Website usability determines success of online fundraising

Websites are playing an ever increasing role in charity fundraising across the world, resulting in a considerable increase in online donations. Yet for many charities it appears to be difficult to present themselves well on the internet. A recent survey shows that the user friendliness of websites still leaves much to be desired.

As the organisation’s calling card and access point to the website, the homepage must meet the highest demands of user friendliness. In today’s fast moving world, a visitor remains on a web page for an average of only 27 seconds. A homepage is at its most effective when the visitor can see what the site has to offer at a glance. The user must also be able to find his way almost intuitively without having to reflect. Only homepages which are so clearly focused in terms of ease of use can lead the visitor to look at the website in more detail.

Unwritten rules
The ease of use of the homepages is examined using twelve tried and tested guidelines (see below). These guidelines can best be described as web conventions or unwritten rules which have become widely accepted on the web over the years. Visitors expect a homepage to respect these conventions. If these are ignored, many visitors will ignore your website. This will have unfortunate consequences ranging from less name recognition to missing new members or donations.

Twelve guidelines may appear to be limited. Jakob Nielsen however distinguishes between as many as one hundred and thirteen (Homepage Usability, 2001). These are, however, the guidelines which come up in nearly every test as being decisive for the success of a homepage.

1. Header bar with description of organisation
2. Short introduction to the organisation
3. Example (article) of site content
4. Search field at the top of the homepage
5. Links are underlined
6. Links have a distinctive colour
7. Link names start with key words
8. No link to the homepage on the homepage.
9. Direct link to contact information
10. Direct link to (online) donation
11. Adequate lettering format and contrast
12. Varied size of lettering

Thirty charities
The study focused on the twenty largest charities in the Netherlands and ten smaller organisations with incomes lower than 1 million Euros. No single fund meets all the guidelines. The average score for all funds is 5.9 out of 12. On average the larger funds score somewhat higher than the small ones: 6.1 out of 12 against 5.6 out of 12.

This matches the supposition that large funds have more money and knowhow available for web development. But does this come to fruition? If we look at the rankings, this does not appear to be the case. Six funds out of the top ten of the largest funds have a score of 6 or less. The majority (10) of the sixteen lowest placed funds are from the group of large funds. It is clear that greater resources do not guarantee a more user friendly homepage.

A few guidelines under the spotlight
On average the funds examined meet the guidelines in 47% of cases. It is immediately clear that the guidelines are not well followed, particularly where content is concerned. As far as navigation is concerned, the average is somewhat better, while readability scores moderately. There are a few striking differences between large and small funds, however.

Not one of the small funds has a search field on the home page. Yet this is a very important method of navigation. They score much better than the larger funds when it comes to the distinguishing of links through the use of a variety of colours. The small organisations are also far less likely to fall into the annoying habit of placing a link to the home page on the very same homepage.

The two worst scoring guidelines
1. Header bar with description of organisation (aims & goals)
Average score: 20.0%
This guideline is different to the other one as the header bar is not a visible part of the home page. It is an instruction in HTML, the layout language with which web sites are produced. It is only visible in the highest bar of the browser. Much more importantly, the title is prominent, extra large and underlined in the results of the search engines. If anyone saves a website in his/her favourites, the title will appear in the list. A clear title is a simple and very effective form of free online marketing.

2. Short introduction to the organisation
Average score: 23.3%
Visitors who are not familiar with an organisation will want to find out more about it as soon as possible. This is particularly important for funds with an unclear name (Cordaid) or slogan (A just world. Without poverty). Even very well known charities wish to gain new donors or members and therefore they also need to tell new visitors about the organisation. Details of the organisation (and its aims) should therefore be set down briefly but powerfully.

The importance of improvement
Of course, user-friendliness extends beyond the homepage. The rest of the website must also be clearly set out. The homepage is, however, the starting point for most visitors. Compare it with a job interview: the first impression is absolutely decisive. By neglecting the user friendliness of home pages, charities are missing great chances. This is a pity but not a disaster: of the twelve “errors” named in this study, a good half can be easily corrected without great expense. For the rest, money and effort invested in user friendliness often result in a 100% increase in visits to and conversion via the website (Nielsen, Web research: Believe the data, 1999).

Thus the most important recommendation is: first of all deal with matters which can quickly be rectified. This should bring quick rewards. Then devise a plan for dealing with the more involved aspects and call in expert help for this. If you wish to have an even more thorough approach, then don’t forget to carry out tests first and foremost. User-friendliness starts and finishes with the users and therefore they must be closely involved in any significant adaptation of the website.

An extended version of this article appeared in Vakblad Fondsenwerving (Trade Journal Fundraising) in December 2006. It can also be found on the author’s website, www.goedezaken.biz