Growing means testing new strategies and leveraging current channels more effectively. Amanda Wasson and Jarred Schremmer of agency RobbinsKersten Direct, shared some tips on getting more valuable online donors with attendees of the recent National Catholic Development Conference (NCDC) 2014 conference in Chicago.

Wasson and Schremmer wanted to test new strategies with a client, a large cancer hospital. They started with an audit of the online giving process and immediately uncovered major problems. Traffic to the website was high, but only a small percentage of the visitors made it to the donation page. Once there, many did not complete the donation form. Wasson and Schremmer believed it was because there were too many steps. The donation form was neither warm nor persuasive, they said.

The solution was a major paring down of both the ways to give page and the donation form. The ways to give page had a very brief paragraph stating why to donate, along with a large “give now” button. Below it were options for social media sharing, the opportunity to watch a video about other donors, and another give button.

The donation form, instead of being cluttered by more than a dozen fields, had an ask string, contact information and credit card information, along with options to give a memorial gift and an email opt-in.

The result of these two optimizations was a 400-percent increase in conversions. Wasson and Schremmer followed a five-step ongoing process to achieve the increase:

• Analyze your current assets, including any landing pages and forms on the website;
• Find the gaps;
• Create a plan of attack;
• Monitor performance;
• Continue testing.