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T +44 (0)117 929 7333 F +44 (0)117 929 7543 E [email protected] W www.nomensa.com Designing the perfect donation experience! Simon Norris - Nomensa & Jason Potts – THINK Consulting Solutions October 2011 © Nomensa Ltd, King William House, 13 Queen Square, Bristol, BS1 4NT, UK VAT registration: GB 771727411 Registered in the UK, Company number: 4214477

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Page 1: Designing the perfect donation experience! · engage (at the landing page) and complete online transactions (through the ... from an experiential perspective (content, creative and

T +44 (0)117 929 7333 F +44 (0)117 929 7543

E [email protected] W www.nomensa.com

Designing the perfect donation experience! Simon Norris - Nomensa & Jason Potts – THINK Consulting Solutions

October 2011

© Nomensa Ltd, King William House, 13 Queen Square, Bristol, BS1 4NT, UK VAT registration: GB 771727411 Registered in the UK, Company number: 4214477

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What challenge are we trying to address? What challenge are we trying to address? From just a cursory glance at the online giving process of the majority of non-profits, it is clear that from those heady early days of online giving fuelled mainly by global emergencies, when people would donate however hard we made it for them - we have not done enough as a sector to make a science of the act of giving online. Further proof can be seen by the levels of income that are being generate online as a percentage of overall giving, still in the low 10’s of percent for many organisations, whilst other industries have been completely turned on their heads by their online income.

From just a cursory glance at the online giving process of the majority of non-profits, it is clear that from those heady early days of online giving fuelled mainly by global emergencies, when people would donate however hard we made it for them - we have not done enough as a sector to make a science of the act of giving online. Further proof can be seen by the levels of income that are being generate online as a percentage of overall giving, still in the low 10’s of percent for many organisations, whilst other industries have been completely turned on their heads by their online income.

Many of the early challenges we faced as fledgling online fundraisers have happily improved beyond all recognition: the speed and inconsistency of dial–up connections ... browser variations coming out of our ears ... lack of skilled professionals on staff or on the agency side ... and maybe most importantly a lack of user experience and trust getting designed into the process we were trying to get people to complete!

Many of the early challenges we faced as fledgling online fundraisers have happily improved beyond all recognition: the speed and inconsistency of dial–up connections ... browser variations coming out of our ears ... lack of skilled professionals on staff or on the agency side ... and maybe most importantly a lack of user experience and trust getting designed into the process we were trying to get people to complete!

As Direct Marketers, we are all well schooled in the principles of Direct Mail conversion levels and the metrics that can be tweaked to achieve greater returns on our investment or cost per acquisition. Whilst we hear much talk about this from an online perspective, we don’t really see anyone showing and indeed scientifically proving what things are going to make the difference in ensuring we successfully engage (at the landing page) and complete online transactions (through the donation process) to a healthy percentage rate and therefore return on investment.

As Direct Marketers, we are all well schooled in the principles of Direct Mail conversion levels and the metrics that can be tweaked to achieve greater returns on our investment or cost per acquisition. Whilst we hear much talk about this from an online perspective, we don’t really see anyone showing and indeed scientifically proving what things are going to make the difference in ensuring we successfully engage (at the landing page) and complete online transactions (through the donation process) to a healthy percentage rate and therefore return on investment.

Online Usability is a science these days and we have a great deal of knowledge about the psychology of giving and how to tap into this creatively – so we thought if we bring these two things together then we should be able to create – The perfect donation experience. Or at the very least, a really really good one!

Online Usability is a science these days and we have a great deal of knowledge about the psychology of giving and how to tap into this creatively – so we thought if we bring these two things together then we should be able to create – The perfect donation experience. Or at the very least, a really really good one!

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Figure 1: 3-stage donation model

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Looking for evidence One of the key questions we asked ourselves at the beginning of this process was, is this going to be worth the effort? By that we mean, what is the head room for growth, is the best we can ever hope for a tiny percentage increase in the levels we are getting already? We looked at several sources to get a sense of what could be achievable by creating and refining the engagement and conversion ratios for online givers. The first was the commercial sector, we observed that:

■ Amazon added $2.5B simply by adjusting the sort order of their user comments;

■ Microsoft Bing increased their search revenue by $80M by adjusting the colour of their hyperlinks.

Secondly we looked at data from the not-for-profit sector:

■ 47% of people who visit a website intending to make a donation, don’t get to the end of the process;

■ The average conversion rate of a form that has not been usability tested is 15%.

We also did a small piece of research amongst ten leading non-profits and found that:

■ Current unprompted donation page conversion rates on your main website:

Defined as ... the number of people who land on your regular donation form divided by the number of actual regular gifts.

Had a variance from the best to the worst performing of 28%.

■ Current prompted donation page conversion rates on a fundraising campaign micro-site or landing page:

Defined as ... the number of people who land on your regular donation form divided by the number of actual regular gifts.

Had a variance from the best to the worst performing of 30%.

This told us that there is in fact huge room for improvement that could make a significant difference to non-profits in terms of cost per acquisition online. Imagine if you could improve your conversion rates by 30% in any channel or even half of that, what a difference that would make!

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Figure 2: Shows the difference between the best and worst performing donation journeys

Why now?

The current economic situation seems to make the case even stronger for increased understanding in this area. Learning and testing online do not come with the high price tags of media investment or man power of TV and face to face respectively.

Our approach was to apply DM techniques to this new(ish) media. As with all marketing the best place to start is to improve what you have already, by A/B split testing and then to move to Multi-variant as volumes and confidence increases. So in many ways it’s back to the old school days of Direct Mail to eek out those percentage point improvements in conversion - but given the medium and its speed to test, learn and roll-out, do it every day or indeed every hour!

Our methodology The on-going program of work we are carrying out falls into two very distinct areas:

■ The first is the actual act of engaging people who get to a giving landing page. This involves evaluating the donation journey from an experiential perspective (content, creative and usability), and;

■ The second is the actual completion of the journey and the steps the donor has to complete.

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A key area, that we examined in detail as part of first step involved a more psychoanalytical approach to the reasons why people give. We used this to start piecing together the ingredients that would be important in supporting people in that initial period of engagement. This is also critical because it allows us to understand how we can sustain their motivation once they start.

As part of our analysis we consulted with key stakeholders at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to understand the decisions underlying the current design. We also reviewed the analytics to understanding how the site was currently being used. The donation experience end-to-end was wireframed so we could gain a holistic understanding of the whole process. The wireframes were then discussed and refined. All the invaluable insights we generated were factored into a new donation landing page and reward page which we tested with 12 participants in one-on-one usability sessions.

Figure 3: From left to right: the current UNHCR landing page and thank you page, followed by the wireframes and pages.

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We have completed the first part of our research evaluating how best to motivate people to give and we reported our findings at a presentation at the 2011 Institute of Fundraising national convention. We also evaluated the ‘thank you’ part of the process and currently we are working on the bit in the middle, the actual steps a person has to move through to complete the donation process. We will be using multivariate testing in a live situation to rework the steps and create the perfect donation experience. Once we have all the data we will provide a follow-up white paper and a blue print that any charity can use to deliver an optimised donation experience.

The power of empathy and reward

We have been aware for some time that people respond much more favourably to empathy than they do guilt. Structuring a landing page so that it communicates empathy can be a powerful motivator because people can immediately relate to the content, e.g. it creates an ‘it could have been me’ scenario!

Figure 4: Generate empathy to increase the motivation to give

Interestingly, we wanted to understand if this principle was being applied across other non-profits so we conducted an analysis of the current donation experience for a number of national and international charities. The results revealed that many of them could be providing a more powerful and engaging experience by helping people to feel ‘greater’ empathy.

Our understanding of the donation experience is that it is a transactional process that has many similarities with an ecommerce experience however the underlying

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motivations may be different. To put it another way people are more motivated and therefore likely to complete a donation transaction when compared with an ecommerce transaction: The act of giving produces a greater level of motivation!

Another critical discovery was witnessing the power of rewarding people appropriately and even more importantly at the right point in the transactional process. Typically, charity sites can often start off the donation journey with a reward and therefore people can lose interest and abandon the process. The reward is most effective once a person has completed the donation task. In fact, the correct use of the reward allows additional tasks to be set which have a much greater chance of successfully establishing a deeper donor relationship.

Figure 5: People respond more favourably to individuals than groups

Therefore, the use of empathy allows the formation of an emotional relationship to develop between the charity and the donor. The reward stage brings closure to the donation transaction and makes a donor feel good about what they have just done. Charities need to give much greater appreciation when designing the donation experience to the factors that motivate and engage people: ultimately, stopping people from abandoning the journey.

The results so far…

The new designs for both the donation landing page and reward page were preferred over the current designs. The main differences are the way the new designs provides a superior page layout and helps guide the donor to make decision but not providing too many choices.

The current design presented six choices (donation packages) whereas the new designs provide only 3. People felt less overloaded with the information presented

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in the new designs and were able to make a decision more easily and quickly. This was highlighted by the fact that the majority of participants tested selected the middle option which was higher in value than the package selected in the current landing page. This represents an increase of 200% of donation revenue. What is also interesting is that the information presented (donation package) was identical in both the current and new landing page, but people felt a higher donation value was justified even if they previously selected a lower value. This demonstrates the power of a donation landing page design that presents the information in a more meaningful way and helps people to empathise without overloading them with choices.

100% of participants preferred the new reward page designs. People were much more likely to complete additional task at the reward step (e.g. signing up for a newsletter or joining the Facebook group). In fact, people commented that the current reward page was devoid of emotion and did not reflect what they had just done. We often forget it is more than just the money that people are donating but their time (the most valuable commodity of all).

Donation experience tips Below is a selection of tips that we feel will really help any charity deliver a superior donation experience. They are in no particular order but as we uncover the details from the results of the next stage of evaluation we will share this with you as well. However, please use these tips because they will help you better present the donation experience, the organisation and ultimately raise the revenues you need to make a difference.

■ Use empathy and avoid guilt.

■ Make it transparent how a donor’s money is used (e.g. pie charts showing the ratio that goes to a cause or the charity and how much is required for administration purposes).

■ Don’t overload the donor with too many choice (e.g. we recommend 3 with an optional box so people can donate what ever value they can – remember it all adds up).

■ Use quality photography and specifically pictures of individuals so donors can relate more easily (in the future we suspect video will become a powerful motivation aid in the design of a successful donation experience).

■ Don’t use big numbers because it can undermine what a person feels their contribution will make and may even stop them from

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giving all together. Therefore, show them how they can make a difference, even if it is a little bit.

■ Where possible use reciprocity to encourage success by giving a donor something because this will make them feel exclusive and important and therefore, more likely to ‘give’.

■ Use reward appropriately and don’t use it to start the giving process but as a powerful thank you to encourage forming a deeper relationship with the donor.

■ Use social validation by telling the donor the difference other people like them are making.

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About the authors About the authors

Simon Norris, CEO, Nomensa Simon Norris, CEO, Nomensa

Simon founded Nomensa in 2001. He had the vision that the Internet should be more inclusive and the industry a more accountable profession.

Simon founded Nomensa in 2001. He had the vision that the Internet should be more inclusive and the industry a more accountable profession.

As CEO Simon is responsible for the growth and strategic development of Nomensa. Simon has over sixteen years experience in the Internet industry, breaking new ground in the field of accessibility, usability and user experience design.

As CEO Simon is responsible for the growth and strategic development of Nomensa. Simon has over sixteen years experience in the Internet industry, breaking new ground in the field of accessibility, usability and user experience design.

During the last 10 years Simon has helped to develop Nomensa into one of the most respected user-experience design agencies in the world.

During the last 10 years Simon has helped to develop Nomensa into one of the most respected user-experience design agencies in the world.

Contact Simon: Contact Simon:

[email protected][email protected]

■ @simon_norris

■ www.nomensa.com

Jason Potts, Director, THINK Consulting Solutions

Jason has worked in digital media for 10 years, both in technical specification, implementation management, online marketing and strategic consultancy. His experience ranges from public sector organisations (leading International charities and campaigning organisations, arts organisations and museums, UN departments and Government) to traditional corporates looking to add online to their media mix and dot.com’s.

He is widely recognised as an innovative and pioneering contributor to the development of the digital communication and e-commerce marketplace. He speaks regularly at Conferences, both in Europe and

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North America about the future of online ethical brands.

His work has encompassed overseeing the strategy and implementation of a website and e-commerce platforms for Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (formerly known as Jersey Zoo) and developing a mixture of e-commerce, online fundraising strategies and e-CRM strategies for Amnesty International, The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Razorcuts (an online personalised CD business) and Gaming Club (one of the world’s biggest online Casino’s). All of which involved tracking, tailoring content and maximising customer or member value through on-going communications.

He has also been involved in projects that have required research and specification of technologies beyond websites, such as: AffinityServe (based in Nokia’s research and development unit) which involved strategic advice on global SMS technologies and their application, CareZone, (a project that recently received over £1 million of Government funding to develop a virtual world for children in care) this required research and implementation of technologies from retina readers to intelligent agents, Hackney Borough Council’s e-government pilot, that involved exploring content delivery on everything from touch screens to interactive digital TV and Fleming’s Investment Bank, that involved displaying live share information to the global salesforce on laptops and handhelds whilst they were with customers.

Jason has global experience, having work in markets outside Europe, including; North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific. In Italy, he has worked with UNICEF, UNHCR, Save the Children and ActionAid.

He speaks regularly at conferences, both in Europe and North America about the future of new media for ethical brands, writes articles for several industry journals and is regularly quoted in the press. He has recently featured in several books, Wiley’s, Nonprofit Internet Strategies and New Trends in Direct Response Fundraising , Jim Greenfield’s anthology of fundraising best practice, for the North American market and The Worldwide Fundraiser’s Handbook, published by The Directory of Social Change.

Contact Jason:

[email protected]

■ @JasonSeanPotts

■ http://www.thinkcs.org/

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Nomensa and THINK THINK and Nomensa having worked together on several successful User Experience (UX) projects for organisations such as the British Library, Kew Gardens and UNHCR and have decided to announce more formally a partnership to deliver excellent online experiences for non-profit donors and campaigners. This is signalled by a project, announced at this years’ Institute of Fundraising national convention to create the perfect online donation experience.