 Because of its response time, ease of measurability, and cost effectiveness, email is rapidly becoming an effective and preferred way to raise money. By now, most marketers are familiar with the concept of testing email in the same fashion they test traditional direct mail. In fact, strategies for testing email pictures, text, and offers are becoming more mainstream. But testing where people go after clicking on an email is less popular.
Landing Pages:
What is a landing page? A landing page is a Web page that receives traffic from a specific email. By testing a landing page — the way it is displayed and the number of steps required to complete the marketing process — you can intelligently measure and increase the number of responses your organization receives from a specific campaign.
Conversion:
Unlike traditional direct mail, emails and landing pages allow marketers to track actual conversion. The term “conversion” refers to how many people actually complete and submit the requested information on the landing page. One of the best ways to track conversion is to link a landing page to a specific email. This page can look just like your Web site. Or it can be completely unique and designed to look like your email. The advantage of the latter version is that you can choose to remove all other distractions and links to force readers to complete the form before they move to anywhere else on the Web site. Tracking landing page conversion can easily be done with your current Web analytics tools or with free tools Google® provides to nonprofits.
Testing
Once you have the ability to set up unique landing pages and track conversion, you’re ready to start testing. Try testing a version of your regular landing page as a control and a modified one as the test. Send half your targets the control and the other half the test.
Required Information Fields:
You can test any number of things, but a good place to start is the fields required to complete the process. A common mistake with landing pages is trying to capture too much information when someone gives a gift, especially when it’s from an acquisition list. Try to limit the fields to only those absolutely needed to complete the transaction. Since this is a constituent that you want to grow and nurture over time, you'll begin to collect more information over time. As direct marketers, we are always tempted to get as much data as possible, but we must be mindful of the constituent experience.
Design:
Once you have tested the required fields and discovered the perfect balance that increases your conversion rate, you might want to think about testing the design or layout of your landing page. I recently came across a large nonprofit with a four-page process after I clicked the “give” button. As I clicked through the many pages, all I could imagine was how many people abandoned the process on each page. Not only should the process be kept to one page, but it should also limit scrolling on the page as much as possible. Rather than having one long form that requires you to scroll down, try having two columns side-by-side on the form, effectively cutting the page length in half.
Location:
If your organization is ready to go the extra mile, you might also want to test the physical location on the landing page where the gift amount is entered. I’ve seen several different variations beyond the traditional space at the bottom of the form next to the credit card information. One variation is to ensure that the gift amount is the first thing someone sees on the landing page. By doing so, you separate the gift amount from the credit card info and start to mentally distance the gift from the cost. Another site I saw had a visual reference to what the gift would go towards right next to where the amount was entered. But in the end, the only way to find out what works best for your organization is to test, test, and re-test.
I’ve seen organizations double and triple conversion rates by tweaking and testing landing pages. You can do the math for your own organization, but generally speaking, that kind of effort can pay off much bigger then buying another list or hitting your constituents with another email.
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Nonprofits have two options for unemployment insurance while a for-profit corporation only has one. Typically, a nonprofit and for-profit pay for unemployment claims through State Unemployment Insurance tax (SUI). But unlike their counterparts, nonprofits have an alternative choice: becoming a "reimbursing employer." This means that it can pay the state only for claims paid out to former employees.
