Comments on: Online Donations: Usability Testing

By: More on the Nielson report « happydonors

More on the Nielson report « happydonors — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:31:18 +0000

[...] — the best advice/commentary blog for nonprofits out there — recently commented on the Nielson Norman report I just cited. Blackbaud’s Steve McLauglin posted some comments on this including [...]

By: Adam

Adam — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:14:46 +0000

Thanks for the great link to the report. It’s worth noting that A/B testing is always critical for usability. Slight changes in locations of buttons, color schemes, or work flows can lead to significantly different results.

By: Dan Shaw

Dan Shaw — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 15:41:15 +0000

I had a slightly different take on the same source site, for what it may be worth: http://happydonors.com/?p=293

By: Steve MacLaughlin

Steve MacLaughlin — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:11:35 +0000

Usability testing is one of the more under utilized things you can do to improve your online results. It doesn’t require a lot of resources or costs to do even basic testing. I highly recommend Steve Krug’s book “Don’t Make Me Think” which is written for a non-technical audience.

The Nielsen report covers a lot more than just online donations. It really give a good breakdown of some nonprofit website design best practices.

Some good nuggets in the report include:
- Fixing a process with even minor usability problems might increase donations by 10%.
-The most frequently mentioned turnoffs was a lack of or unclear description of an organization’s mission, goals, objectives, or work.
- Confirmation pages are critical on both e-commerce and donation sites. However, non-profit and charity sites must include a confirmation page as part of the donation process, which should include a receipt for tax purposes. Additionally, a receipt should be emailed to the address provided during the donation process.
- Some charities, especially those that support medical research, treatment, and support, should allow users to specify an individual to make their donation in honor or memory of.
- On the confirmation page, thank users for their donation. It doesn’t need to be elaborate, but a simple recognition is appreciated. Also, it’s nice to reiterate how the money will be used.

The report should pay for itself if you try just a few of the recommendations.