How to Create the Perfect Giving Page

How to create your perfect giving page in fourteen steps.

These principles align your audience with your approach to generosity and more importantly, faithfulness. 

1. SSL: Before you create a giving page, make sure your site is secure, especially since browsers are telling people they are not. Without this, your giving rate will go down, people will not trust you, and Google may flag your site as malicious.
2. Logo: When someone visits your giving page, they need to see that they are giving to your organization. You would be surprised at how many giving pages forget this and how fast people drop off. Placing your brand front and center allows people to know that they are giving on your website, and not someone else's.
3. Menu: 92% of clicks are done through your main menu. That's why I recommend placing GIVE (the best content word) on there far right of your main menu, allowing for a clear path to generosity. It also shows that giving is importantly, because it is.
4. Heading: A poignant heading lets people know what page they are on, immediately from the start. A lot of times I see sites that just go straight to an external giving link of a giving page that is super non-descript; don't do that to yourself, or your audience.
5. Blurb: Let people know your why, what, and how in 160 characters or less. It's good for SEO, especially when you add it immediately below your main heading. It drives traffic and allows for a smooth content process from beginning to end.
6. Call to Action Buttons: Give people an option to give right away, on initial screen load (screenshot rule states that 70% of users never scroll below the initial screen load). I recommend two buttons: GIVE NOW and ABOUT GIVING.
7. Story Video: Celebrate what you cultivate through regular giving updates via video. Story is the median of our culture ad video is the driver. Invite people into your story, AFTER giving them an opportunity to give.
8. Donation Form: If possible, embed the form within your website. People will give you three minutes, three pages, and three clicks; don’t waste it on someone else’s website. If you can get your audience to give in under a minute on your site, then you are setting everyone up for success.
9. How to Give Video: If you need to say it, then it’s too hard for your audience, or you have older folks: make it simple. It's never a bad idea to show how people can give.
10. Five secure ways to give: Let people know they can give online, as well as all the other ways they can give to remain faithful and treat their church as an extension of their home.
11. Scripture: Most people expect to give at a church. If needed, explain in depth the why, what, and how of it all. The trick is not to go so deep to turn people off, or too narrow as to turn off a seasoned believer. Narrow your scriptural focus but remain faithful to who you are as a church and how generosity is driven within your culture.
12. Contact: Make people feel secure enough to reach out if they need or want to.
13. Data and Privacy Policy in the footer. Its got to be there, especially in a day and age where data needs to be protected to the highest degree.
14. Automation: What happens when they give and how do they receive follow-up? Make sure there is a plan in place for givers at every stage: first-time, repeat givers, long time givers, etc ...