story is to communicate the need and purpose for fundraising and to build up an emotional response from the donor.
Your call to action is their release to that emotional response.
Two big reasons why you need a call to action.
One big mistake that many nonprofits make with online fundraising is burying their call to action within a wall of text.
Reading online is much different than reading offline; your site visitors scan text rather than reading every word. To make your call to action clear, you should do three things.
In a fundraising campaign, you should have at least one call to action that asks people to donate. This can be done through a donate button as well as the text that leads the person to the donate button.
However, you can also ask in softer ways throughout the entire fundraising site or appeal that drive the individual to the donate button. Having the same call to action multiple times throughout an appeal can help drive more results.
A good call to action for an online fundraising campaign will do three things.
Here’s an example of these practices at work:
The goal of this campaign is to save the lives of 100 homeless animals. You can make a difference by donating before July 31, so that the shelter will not need to start turning animals away. Click the donate button today.
Testing allows you to figure out how you can make your call to action better and more effective. The easiest way to test is to come up with a handful of variations in your call to action. Then show them to your friends, family, and colleagues and see how they react.
You can also perform more data-driven testing through A/B testing. For example, when you’re sending out an email newsletter, you can test certain phrases and content to see which one gets you to most opens or clicks.
If you have a compelling story and a defined call to action, then your online fundraising will be successful. Your call to action helps you measure your progress towards your fundraising goals.
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