How Well Do You “Close” Online?
In eMarketing and Commerce, I recently came across a survey conducted for PayPal of reasons consumers give for "abandoning their shopping carts" during online shopping. PayPal found that 45% of their respondents had bailed out of at least one online retail purchase at the "checkout register" in the preceding three weeks.
Here are the top reasons:
40% — too high shipping costs
37% — they wanted to comparison shop
36% — didn’t have enough money after shipping and handling charges were added to totals
27% — left to search for coupons
26% — wanted to shop offline
24% — couldn’t find preferred pay options
23% — the item was unavailable at checkout
22% — couldn’t find customer support
21% — concerned about the security of credit card data.
What strikes me about this list is that so few of the reasons that afflict online retailers would apply to nonprofits soliciting contributions online.
Maybe the four reasons I’ve bold-faced might apply to nonprofits.
In my judgment, the most important mistake online fundraisers make is to not have a dedicated landing page that reinforces the original ask, instead using a generic Donate page.
This is like using a generic order card in a direct mail package, despite tons of evidence attesting to the critical importance of the order card in closing the sale. Indeed, I’ve heard "extremists" on the matter assert that with a strong order card, you could skip the letter!
Two other most common bits of advice to improve online closes include: 1) keep it simple (don’t clutter the Donate page with extraneous, distracting information or complex asks); and 2) be crystal clear about the security of your transaction system.
Are you satisfied with your "close rate" once prospects get to your online "Donate" page? How carefully have you tested and refined your donation landing pages? Small percentage improvements in your close rate can add up to big dollars.
Tom
Behavioral Science Q & A
Thanks so much for raising this. Yes, capturing donor information can be helpful for stewardship like newsletters, thank-you letters, impact updates. But how you ask matters. Forcing full data capture introduces friction that can significantly depress conversion, many donors may simply abandon the process. Beyond the friction itself, required fields also shift the emotional experience […]
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There’s no evidence that QR codes suppress mid-value giving; all available research suggests they either help or have no negative effect. In fact, behavioral and usability research consistently shows the opposite: reducing friction at any point in the donation process increases completion rates and total response. And that has nothing to do with capacity and […]
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What you’re experiencing is very common. Resistance often isn’t about capability, but about motivation quality. If board members feel pushed into fundraising, that triggers controlled motivation (low quality motivation) i.e. obligation, guilt, or fear of judgment, which often results in avoidance. Instead, we need to create conditions for volitional motivation (high quality motivation) by satisfying […]
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That’s a really thoughtful question, and you’re not the first to raise it. Many of our clients have been cautious about placing the ask at the very end. To address their concern, we’ve tested both approaches, and the results are clear: when the ask comes last, even if that means it appears on the second […]
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