7 steps to an effective campaign rig

What separates a donor journey that works well from one that fails? Here are our top seven tips for optimizing your digital rig.

Marius breakfast seminar
Marius breakfast seminar
Marius breakfast seminar
Øyvind breakfast seminar
Profundo breakfast seminar
Marius and Øyvind on stage at the pre-cost seminar in front of the audience
Øyvind breakfast seminar
Profundo breakfast seminar
Marius and Øyvind on stage at the pre-cost seminar in front of the audience
Øyvind breakfast seminar
Profundo breakfast seminar
Marius and Øyvind on stage at the pre-cost seminar in front of the audience

Seven key recommendations that create more donors

If you want to attract as many donors as possible, you can't leave much to chance. A well-thought-out digital campaign feels holistic and leaves your donors with the good feeling of having contributed to something important. If your campaign rig is flawed, you risk losing them along the way. 

Having worked extensively with charitable organizations, we have identified seven key recommendations that create more donors. If you follow these, you'll be left with an efficient, flexible and optimized campaign rig that will deliver better results.

1. Build a solid foundation

The foundation of any good campaign is a good website. To appeal both to visitors and to the Google algorithm, it must meet the following requirements:

User-oriented: Many people will read up on your organization before making a donation. Your website must contain all the information visitors are interested in and be easy to navigate.

Technologically optimized: Slow websites not only scare away visitors, but are de-prioritized by Google. The same applies to pages that are not adapted for mobile. So make sure your websites have good performance.

Universal design: Take into account people with different disabilities. In 9/10 cases, this also makes it easier to use for the able-bodied. For example, many people use keyboard navigation or functions to automatically fill in forms.

2. Facilitate flexibility

It's rare to get everything perfect the first time you try. A flexible platform makes it easy to make changes as you learn. We're talking about the flexibility to:

Respond quickly: Has your issue suddenly received a lot of media attention? If so, it's important to be able to jump in and set up a new page immediately.

Customize content and presentation: Being able to customize how your content is presented is an advantage. If your solution is too rigid, it may be time to consider a more flexible alternative.

Set up different forms: Give your donors choices. For example, do you want to run a pure regular donor campaign, or open up for individual gifts? Different campaigns will require different forms.

3. Create a good user experience

A good user experience consists of several parts. Firstly, it needs to be efficient and intuitive to do what you came for. Secondly, you want to give the user a good feeling throughout the donor journey. Some good tips to optimize both parts are:

Commitment: Giving money to a cause is an emotional act. Watch your language and keep the emotional engagement going throughout the donor journey. Avoid transactional phrases such as payment or payment methods - opt for "give" or "give with..." instead.

A common thread: Make sure your ads, landing pages and forms are connected. For example, sending the donor from a specific ad to a generic landing page creates a disconnect - which can lead to the donor opting out.

Put the donor at the center: Don't become too introverted. It's not about you, it's about the donors and the cause they want to support. For example, instead of "Support us", write "You can help!". 

Marius and Øyvind on stage at the pre-cost seminar in front of the audience

4. Create more landing pages

It's a myth that your front page is your organization's shop window. In fact, a whopping 82.8 percent of visitors come via your landing pages - from ads or search. That means these can't be an afterthought.

For search traffic: After Meta removed the fundraising feature, more people will be Googling "birthday fundraiser" and "memorial gift". Keep an eye on what users are searching for and create landing pages that are tailored to that.

For your topics: If you can take credible ownership of a topic, make sure applicants can find a page about it when they're looking to learn more.

For your campaigns: This one might go without saying. But as you can see, these landing pages are just one category among many. However, remember that landing pages for your campaigns should be specific and related to your advertising.

5. Optimize your forms

Just as important as (or perhaps even more important than) your landing pages are your forms. Make sure they don't become a last hurdle, but a helping hand across the finish line for leads and donors. Here are some tips for building great forms:

Good microtexts: Even the shortest texts need to be good. Avoid dry bureaucratic language; try to make it engaging instead. Also, make sure not to use words like "payment". It makes the experience transactional instead of emotional.

Make it easy to fill in: Don't ask for more information than you actually need. If users are faced with a wall of fields to fill in, it's not surprising that many drop out. Let them navigate using the keyboard and make it easy to auto-fill the fields.

Analyze what works: Don't be afraid to make changes to your forms. Tracking which ones are converting and where people are dropping off makes it easier to improve them.

6. Put the forms in the context of the content

Maybe we should call this point 5.5, but it's so important that it gets its own point: Make sure your forms are presented alongside your engaging content. There are many important reasons for this:

It maintains the common thread: If you send the donor away from the engaging content and out to a general form, you create a disconnect. If, on the other hand, you place an optimized form together with the engaging content, the path to becoming a donor is shorter and you avoid being taken out of the context in which you were engaged.

It converts better: When the form connects with the content, it creates greater incentive to give. The user wants to support this specific cause here and now.

You get more test material: With more landing pages and more forms, you'll also have a greater basis for comparison to see what converts best.

7. Start with budget-friendly measures

Not everyone has the opportunity or the budget to do everything perfectly, but there's a lot you can do even on a tight budget. We recommend that you start with the following: 

Optimize the text: Get rid of the passive voice, put the user in focus and remove anything that resembles the language of the tax authorities.

Cut out form fields you don't need: Do you have to ask for an address if you're not sending anything in the mail?

Create a starter form: Can't get around having the form on a separate page? Create a simple starter form with only name and amount choices, which can sit alongside your engaging content - which then redirects the user to the main form (where name and amount are pre-filled). Psychologically, this makes it feel like they've already started and they're more likely to complete.

Talk to your supplier: Find out what options they have for optimization. Many can help you put in place, for example, auto-fill, keyboard navigation and correct field types.

With that said, we wish you the best of luck! 

Want to find out how you can optimize your digital campaign rig?

Let's have a chat!

Øyvind Ellingsen
Strategic Advisor
+47 906 32 577