It is not a surprise to you that your nonprofit website is an essential marketing tool for your nonprofit. It may, however, surprise you that your website copy (the written content and information on your website) is essential to the effectiveness of your website.
Consider making some adjustments in order to dramatically improve your donor experience and conversion rates (read: increase donations).
Before writing any copy determine the people group you are writing to:
Who is your ideal donor?
What do they do for a living?
Where do they shop?
What do they invest their time and money into?
What makes them tick?
This is called developing a donor persona, and it is not as difficult as it may sound.
You can begin by surveying and interviewing your current donors, prospective donors, and those that are outside of your current reach but are within your “ideal” donor audience.
HubSpot offers great list of 20 questions to ask as you develop donor personas. They also offer a free persona template to help you stay focused and organized.
The idea here is to develop the persona (demographic, professional markers, communication preferences, social trends, etc.) of your target donors so that you can effectively write your web copy to those individuals.
The last thing you want is for your website to be bland, unseasoned, and emotionally detached. If you want your audience to act, you must engage their minds and their hearts.
Great storytelling is absolutely imperative to your new website’s effectiveness. Your job is to tell that story succinctly, and powerfully.
If you are new to the idea of nonprofit storytelling, CauseVox has lots of resources for you to gain knowledge and cultivate skilled technique in order to gain engaged supporters through a powerful medium.
Every story has a character, and conflict. Your job is to engage your potential supporters’ interest and emotions, inviting them to be a part of the resolution.
Take a look at how StoryBrand suggests how nonprofits and businesses can approach telling your story.
Photo Courtesy of StoryBrand
HubSpot has compiled a great list of ideas to gain and keep attention. Your website should quickly tell a story that:
It can be tempting to become “wordy” when you utilize the storytelling method of writing copy.
However, research shows that you have an average of 5 to 8 seconds of your audience’s attention when they initially land on your site to prove that your site is worth their time and attention.
Therefore, you must focus on being clear and concise, being meticulously deliberate with every word choice.
Here are a few pointers to help you with this:
We live in a visually driven world. Content is key, but almost equally important is how the content looks on your website. You can avoid driving away potential donors by being mindful of these things:
If you want your audience to take a specific action tell them directly. Use verbs. Communicate clearly what it is you want your audience to do. Great web copy that drives donations uses the “who/do” approach: know who are you writing to, and tell them what you want them to do.
CauseVox has great resources for you that will help you formulate strong, compelling calls to action that will drive donations on your website. General principles of a strong call to action include:
Most importantly make sure that your “donate now” buttons are easy to see. Your potential donors are not going to click on what they cannot find.
The majority of your prospective donors want to know two things:
You need to quickly and clearly address both of these issues. Consider using verbal copy minimally to direct your audience’s attention to a graph or pie chart that demonstrates your nonprofit’s use of funding.
Secondly, make your commitment to financial security very clear, and follow through on your commitment. Take all necessary measures to protect your constituents’ payment information. Make it your goal to be far above reproach in your financial management and protection of assets, identities, banking information, etc.
Oftentimes simple adjustments in your web copy can make tremendous impact in donor action. Strategic word choice, rich storytelling, quality proofreading, and concise clarity will all help you drive donations.
Ever wished your donations could go even further? Enter automated matching—an indispensable tool that transforms…
Chances are, you know what Giving Tuesday is by now. However, it's important to recognize…
Here at CauseVox, we love a good success story. And we couldn’t think of a…
Do you ever go grocery shopping and see a product that feels like it was…
Hosting your own giving day is a powerful way to amplify your mission. At CauseVox,…
From Giving Tuesday to World Diabetes Day, giving days stand out as events that bring…