NPA declares 2006 The Year of Conversion
Here at NPA we talked about establishing some New Year resolutions or predictions for the coming year. We scrapped that idea, because raising money online will probably be harder this year, and expectations have been raised among senior management and boards.
Instead NPA is declaring 2006 to be the Year of Conversion.
Conversion, as NPA defines it, is a measurable action taken by a web site visitor; i.e. donating, signing up for the email newsletter or signing a petition. Therefore, the conversion rate is the percentage of visitors to your web site that take such an action.
In 2005, Rick Christ was quoted as saying, "Conversion stinks." That's true. Not only are the conversion levels dismal, few nonprofits are actually making online business decisions based on conversion data.
In 2005, most large nonprofits were in disaster fundraising mode – either because disaster relief is their primary mission, or because donations to non-disaster organizations suffered. A ton on money was raised online in 2005, yet the conversion rate still hovered under 2%. Imagine how much could have been raised if conversion was just 3%. (No, not 50% more, but the residual effects of 50% more from EACH campaign!) Nonprofits are spending big money on technology tools and integrated sites. They are increasing spending for online acquisition through keywords. They are sending regular email communications to ever increasing lists. Yet VERY few are actually testing what works online and what doesn't.
Conversion is about setting the goals for a particular campaign, creating copy and landing pages that support that campaign, testing the variables, establishing and tracking the appropriate data to measure success, and then using that data to make your next decision.
So get ready, because for a whole year we are making life about conversion. We are going to teach it, preach it, profile it, and practice it. No matter what topic we cover, our suggestions will be based on increasing conversion.
We want to know what you want to know about conversion. Send us your questions and comments, your ideas and your frustrations. comments@npadvisors.com
January 2006
posted by NPAdvisors.com @ 12:14 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
You're right. Hardly anyone's testing their online fundraising. Here's why: "It's too difficult," and "Our provider can't do that." (I hear these all the time.)
Both excuses are bogus, of course. Nonprofits have been running complicated tests in direct mail for years. That's thousands of times more difficult than testing online will ever be. And if your provider can't pull off testing fire them now! Chances are, they can do it. They either don't want to, or you don't want to.
The truth is, we don't know much about what works online. The only way to find out is testing.
Thanks for a useful post on an important topic.
A development director at an animal rescue center sent these questions by email which we're posting here:
"But do you distinguish between those who are driven there for that specific type of reason vs those who are there for other reasons?"
NPA: Yes, you should distinguish. You should measure conversion from each controlable distinct group of visitors. Email recipients, search marketing visitors, banner ad clicks will all have separate conversion tracks. The goal is to create a track for each group of visitors and maximize conversion for each group.
"For example in our case, we get thousands and thousands of hits through PetFinders on dogs and cats for adoptions. Is it fair to try and determine the conversion rate for those casual visitors compared to those who came to the site directly."
NPA: No, it's not fair to compare them. Each should have its own conversion goal and track.
"Plus, our primary goal for the website remains to boost adoptions, then raise money (except in time of crisis), so if I am too strong on the fundraising pitch or look too commercial upfront, I risk alienating would-be adopters."
NPA: Pet adoption is a great goal and if adoptions are your primary goal, then you want to measure the conversion rate of adoptions per 1000 visits from each group of site visitors.
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