Venmo Me the Money: Making Your Website Work for You

Amy Starnes, Best Friends Animal Society

Hi, I’m Amy

Amy StarnesDirector of Digital Experience

Best Friends Animal Society

amys@bestfriends.org

@anstarnes

What are we gonna do today?

• Learn best practices in setting up your donation forms for your website

• Get tips on how to measure your digital fundraising impact and see it grow

• See how optimizing your forms can mean more money for the animals

Who likes benchmarks?

2018 metrics in online giving

• Online revenue increased by just 1% in 2018

• One-time revenue decreased by -3%

• Monthly revenue increased by 17%

• Email drove 13% of revenue (down from 28%)

• On average, 37% of donors who made an online gift in 2017 also made one in 2018

• Overall, 1% of website visitors donated

Digital fundraisers are like …

Why is this happening to us?

Theories (we have many):

• Donor reactions to tax law

• Impact of 2016 election

• 2017 was a massive year (23% growth)

• Something else entirely? Aliens?

So how do we move forward?

• We continue to focus on building solid foundations for our program

• Monthly giving is still growing: Let’s put effort there

• Fundraising values are more important than ever: stewardship stewardship stewardship

Site giving fundamentals

• Keep navigation clear and focused– What can you remove or nest under an existing top-

level category?

• Put donate all the way to the right and highlight– Consistent best practice to help users find your donate

function

• Donate button persistent on all parts of the site– Make sure they can find it no matter where they are

Examples: Top-level navigation

Second-level navigation

Focus on YOUR priorities and simplify

What are YOUR giving priorities? Focus on those and keep it simple.Other options: Wishlist, planned giving, renewals, sponsorship, workplace giving, etc.

The mobile tipping point is here

Mobile has exceeded desktop traffic: 48% of all web traffic = mobile (44% desktop).

Website Share By Device

Let’s talk donation platforms

Considerations

– Fees

– Data management

– Flexibility

– Scalability

Make sure your form is branded

Show what your gift does

Form fields

The rule for forms: The fewer fields, the better!

Fewer fields = Higher conversion rates

The biggest challenge once you get people to your donation form is to get them to complete it.

Simplify fields: Less is more

Use giving levels

Pre-select option #2

Use compelling imagery

What about payment processors?

• Paypal

• AmazonPay

• Facebook donate

• EFT/ACH

• Venmo: Closed beta

More best practices

Other considerations

• Legibility: What font size are you using?

• Mobile responsive is a must!

• Multiple payment processors?

• Submit button language

Let’s talk monthly for a minute

Why monthly giving?

• Monthly donors = Sustained revenue

How can you increase monthly gifts?

• Create a dedicated monthly form

• Also add a checkbox everywhere

Monthly donation form

Monthly checkbox on forms

Put this guy everywhere

Measure your results

Metrics to track• Total revenue• Total gifts• Conversion rate (visits/donations): Average 17% • Average gift (revenue/gifts)

– Average one-time gift: $74– Average monthly gift: $21

What you’ll need• Google Analytics• An Excel sheet

Some best practices for appeals

Email is still your best channel driver. Don’t forget about your form!

• Link directly to your form from your appeal• Link to ONLY your form• Match the imagery and copy with your appeal• Add a monthly checkbox (extra credit!)

Email > donation form

Questions?

Appendix

Donation platform ideas to research

Little Green Light: littlegreenlight.com

Qgiv: qgiv.com

Blue State Digital: bluestatedigital.com/bsd-tools

Blackbaud Luminate: blackbaud.com/online-marketing/luminate-online

Salsa: salsalabs.com