Want More Donors This Summer? Try These 5 Website Fixes to Spark Monthly Giving

And that's kind of what I wanted to talk about is this summertime slump period , so this might be a time where you're seeing fewer donations roll in , and that might be because you're just not asking . This isn't a big time of asks , but

I have been working since March with eight different organizations through VIP intensives , so I've had eight VIP intensives and there's been some pretty consistent patterns that have emerged when I'm doing these intensives , and so I wanted to kind of break down five tips for you on how we can specifically refresh your website slight tweaks so that it's working harder for

you year round , even during this summer period , and really can become the catalyst for evergreen monthly giving growth .

So not that you have to send an email to get somebody to your website , but if someone is on your website , if they're landing there , are they inclined to give a recurring gift or do they leave right away , or do they maybe just give one time .

So through these patterns , essentially over these VIP intensives in this episode , I wanted to break down the most important tweaks that you can really make this summer , maybe before you put that out of office on , to really kind of drive some evergreen gifts . So number one is to make your homepage message unmistakably clear .

So when someone lands on your website , can they immediately understand what you do in the header before they even have to scroll specifically on mobile . Do they know what you do ? Do they know who you serve ? Do they know why it matters ? Or is your language too broad ?

So too many homepages , I've realized , are reading like they could belong to a dozen other organizations , and I know

this might be hard to hear because you're like , wait , but our mission does , and okay , but you know that , but the person landing on your page doesn't . So what makes your specific work unique ? Super important Is the option of monthly giving , visible right away . Is it in that top header ? Does it have its own button ?

Is there a banner If you have a donation form right on your homepage ? So not just a button , but an actual form . Is monthly giving an obvious choice ? Is the value proposition there of why to give .

So an example of a recent episode I just had Kate on from the Trevor Project and she shared that adding this one line of text to their donation form , which was monthly giving , powers our work . That line , that tiny change , led to a 50% increase in monthly donations Wild right .

So do we want to call out the fact that this is what powers your work , that it's so important ? Number one is is your messaging unmistakably clear and distinct to you ? Tip number two is do you have and you've heard me probably say this before if you listen to other episodes do you have , a specific monthly giving landing page ?

So does your website have a dedicated page that explains your monthly giving community and program , what it's called , why it exists , what you as the supporter make possible through this gift ? This is your space , this is your real estate to cast the vision , build that sense of community , tell people why monthly donors matter so much to your mission .

This is not just a button , this is not just a form . This is a space where you're building that capacity to be able to showcase what the mission does . So when someone always asks me

do I really need a separate monthly giving page ? Yes , because just like how we are on sales pages sometimes of purchasing . We want all the information , so make it a no brainer for people to support your organization . Tip number three adding a pop-up to your top pages .

So this is something I just went through with an organization during a VIP intensive that I'm working with them on is check your Google Analytics and find what are your top five most visited pages .

Oftentimes it might be a blog post that you have , maybe it's your about page or it's your team page , like you might be surprised what your top five pages are , and then ask is there a donation ask on this page ? Is there a way for someone to give ? Pop-ups are an easy

win opportunity to grab somebody's attention , especially if they're scrolling . Whatever , you can set your pop-up parameters to be where they pop up at 30% scrolling or this many seconds . But what's really crucial is you want to ditch the generic language .

We want to make it feel urgent , we want to make it feel emotional and we want to make it feel on brand to your cause .

So I am loving working with the Woodhull Freedom Foundation shout out to that team and I was working on rewriting or really creating their pop-up copy , so I wanted to share this example with you just to showcase how it's not basic at all , very specific to them . So the header will say freedom needs funding Super clear , bold .

The body copy says we're up against policies and platforms threatening basic rights . Monthly donors and the Vanguard Society help us resist , respond and protect what matters every day . So it is showcasing a little bit what their mission is .

It says the name of the monthly giving program and what you're helping to do and the call to action button says yes , I'm in . So intent , powerful , right . So think about what could your pop-up say to move someone to action . Tip number four is make your email list sign up irresistible .

So oftentimes on websites I've been realizing the join at the bottom in the footer . Normally there's an area where somebody can sign up for your newsletter and it quite literally says that Join our newsletter , sign up for our email list . And I'm not sure how active yours is on people actually doing that if that is the language .

But I don't join those typically because it sounds pretty boring . Join our newsletter . Well , what am I going to get ? What's it about ? Why would I join this ? So for Woodhull , we wanted to create some really compelling

language . No one wants another newsletter . Let's retire the statement , join our newsletter . So for them . The header says the resistance has a mailing list . Oh , that just gets me like so fired up to say that . The body says sign up for news , action alerts and bold ideas for building a future rooted in freedom and justice , and then the button says join in .

That is bold , it is clear , it speaks to belonging and that's what we want . So how can you make that copy more powerful ? Test it , watch it over two months time and see how it differs from your previous conversion on that form . Okay , last tip , we are at number five Clean out your email list . So I just did a campaign .

The team and the email open rates were super low , and so we want to revitalize that list . We want it to showcase a higher open rate . We want to get rid of people that are just really drawing the list down .

So if people have not opened your emails in over 60 days 60 days plus it is time to remove them , because they are just dragging down that email open rate and they hurt the deliverability of your emails . So we really want to focus on building a list of engaged supporters that doesn't have to be

a big one . Who are the engaged people that are actually going to take action ? So here's the kind of like kicker to all of this and why I'm sharing this now . We know that traditionally there's been a lull in giving during summer months , but Giving Tuesday's Data Commons team tells us that there's a major missed opportunity here .

If we look at consumer retail spending during June , july , august , it actually spikes . There's a bump right now . Why ? Well , think about the text messages or the emails or the direct mail pieces you're getting right now from those businesses . There's July 4 sales . There's going to be Labor Day sales . There's vacations happening .

Naturally , there's been a consumer bump in the past , so usually that is a pretty consistent trend . So what if we leaned into making an ask during this time ? If you do , giving Tuesday has projected there's a potential for a 25% increase in giving during the summer . That represents an annual impact of $22.5 billion yes , billion with a B .

So let's not go quiet . Your website , your emails , the pop-ups they can be all part of a system that captures attention now , not just in December , but right now . Not just in December , but right now . Go on vacation , but make your site work for you when you're not there . So if today's tips helped I hope they did I love to hear from you .

Send me a DM on Instagram or a quick note on LinkedIn and let me know what you're implementing , let me know what you think . I hope you stay cool out there , inspired by what everyone's doing in the space right now , and I will see you officially with an episode on Wednesday . Hope you're having a great summer .