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How to create a better donor experience

Better Donor Experience

Your donors love you. That’s why they’re your donors! However, this doesn’t mean they necessarily love the fundraising process. Plenty of fundraising platforms and websites are clunky and outdated, making it hard for donors—especially older ones—to find the information they need.

That’s why it’s extremely important to look at your nonprofit fundraising efforts, be it emails, mobile giving or event registration options, from a donor’s point of view. What do they see when they visit your web page/social media/fundraising platform? How easy is it for them to click around? Is the navigation from one section to another easy to figure out or intuitive? How clear are the donation instructions? In this article, we’ve compiled a few tips for making the process better for your donors, so that they can love you and love clicking “donate,” too.

Log out

One simple step? Log out of your administrative accounts and visit your webpage as though you’re a stranger. Try to look at the experience with fresh eyes (and without the convenience of your master dashboard), so that you can analyze its pain points—moments in the fundraising process that might be frustrating or confusing for donors.

Put information front and center

Successful nonprofits make the donation process as clear as possible, often with a large button or banner on their website that tells donors exactly where to click if they want to give. Be sure that you’re presenting your donation information in an equally clear, accessible way, whether that’s a button that literally says “Click here to donate,” or a banner that explains exactly what your nonprofit does, or a page that shows exactly where every donated dollar is going.

Communicate and update

Don’t let the donation process end once the donor finishes giving. Keep them engaged by sending then plans (“Here’s how we plan to spend your donation!”), updates (“Here’s the child that your money is helping right now!”), and thank-you notes (“We couldn’t have built this classroom without your donation!”). This turns a rote donation experience into a positive one, and leaves you with donors who feel emotionally invested in the work that you’re doing. Better engagement leads to successful fundraising for nonprofits.

Ask for feedback

Contact a few of your regular donors and ask them if there’s anything about the process that could have been easier. Also, consider adding a link to a how-was-your-experience survey in all of your thank-you emails, so that donors know you’re listening to their needs.

Ultimately, you want to make your donors feel connected to your mission and part of the process. If their experience feels streamlined, transparent, and simple, they’ll be happier than ever to give.

Use a donor management software to set up a system for feedback and review for different type of donors.

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Last modified: May 30, 2018

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