Four common digital errors hinder charities’ online fundraising, says Equimedia
An analysis of 129 UK charity websites by digital and direct agency Equimedia has found four common weaknesses that it argues will limit the amount they will raise online.
It says that over 20% of all donations to UK charities in the last 12 months were made online, but that this figure could be higher. For example, charity donors’ use of online methods to give or get involved in supporting a charity are continuing to grow:
The agency looked at four specific factors the could benefit a charity of any size, whether national or local – speed, mobile responsiveness, fundraising ask, and basic search engine optimisation. The overall result, for the end of 2014, is not encouraging, and could indicate why online donations are not higher.
Top digital failures
1. 42% charities do not optimise their homepage titles
2. 62% of charity websites have ‘slow’ page load times
3. Over 20% of charities fail to mention ‘donate’ in their homepage copy
4. Over 70% of charities do not have fully responsive homepages.
The agency concludes that “the charity sector is just not keeping up with changes in online behaviour amongst its donor audience”.
Practical advice
But the agency isn’t simply criticising the sector. It’s free 20-page report includes some practical tips, explaining what the problems are and why and how they might be fixed or improved.
The report concludes with five other tips for making the most out of digital including maximising Google Ad grants, building engagement via Twitter, and tracking activity through Google Analytics.
You can download the whitepaper Charities Missing Out on Millions from Equimedia at no charge.
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