How to Write a Compelling Donation Page
A Great Donation Page Makes It Rain!
A great Donation page is an essential part of any Donation funnel. The Donation page is what ultimately leads a person to open up their wallet, take out their credit card, and buy from you. For example, if you meet someone at a networking event and you tell them about your nonprofit. If they say they are interested in learning more and possibly donating, you will send them to this page.
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- If you have a mediocre Donation page, you simply won’t make many sales.
- A great Donatioin page, on the other hand, causes your donations to skyrocket, dramatically increases your conversion rate, and turns leads into donors.
- If you have a mediocre Donation page, you simply won’t make many sales.
Of course, all this raises a critical question: how do you create a great Donation page? If you’re new to writing donation pages, it can seem kind of overwhelming. How do you communicate everything you need to in order to get someone to donate?
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- You can learn to create a great donation page. Every good Donation page contains the same core elements. Sort of like a math equation. Once you learn what these core elements are and how they work, you can put them together to create a highly effective Donation page.
In this eBook, you’ll discover the secrets of creating a great donation page. We’ll reveal time-tested formulas and strategies that are guaranteed to increase donation and conversions.
Step #1: Understand Your Audience
Before you begin writing any elements of your donation page, it’s absolutely critical that you understand your audience. You need to be able to talk directly to your audience in language that resonates with them.
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- Until you’ve taken the time to do a deep dive into your audience to understand what makes them tick, you can’t get to work on your donation page.
- Once you know your audience, you can craft your donation page so that it connects on a deep, personal level with them.
- Until you’ve taken the time to do a deep dive into your audience to understand what makes them tick, you can’t get to work on your donation page.
Here are some simple questions to help you define your audience:
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- What age are your primary donors?
- Are they primarily male, female, or a mix?
- What are pain points and challenges that impact them?
- What motivates them?
- What do they aspire to?
- What are their goals, hopes, and dreams?
- What do they fear?
- What organizations have they donated or partnered with in the past?
- What objections do they have about donating to you?
- What makes them happy?
- Who are their biggest influences?
- What websites do they frequently visit?
- Who do they follow on social media?
The end result will be a donor persona. A donor persona is a representation of your ideal customer. Your donation page should be written so that it speaks in ways that are familiar to your donor persona. It’s okay if you end up with multiple donor personas. The key is that you know exactly who you’re speaking to.
Step #2: Craft Your Headline
It’s hard to overstate the importance of a Donation page headline. The headline catches people’s attention and draws them in to the rest of your Donation page.
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- A boring headline will result in people quickly leaving your page, uninterested in donating.
- A good headline will immediately intrigue your readers, catching their interest and making them want to read more.
- A boring headline will result in people quickly leaving your page, uninterested in donating.
In order to create a compelling headline, you must know your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Your USP is what you uniquely have to offer as an organization or person. Your USP makes you different from anyone else in the market and helps potential donors immediately understand what you have to offer.
Here’s a simple formula for determining your USP: I help [GROUP OF PEOPLE] to [SPECIFIC RESULTS] by [YOUR SOLUTION]. So for example, I can have a non-profit organization that help [teenagers and adults] [start their own businesses] by [giving them grant money and 5 star professional guidance for free].
Your donation page headline will flow out of your USP and be tailored specifically to the service you’re explaining. Your headline should:
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- Identify the specific problem your organization or service solves
- State the big benefit
- Trigger emotion in the reader
- Intrigue the reader
- Convince the reader to check out the rest of the donation page
Just be sure that your headline is specific, interesting, and speaks to the problem. Remember, your headline will convince people to read the rest of the donation page.
Step #3: Address Core Problems and Frustrations
Now it’s time to start writing the actual copy of your donation page. The first thing to do is to highlight the pain points that your potential donors are already feeling with the problem you have addressed. You want them to know that you understand where they’re coming from. That you can relate to their struggles.
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- Be specific when highlighting the pain points. Use language that they use to describe the problems.
- Get the reader to think about how difficult and frustrating things currently are. Think of it like you’re creating a “Before/After” scenario. In the “Before” scenario, you’re painting a picture of what life is currently like.
- Be specific when highlighting the pain points. Use language that they use to describe the problems.
When writing this section, go into as much detail as possible. Use vivid language and try to paint a picture. You want the reader to actively feel their pain points as you describe them. You want them to feel like you’re talking directly to them
Step #4: Introduce Your Solution
This is when you tell potential donors about the service you offer. You’ve spent a lot of time talking about their specific pain points and struggles. Now you offer your service as the perfect remedy to the problems.
- When talking about your solution, start by talking about the benefits. Talk about how your service will absolutely change the lives of the people who are affected.
- The truth is that people are primarily interested in the outcome rather than your organization or service. They care the most about how life will change or how they feel after donating, not the exact methods you will use to change it.
- Your primary goal is to show potential donors just how fantastic life will be if they help support your solution. You want them to be convinced that your service is exactly what the world needs to solve their problems.
Once you’ve spent a significant amount of time talking about the benefits of your solution, then you can go into specific details about how you will specifically solve the problem. Going back to our nonprofit that helped people start their own business, we would offer some of these services to our community:
- Give people a free dedicated space to work on their ideas
- Opportunities to network with potential customers and partners
- Offer workshops that teach different topics on business
When talking about the features of your service, your goal is to help the reader become an informed donor.
Step #5: Ask for the Donation
Now it’s time to actually ask for the donation. It’s time to directly invite the reader to donate to you or secure your services. This will come in the form of a direct call-to-action. Many times, it’s good to put the CTA in the first person. This emphasizes to the potential donor that they’re the ones taking action.
- You don’t want your CTA to be weak, boring, or uninspired. You want the reader of your donation page to feel like they’re doing something big and important when they click on your CTA.
- Don’t beat around the bush with your CTA. Make it direct and to the point. Make it clear that you want the potential donor to actually do something.
Step #6: Introduce Yourself
If people are going to donate to you, they need to know who you are. Tell potential donors about who you are, why you’re uniquely qualified to solve the problem, and why they should trust you.
In this section, consider including things like:
- A high-resolution photo of yourself
- Your experience
- Success Stories
- Other companies you’ve partnered with
- Media appearances
Avoid being modest when writing this section. Make it clear that you’re an expert in your field and that you have the necessary experience to solve the problems. Think of this section as an abbreviated resume. Show off your knowledge and experience so that your potential donors trust you.
Step #7: Use Testimonials
On your donation page, use testimonials from people that you have helped or partnered with you. They’re especially helpful in overcoming objections and doubts. They feel authentic and prove that you’ve actually helped people. Testimonials back up the claims you make in your donation page and prove that you mean business.
Here are some specific questions you can ask customers to get powerful testimonials:
- What specific results have you seen as an impact of my organization?
- Why would you recommend my organization to others?
- What specific features of my organization did you like?
The best testimonials are very specific in the details. For example, a testimonial that says, “This is a great Organization!” is good. A testimonial that says, “Kids in our community wouldn’t have backpacks if it wasn’t for this organization” is much better.
Step #8: Filter Out The Wrong People
Ideally, your donation page should filter out those who aren’t a good fit for your mission. If the wrong people sign up for your offer, they become an annoyed and dissatisfied audience. Also, helps you to remember to talk to a specific group of people. It catches their attention more.
- If the wrong people sign up for your offer, you’ll both become frustrated when you discover that you’re not a good fit for each other.
So how do you filter out the wrong people? By telling readers exactly who your organization is for and what you believe in. What characterizes your ideal donor/partner? Are you targeting donors that make over $100,000 year? Or big organizations giving out thousands of dollars in grants?
- Be very specific when it comes to defining who your organization is for. The more specific you can be, the more you’ll attract your perfect donor.
Step #9: Answer Frequently Asked Questions
Your potential donors will undoubtedly have questions as they read your donation page. The more you can directly answer their questions, the more you’ll overcome their objections, and the more likely it is that they’ll donate to you.
Here are some common questions you may encounter:
- Where specifically does the money go?
- Do you offer a payment plans?
- How can I partner with your organization?
- Can I donate if I live outside the United Sates?
- Where can I find your financial document?
- What payment types do you accept?
Try to put yourself in the shoes of those reading your donation page. What do you want to know before you donate to an organization like yours? What would hold you back from donating?
It’s really important to be as thorough as possible when creating your FAQ section. Unanswered questions keep people from donating. They are an obstacle to donations. Also, put your contact information on your page so that people can follow up with you if they have further questions.
Step #10: Reiterate the Benefits and Offer
Repeat the benefits and encourage When reiterating the benefits, help them imagine how lives will change for the better if they help support your service. Encourage them to decide whether they want things to remain as they are or whether they’re ready for a positive change.
- After you’ve reiterated the benefits, make a final call-to-action. You again want to tell the reader to take action. If they’ve read this far in your donation page, it probably means they’re interested in what you have to offer. But they haven’t yet responded to your call-to-action.
Like with your previous call-to-action, be direct and to the point. Don’t beat around the bush. Make it very clear and obvious what you want the reader to do. If you’re using a button for your call-to-action, make the button big and obvious.
The Importance of Subheadings and Scannable Copy
Your donation page should be easy to read – so much so that a person could skim through it and get a good feel for your offer. So how do you make your donation page easily readable? By using plenty of subheadings, paragraph breaks, and bullet points.
- A good rule of thumb is that every new section in your donation page should have its own subheading. When writing your subheadings, follow the same rules as when writing your overall headline. Each subheading should be interesting and keep the reader moving down the page.
Within each section, ensure that the copy itself is easy to skim. Use short paragraphs. Every few sentences, start a new paragraph. This allows a person to quickly move down the page and get a good feel for what you’re saying.
After you’ve written a complete draft of your donation page, quickly skim through it yourself. Is it easy on the eyes? Can most of the information be taken in at a brief glance? Are there any areas where you’re forced to slow down in order to understand the content?
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