contents Executive summary Introduction 1. Homepage optimisation 2. Website page loading 3. Donation buttons 4. Mobile websites

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2 2 contents Executive summary Introduction 1. Homepage optimisation 2. Website page loading 3. Donation buttons 4. Mobile websites Five other must-do digital initiatives Our credentials in the charity sector

3 3 executive summary Charities are potentially losing out on millions of pounds of online donations according to new research from equimedia. Key Findings Insufficient focus is being given to online and mobile fundraising strategies by not-for-profit organisations in the UK. Many charities have failed to keep pace with technology advances, the huge growth in our dependency on online resources and the public s digital expectations of every organisation. Charities have been slow to capitalise on their supporters shift to online donation methods leading to a potential shortfall of millions of pounds worth of donations per year, as over 20% of all UK charity donations in the last 12 months were executed online. We assessed 129 charity websites and identified the following four common failings: 1. 42% of 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. With the growth in online donations to date and the recent acceleration of growth in mobile communication and payment technologies, charities need to correct the four identified failings in order to begin to gain a share of the potential donations online. The charity sector is just not keeping up with changes in online behaviour amongst its donor audience. While the occasional instance of a high profile, viral, social media craze like the ice bucket challenge can drive massive engagement and spikes in donations, for many charities it is clear that when potential donors reach charity sites they are let down by sites that are difficult to navigate and many organisations do not do enough to convert interest to support.

4 4 introduction Charities are under increasing pressure to compete for the public s support. Storytelling and the creation of often hard-hitting campaigns in an effort to encourage donations play a considerable part in reaching out to potential donors and prompting a reaction. While many organisations spend significant sums of money to increase awareness and engagement with their work, many other charities are missing out on potential support by not taking advantage of the change in donor behaviour. The changing face of UK donors While the number of UK adults donating to charity has shown a small reduction since the beginning of 2011, when this is reviewed against population growth trends the data tells a more urgent story: GB Adults donating to charity in the last 12 months Share of GB population donating to charity in the last 12 months 75% 70% Adults (000) Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q3 Adults who have donated to charity in the last 12 months Adults (000) 65% 60% 55% 50% 2011 Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q3 Adults who have donated to charity in the last 12 months Source GB TGI 2014 Q3 Q Q Change % Change Total GB Adults 49,838,000 51,526,000 1,688, % Total GB Adults donating to charity 35,516,000 33,977,000 1,539, % Share GB adult population donating to charity 71.26% 65.94% -5.32% -7.47%

5 introduction cont 5 The number of UK adults donating to charity during the period Q to Q dropped by 4.33%, while the percentage of UK adult donors as a proportion of the growing population fell by over 7%. The economic pressure all households have been under in recent years has eroded disposable income. Charities vie for donations under difficult circumstances and it is now more crucial than ever for them to compete effectively for support in environments that attract potential donors. This economic context increases the pressure charities are under to make the most of every donation opportunity, every day, in all areas of their business; web donations, charity events, membership recruitment programmes, corporate partnerships, legacies, retail opportunities and one off donations. The digital opportunity Increasingly, online fundraising and the use of fully integrated marketing campaigns across all available channels is becoming not only important, but critical to success as supporters online giving grows. Share of all charity donors using online methods in the last 12 months 25% Send money directly to Charity via internet % 20% 15% 10% 15.8% 11.1% 17.6% 12.6% 18.5% 13.3% 21.6% 21% 20.1% 19.4% 14.2% 14.8% 15.3% 15.7% Sponsor a Fundraising Event - using internet All online methods 5% 7.1% 7.8% 8.2% 8.5% 8.6% 9.2% 9.7% 0% 2013 Q Q Q Q Q Q Q3 Increasingly, a charity s website is one of their most important assets for attracting and completing donations. While there is an overall decline in people giving to charity this is not reflected across all age groups The number of year olds donating money to charity over the last 12 months has grown by 6.8% and the age group are more likely to embrace online giving, being 29% more likely to have sent money directly to charity via the internet than the GB average. 2 The share of all charity donors using online methods has steadily grown by 36% since Q and now represents the method used to give over 20% of all donations to charity! 1

6 introduction cont 6 Are UK charities prepared? We reviewed 129 not for profit organisation s websites to identify where simple improvements could be made to improve the number of donations generated online. We reviewed page load times, meta data and it s performance in search engines, evaluated site copy and calls to action and performed site responsiveness checks. As a result we identified four common failings that prevent many charities from keeping up with changes in donor behaviour. Addressing these barriers to success could help charities increase donations acquired through their websites and help future-proof their online strategies to ensure they secure additional donations as more and more people use online and mobile methods to donate to charity. 1 GB TGI 2014 Q3 (April 2013-March 2014) Pop Kantar Media UK Ltd GB TGI 2014 Q3 (April 2013-March 2014) Pop Kantar Media UK Ltd 2014

7 7 1.homepage optimisation The page title is the most important on page Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) signal. Yet, 42% of charities fail to optimise their homepage titles and risk a poor performance in search engines, as well as missed donations. Optimising the page title and including a correct mark up on the home page is essential in helping sites rank for a wider range of relevant search terms and for creating intelligible search snippets in search results. 42% of our sample had the most basic of page titles (Title Tags) that referenced just the charity name or included the keyword home. Optimised Page Titles Yes 57.72% No 42.28% Figure 1: equimedia charity website analysis - homepage title tag optimisation Title Tags This is an example of how your Title Tag will appear in searc... This is your page description. The font and size of the description has not changed in the latest redesign. Descriptions get cut off after roughly 160 characters... Figure 2: Title tag example A Title Tag appears in three places: Internet browsers (tab titles) Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs, where users are looking for your website) External websites (e.g. social media sites when webpages are shared)

8 1.homepage optimisation cont 8 Given its importance, it is concerning that the analysis identified that almost half of the sample has not paid attention to optimising their on-page assets. This oversight can directly impact a website s ability to achieve rankings for relevant searches and could result in lost traffic and missed donations. Human-led optimisation is always best for homepages. The website homepage is your shop window and the way you use mark up on this page is critical for ensuring your site appears when searches are performed for the search terms you want to rank against. Database or CMS-driven website optimisations, especially for the homepage, are definitely not recommended. Fortunately this common error is one of the easiest SEO issues to fix. SEO optimisation tips How to optimise your page title for SEO: 1) Create a bespoke homepage title in Figure 2 above you can see that search engines will truncate titles in the search results if they exceed a certain length. That said, many SEO experts believe that search engines use the keywords in your page title for ranking purposes, even if they get cut off in the search results. We therefore advise that you create a bespoke homepage title that will encourage conversion and clicks to your site, rather than conforming to a specific specification or word limit. 2) Use your important keywords upfront the front of the title tag is the best place to convey to the user what your site is about, and if you get to the point quickly you will encourage a better Click Through Rate (CTR). 3) Use your brand power although there is an argument to suggest your brand should go at the end of a title tag, if your brand is well-known enough to make a difference to your CTRs you should feature your brand name first. For newer charities where the brand is less relevant or less well known than the keyword description of your work, use the description first. 4) Leverage emotional impact creating an emotional connection with a potential supporter is crucial in the charity sector, so creating a compelling title tag is of paramount importance. You need to convey the most positive message possible about the work your charity does, and reassure them that you are dedicated to your chosen cause. After all, the page title in search results could be a visitor s first interaction with your site. For further information on page titles and how to fix this for your charity, see Matt Cutts video 3 on this topic. 3 Matt Cutts Snippets and Titles

9 1.homepage optimisation cont 9 Search snippets Other important elements of homepage optimisation are search snippets and Google is constantly evolving its SERP to provide more information to the user without them needing to visit your website (our blog post Do you need a website anymore? 4 talks more about this). Search snippets are the few lines of text that appear under every search result page title and are increasingly important in a world where the user is time-poor and requires maximum information with minimum clicks. People just don t have the time or inclination to view and consume information from individual websites anymore a trait noted in other sectors with a shift to the usage of price comparison sites. Google can only create rich, informative search snippets if it understands the content on your pages. Google understands your website page content by reading the meta data on each page and so the methodology used by your webmaster to create the information is crucial. Potential supporters must be able to easily understand what you do when seeing a search result. A good example of a rich snippet for a recipe page: The on-page content in this instance has been marked up so that Google can identify and pull in a photo, review ratings and preparation time for the dish; allowing the user to decide whether this site is relevant for their search without the need to actually click through to the website. Structured data, such as rich snippets, have been found to provide a 30% increase in CTR (source: Google), so in an increasingly competitive market where fewer UK adults are giving to charity year on year, adding a few additional lines of HTML code to your site is a fairly easy way to build interest in your charity. Given that using search snippets alone have been reported to improve CTR by 30% it is too costly an oversight for charities to neglect these simple optimisations. Based on Advanced Web Ranking s 2014 organic CTR data study 6, 1st position on the SERP will deliver a CTR of 31.24%. A generic search term like donate to charity receives 320 local monthly searches (UK) 7 and research suggests that the average donation size is Based on this, a charity securing position 1 for donate to charity and implementing the on-page mark up to achieve a 30% CTR improvement in this case could result in an additional 1,791 per year in donations from this search term alone! 9.the potential value of lost donations for the 54 charities that weren t optimising their homepage titles and meta data equates to almost 1m 5 Google support pages provide more information on how to optimise your website for search snippets.

10 10 2. website page loading Charities that fail to trim the fat from their website risk slow page load times, which can result in hundreds of thousands of pounds in lost donations. In 2010, Google began taking page load speed into account as a factor for ranking a website. This fact, coupled with the expectation from consumers for ecommerce websites to load in 2 seconds or less 10, has led to a shift in the way consumers expect Loading to receive information online. According to Tagman research, for every 1 second delay in page load times there were 11 percent fewer page views and a 7 percent loss in conversions. Looking at the 129 charity websites using Google s Page Speed Insights tool the Page Speed Score ranges from 0 to 100 points. In this instance, a higher score is better and a score of 85 or above indicates that the page is performing well. According to Google, a site with pages achieving a score in the 60s suggests that steps should be taken to improve site page load speeds if it is not a lot of work and therefore 60 is used as the benchmark for okay page performance. Out of the 129 websites we reviewed, 32 had a page speed score of less than 60, which denotes poor page load speeds. This indicates that 24% of the sites surveyed have a significant opportunity to fix some on-page elements which would result in a swift and measurable impact on page performance and improvement in the user experience. With an additional 46 sites also having scores in the 60s, there is a significant number of charities that can do much more to improve site speed and thus significantly increase donations through this work. 4 Blog author: Ryan Webb Digital Development Director, equimedia: ,100k based on same metrics and positions across 5 search terms x 54 websites 6 Advanced Web Ranking CTR Study Full report: 7 Google Keyword Planner Tool 8 Charities Aid Foundation Research: 9 Based on 3.96% average website conversion rate equimedia charity client GA data 10 Tagman, Akamai and Gomez

11 2. website page loading cont 11 Google Page Speed < Score Figure 3: equimedia charity website analysis - Google Page Speed Benefits of optimised speed performance: 1) Increased visitor engagement and donor conversion 2) Important ranking signal for overall SEO rankings 3) Landing page load time is incorporated in the AdWords Quality Score algorithm and can affect the Cost Per Click (CPC) you pay for your paid search ad clicks traffic Applying the following theoretical page speeds (in seconds) against the Google page speed scores, we can build a picture of the lost donation potential for charities with sluggish websites: Google Page Speed Load speed(seconds) Number of sites in sample > < Page speed should be a priority consideration for all charity websites and as these calculations show, it is worth discussing with your developers which of the following page speed optimisations could be included in future website development schedules. In order to compare the performance of key landing pages in your site and also review suggestions for improvements to individual pages, consult the site speed data in Google Analytics on your website for key landing pages in the: Content > Site speed report. Google also recommends the following for improving website page speed: Avoid landing page redirects Enable compression Improve server response time Leverage browser caching Minify resources >80 Optimize images Optimize CSS Delivery Prioritize visible content Remove render-blocking JavaScript Use asynchronous scripts Loading.If we take the average donation size of 29 and average charity conversion rate of 3.96% and assume that if a charity website takes an additional second to load, for every 400,000 unique visits each month that charity could be missing out on up to 375,840 in donations every year Based on conversion rate being improved by 7% (1 second page speed improvement) = 4.23% conversion rate

12 12 3. donation buttons Donation buttons need to be visible to work. Our home page analysis revealed 26 sites that do not mention the word donate on their home page at all, and of those that do try to facilitate giving, the donation buttons often aren t prominent enough to attract attention. Having multiple calls to action that encourage visitors to donate must be a key consideration for every charity. However it is important to recognise the primary reason for a visit to your website may not be to donate. It is therefore equally important that each site visitor can easily find the information they seek. They are then more likely to come back to the site and donate subsequently. Many users first visit to your site may be an informational search, prompted by a personal experience or the experience of a loved one. The role of the site is always to answer questions about what your charity does, why the charity is needed and by whom, and to give examples of how the charity helps others. Answering visitors questions plays an important part in nurturing their support and so prompting them to help you financially or in other practical ways should always be included as you tell your story. Design layout Making it simple for visitors to access the information they need AND to donate, if they decide to, should be incorporated in every charity s website design. Yet, too often this dual requirement is not adequately reflected in home page design. Below are examples of good and bad wireframe designs for two fictional charity homepages. The main differences between the two examples are the frequency and positioning of calls to action. Site visitors need you to guide them through your site and tell them what you would like them to do once they have landed on your site, whilst giving them options to find out more. Frequent and obvious suggestions to find out more, and to support our work instruct the user how to get more involved with the site and the information it holds, as well as how to show support for the cause. CLICK HERE TO DONATE TODAY

13 bad wireframe example 13 CLICK HERE TO DONATE TODAY

14 good wireframe example 14 CLICK HERE TO DONATE TODAY

15 15 4. mobile websites For the last eight years or so, it has been the year of mobile. Finally this statement is actually true as personal ownership of mobile phones has grown by a third over the last 30 months. However according to the research over 70% of charities are still not ready to respond to this mobile revolution in donor behaviour. Charities now need to make a step change in the way they market their brands and become more accessible for mobile device users. Personal ownership of mobile phones, January June % Jan-12 Apr-12 Jul-12 Smartphone Base: 2,000 internet users aged 16+ Source: GMI/Mintel Sep-12 Jan-13 Apr-13 Jun-13 Sep-13 Dec-13 Apr-14 Jun-14 Basic mobile phone Dual Screen Use Social networks like Twitter are increasingly acting as the second screen to TV, with users tweeting about what s happening on TV in real time (60% of users use Twitter while watching TV 12 and 80% of UK users access Twitter via their mobile) 13. Phones and tablets provide charities with a new opportunity to reach suitable audiences as they consume relevant TV. 12 Twitter (via econsultancy: 13 Twitter UK

16 mobile websites cont 16 If a charity is using any form of TV advertising they should ensure they capitalise on the opportunity to reach large audiences through all devices as each ad is shown and consider paid promotions of relevant posts through Twitter and Facebook. This will help secure additional website visits and donations as a result of the message being spread amongst users across multiple platforms. Google cites that 36% of all searches in the Donations & Charitable Giving sector are now on mobile devices (up 16% year on year) 14. This reinforces the argument that charities need to consider how their sites are being accessed by mobile devices through the SERPs and ensure the landing page all traffic is directed to, is appropriate for the platform being used. Responsive design 70% of the UK s top retailers now have fully responsive websites. Charities need to do the same to maximise their income. However, only 26% of charities researched recognised the importance of mobile donations enough to have developed fully responsive homepages, while almost 70% use the same template for their mobile, desktop and tablet sites delivering a less than optimal supporter experience through smaller devices. Percentage of sample with Fully Responsive Homepage No 69.53% Fully responsive 26.56% Tablet Only 1.56% Mobile Only 1.56% Dynamic Serving 0.78% Figure 4: equimedia charity website analysis - responsive websites Considering that over 20% of people who donated to charity in the last 12 months did so via the Internet 15, coupled with the continuing growth in smartphone use, it is clear that if the vast majority of charities continue to ignore the importance of delivering a mobile device appropriate user experience, opportunities to maximise donations or support online will be lost. For our own charity clients, on average 21% of all website sessions are on a mobile device so using the average donation size of 29, and assuming 400,000 unique monthly users with an average mobile device conversion rate of 0.2% 16, an average charity is only benefiting from around 58,000 in donations per year through mobile devices 17. If conversion rate can be increased, by moving to responsive website designs and catering for this audience, the true potential of the mobile channel for donations could be realised and equate to millions of pounds. 14 Google Donations and Charitable Giving Quarterly Update Q GB TGI 2014 Q3 (April 2013-March 2014) Pop Kantar Media UK Ltd Average charity client conversion rate mobile conversion rate averaged client data 17 Assumes 116,000 monthly unique visitors from mobile devices

17 mobile websites cont 17 In an infographic on his blog post 18 our Technical Operations Manager covers five ways to go mobile and explores the options available and the pros and cons of each solution. While the final decision on how you approach mobile should be made based on your individual charity s requirements, it is clear that the shift in donor behaviour and the increasing use of mobile devices to search for information, products and services related to the charitable giving sector means this should be a business priority for charities for the remainder for An improvement to just a 2% conversion rate on mobile devices would lead to over 500,000 in additional annual donations through mobile devices, for just one sample charity! 18 Source: Tim Hooper, Technical Operations Manager, equimedia:

18 18 five other must-do digital initiatives 1. Maximise Google AdGrants Google AdGrants were set up to help not-for-profit organisations find more supporters and allow them to invest in building visibility by supporting campaign activity that may have been beyond their marketing budget. The standard AdGrant provides $10,000 per month for charities to invest, an incredible opportunity, but it does need to be carefully handled. You have to actively manage the account, and there is a cost per click cap of $2, which could be restrictive in terms of brand-building keywords that have a higher CPC. And if $10,000 sounds good then $40,000 per month through the GrantsPro scheme will sound even better. To get this, charities need to pass strict eligibility criteria so it s best to talk to a Google partner that has experience in delivering AdGrants to determine how you can take advantage. 2. Build real engagement via Twitter Advertising on Twitter presents a fantastic opportunity to build communities of followers and influencers at a fast pace, allowing them to engage with your profiles and share fundraising messages with more people than ever before. Charities looking for additional cut through currently should choose Twitter over Facebook for campaigns primarily because at present only 23 percent of marketers make use of Twitter s promoted tweets compared with 92 percent using Facebook s promotion options. There are opportunities to engage with users on multiple levels, including promoted tweets.

19 five other must-do digital initiatives cont 19 A charity using Twitter s managed service and spending their full insertion order by the original planned end date will be rewarded by Twitter topping up their ad budget by 20% at the end of the campaign, the day after the insertion order finishes. Effectively free advertising! 3. Track your activity through Google Analytics Understanding performance is key to improving it and Google Analytics is a great free tool which enables you to get a true picture of overall performance. In addition to using Google Analytics for pure MACRO conversion trends and analysis (donations, memberships, etc.) using GA to understand MICRO conversions (usually awareness or engagement focused that can pre-empt the donation or equivalent event) is also valuable in determining the roles and contribution of each marketing channel. 4. Sign up to the YouTube non-profit programme Google again, this time via YouTube, is offering something extra for charities with a number of additional features e.g. call-to-action overlays and video annotations, video streaming and production resource, to help you make more of your existing YouTube presence. One of the key extras is the addition of a donate button on your channel. This small addition will allow users to donate without being navigated away from the content they are watching. 5. Leverage value across charity silos through retargeting This requires stakeholders from different areas of the charity; fundraising, legacy, membership, visitor, high street shop etc., to work collaboratively and put the overall aim of the organisation before their own individual budget lines. By joining up the marketing strategy, the overall gain for the organisation vastly outweighs the performance of silo focused media planning and execution, greatly increasing the organisation s overall return on investment.

20 our credentials in the charity sector 20 Just some of the charity brands that we have experience working with If you would like us to help you identify your online fundraising potential, get in touch: Stacey Wilson Clare Lafferty