Your organisation's website serves as a virtual gateway to your mission and could be deterring potential donors without you realising it. To ensure your website stands out and effectively serves its purpose, we recommend regularly auditing it from a donor point of view, with these best practices in mind.
- Intuitive Navigation and User-Centric Design:
Design your website with the user in mind, minimising third-party elements that may hinder the journey. Ensure streamlined navigation with clear signposting so users don't drop off before finding what they came for. A user-centric approach enhances the overall experience, fostering engagement and encouraging return visits.
- Impactful Visual Storytelling:
Utilise impactful visuals to convey your mission, but be mindful of excessive third-party plugins or large file sizes that may slow down page loading times. Opt for lightweight, optimised media to ensure a smooth user experience.
- Accessibility for All:
Prioritise website accessibility, ensuring inclusivity and preventing potential donor loss. Implement features such as alt text for images, external link title attributes and colour contrast standards as a minimum.
- Responsive Design for Multi-Device Accessibility:
Adopt a responsive design, ensuring your website seamlessly adapts to different devices and screen sizes. With most users accessing websites from mobiles, this is a must to ensure site retention.
- Clear Calls-to-Action (CTAs):
Strategically place clear CTAs throughout your website, preventing roadblocks which may disrupt the user journey. Shepherd users to key landing pages such as your latest appeals, events or core service information.
- Robust Content Management:
Choose a content management system specific to fundraising that allows complete branding control, easy updates and core functionality without unnecessary third parties. Streamline content management for efficiency and autonomy.
- Minimal Third-Party Dependencies:
Keep third-party integrations to a minimum to enhance data security, user journey and site speed. Limiting external dependencies reduces vulnerabilities and safeguards sensitive donor and organisational information, as well as not straining the website's resources and disrupting the user's experience.
- Automated Data Transfer to CRMs:
Streamline data transfer by automating processes directly to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems—Minimise manual input and errors, ensuring that donor information seamlessly integrates with your organisational database.
In conclusion, a well-crafted website is a powerful tool for charities and nonprofits, and these best practices are a great starting point when looking to improve fundraising and online presence. The next time you review your website, look at it through the lens of your users or ask family and friends to carry out user acceptance testing for a fresh perspective.
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