"Most visitors to your website will not donate during their first visit. You need to start a conversation with them. A conversation that starts with e-mail."So instead of focusing on asking for money on your website, ask for e-mail addresses. Start that conversation.
How to get people to sign up? Check out this article written by the great Pamela Grow; I thought my head was going to fall off from nodding so much in agreement with it.
A few highlights:
- Your homepage, and in fact every page on your website, should contain a sign-up box for your e-newsletter. And above the fold, i.e. you don't have to scroll to find it.
- You have to offer a compelling reason to subscribe; "Sign up for our e-newsletter" is not one.
- Wouldn't you love to know everything about your donor/potential donor, like their birthday, snail mail address, favorite color? Of course you would, but you can scare people off by asking for that much info. Just start with an e-mail address and name.
- You already know that thanking people is an important part of development. The sign-up box should redirect automatically to a thank you page, and your new subscribers should receive a welcome e-mail as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment