Over the years at CauseVox, we’ve seen the power a good thank you can have. A “thank you” expresses your gratitude and tells your supporters that they are part of the impact that your organization is having.
However, a thank you can also be used as a tool to educate, inspire, and keep your organization relevant in the eyes of your donor–all of which help your donor retention efforts down the road.
We tend to assume that the first “thank you” a donor receives is the gift confirmation email or letter once they’ve made a gift. But in fact, the donation thank you page is actually the first way your nonprofit says “thanks!”
The minute your donor makes a gift online, a donor is directed to the donation thank you page. More often than not, a generic thank you message is relayed to the donor- and that’s it.
Remember, this is the first thank you that a donor gets from your organization, so you need to do it right. Aside from just thanking your donor and leaving it at that, use your donation page to:
- Learn about your donor
- Educate your donor
- Provide opportunities for engagement
We believe that fundraising isn’t just about the transaction, it’s about developing a relationship with people that become first time donors and eventually long-term donors. One of the easiest ways that you can increase donor investment and support is by optimizing your donation thank you page.
Here are 6 ways that you can optimize your donation thank you page.
“Here are 6 ways that you can optimize your donation thank you page.” tweet this
1.Thank Your Donor
You can choose to thank your donors in a number of ways, just keep in mind that there’s a big difference between a simple “thank you for your gift” and “Tina, we couldn’t do our work without your generosity. Thank you for entrusting us with this financial gift.”
Don’t just thank your donor, make it genuine. A few ways that you can create a stellar thank you message include:
- Make the words “Thank You” stand out with bold, colorful fonts
- Personalize the message with the donor’s name
- Include a video or image that relays your message, such as from your CEO or client served by your cause
After making a donation to World Help, this is the donation thank you page I saw. Note the personalization, bold thank you, and heartwarming image.
At CauseVox, we believe that the first goal of your donation thank you landing page should be to get your donor to realize that they’re important to the fabric of your cause.
“Your donation thank you landing page should help your donor realize they’re important.” tweet this
2. Learn About Your Donor
The donor engagement cycle doesn’t end with the gift–you need to focus on retaining that donor for campaigns (and years) to come. Start fostering that relationship by learning about your donor.
You don’t want to bombard them with questions on a webpage designed to thank your donor. Instead, ask him/her to answer one question or complete a short survey.
Choose your question wisely depending on how you hope to engage your donor. You could:
- Ask your donor why they gave
“Before you go, please let us know how you learned about XYZ organization.”
- Ask them how they prefer to be communicated with
“How would you like us to reach you: email, phone, mail?”
- Ask how they want to continue to stay involved
“Let us know in the box below if you’d like to learn about additional opportunities to support our cause, including volunteering, fundraising, or becoming an advocate.”
You’ll show your donor that you care about the relationship, and learn a bit about them at the same time. And with this information, you can better customize your donor’s experience.
3. Include Social Sharing Buttons
Connecting with your supporters on social media is great for both the donor and your nonprofit, which is why your donation thank you page should include social sharing buttons.
Think of social media as a tool that you can use to educate and inspire donors- a doorway to a ‘behind the scenes’ view at your organization and impact, so to speak.
And beside the educational component, social media is also great for fostering additional connections. It’s amazing to think that a quick “like” on social media can easily be seen (and shared) with your donor’s friends and family, increasing your nonprofit’s reach exponentially!
Below you can see the social sharing buttons located at the bottom of the World Help donation thank you page.
CauseVox also includes social sharing buttons that a donor can use to share the cause once they’ve given. The image shown below shows the screen that appears after selecting the “share” button after giving a donation to neverthirst through CauseVox.
And here, you can see the buttons that appear after making a donation using CauseVox.
4. Add An Email Newsletter Subscription Option
At CauseVox, we realize just how valuable email newsletters are in the nonprofit world. This method of communication is an extremely effective way for your nonprofit to update supporters on everything from impact to upcoming campaigns.
Therefore, it’s important that you add a prompt on your donation thank you page that asks your donor to sign up for the email newsletter.
After making a donation to Charity Science, I received a beautiful thank you message on the donation thank you page that included a button to subscribe to the email newsletter.
Children of Vietnam also includes an email subscription button on their donation thank you page.
To reemphasize that you want your donor to sign for the email newsletter, be sure you include a subscription option on the donation receipt as well. For CauseVox users, we can help you customize a donation receipt that includes this option, as well as any other next steps you’d like your donor to take.
5. Highlight Impact
Your nonprofit operates to changes lives, and your donation thank you page is a great place to show your donor the impact of their gift. By closing the loop on the donation, you ensure that your donor knows that your organization is making a difference because of their investment in your cause.
“Your donation thank you page is a great place to show your donor the impact of their gift.” tweet this
There are a number of ways that you can show impact on your donation thank you page, such as:
- Including a picture or video correlating the donation to a donor’s return on investment
- Detailing what product/service the donor’s gift is going toward (“Your gift of $10 will ensure that 10 kids eat a healthy lunch.)
- Connecting your donor directly to a client story (like Watsi does so well)
charity: water has a personal, customized donation thank you page. Here, you can see that they link to a client story so the donor can read about the direct impact of the gift.
No matter what, try to relate your donor’s gift to the impact. When you’re in the thick of impact work, it’s hard to remember that it isn’t just about the work of your nonprofit, but about the donor’s role in making it all happen.
6. Offer Them An Opportunity To Get Involved Further
If you’re running a one-time or ongoing peer-to-peer fundraising campaign, then your donation thank you page is a great place to present the opportunity to become a personal fundraiser.
When a donor makes a gift, it is because they believe your cause is worth the financial investment. Why not ask that donor to support your organization in a different way?
At CauseVox, we’ve seen just how effectively peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns help to spread the campaign and bring in new donors, and there’s no better time to ask than when you already have the attention of a supporter.
After donors are inspired to give, they oftentimes are looking to do more. Give them the opportunity to further participate in your organization as a personal fundraiser in a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign.
To learn about how one of these online fundraising campaigns can transform your relationship with current supporters and increase your donor base, view our page CauseVox For Peer-to-Peer Fundraising.
Your donation thank you page is the first thank you your donor sees after they’ve made an online gift.
Instead of creating a generic message, optimize this webpage to not only convey appreciation, but inform your donor about your cause, introduce your donor to ways that can engage with your organization, and learn something about your donor so that your organization can customize their donor experience.
If you enjoyed this article, you may also find value in these additional resources:
- For tips on why and how you can begin to customize your nonprofit website to meet the needs of your organization, check out CauseVox’s Guide & Best Practices To Redesigning Your Nonprofit’s Website
- Information about running a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign can be found in the Ultimate Guide to Peer-to-Peer Fundraising ebook.
- Learn how to create a social media fundraising plan that works for your nonprofit by listening to this webinar: How to Set Your Nonprofit Up For Social Media Fundraising Success.
