What Do Web Users Want From Nonprofits? What the Data Says

Many nonprofit organizations build their websites based on hunches about what they think their unique audiences want to see. While it’s true you know your audience better than anyone, you can greatly increase your website’s return on investment (ROI) by taking a data-driven design approach.

With a data-backed strategy, you won’t have to guess which website marketing tactics will appeal best to your audience. You can confidently design your site with the help of cold, hard facts. To jumpstart your approach, here are five things visitors want to see from top nonprofit websites based on relevant research and data.

1. A positive first impression

Website users are incredibly adept at making accurate snap judgments about a website’s quality. In fact, one study found that visitors can assess your website’s visual appeal in just 50 milliseconds. By offering a positive first impression, you can encourage visitors to stick around and browse your site rather than bouncing to a better option.

Make a stellar first impression on new visitors by incorporating the following elements into your website:

• Fast load speeds. Research from Google shows the probability of bounce increases by 32% as page load time goes from one to three seconds. Ensure your website loads quickly by compressing large image files, eliminating unnecessary code, and ditching clunky plugins.
• Compelling, consistent branding. 81% of consumers say they must trust a brand to consider buying from it. The same goes for your nonprofit’s donors. You can increase supporters’ trust in your organization by using eye-catching, consistent branding throughout your website that’s aligned with your other branded marketing materials.
• Easily-accessible information. Users should be able to find what they’re looking for on your website within seconds. This is especially important for nonprofit healthcare websites—people facing a medical or health issue must access information as quickly as possible. Create a streamlined user journey with links in your main menu and buttons on your homepage that speak to different user needs. For example, you can include homepage calls to action (CTAs) that include signing up to volunteer, donating to your cause, registering for a healthcare appointment, or hosting a peer-to-peer fundraising event.

Review your website regularly to ensure a positive visitor experience from the very beginning of the user journey. Kanopi’s nonprofit website maintenance guide recommends taking a continuous improvement approach—this involves regularly evaluating your website’s analytics and user feedback and implementing the insights you learn.

A continuous improvement approach allows you to combine insights from external data trends with your nonprofit’s unique user data to build a website experience that exceeds visitor expectations.

2. Mobile-friendly content

According to the M+R Benchmarks report, “The majority of nonprofit website traffic came from users on mobile devices — 52%, with 48% of traffic from users on desktop devices. However, 78% of revenue came from users on desktop devices.”

This data tells us two things about user behavior: nonprofit supporters use their mobile devices to learn about your organization, but don’t make mobile donations at the same rate. Creating a mobile-friendly website is essential to driving traffic, while developing a mobile-optimized giving process is essential to driving conversions (AKA donations).

Use these design aspects to build a mobile-friendly site that encourages both traffic and conversions:

• Large fonts and buttons. Visitors shouldn’t have any trouble reading content on your mobile website or tapping buttons and links. Manually test your website to identify readability and tap target issues.
• Simple navigation. Ensure your website’s main menu translates smoothly from desktop to mobile. Simplify your navigational menu to only include the most essential items. Consider using a hamburger menu style that users can tap to see all menu options.
• Mobile-friendly forms. Your website’s forms, including your donation page, should be simple and convenient to fill out on mobile devices. Condense your forms to include only essential questions and ensure all form instructions are large enough to be read on phone screens.

In the United States, 15% of adults are now “smartphone-only” internet users, up from 8% in 2013. This means they own a smartphone but do not subscribe to a home broadband service. The rise of these internet users makes it essential for your nonprofit to create a mobile-friendly website now to prepare for even greater mobile dependence.

3. Mission-related stories

Stories have a unique ability to stick out in human memory—research shows they can be remembered up to 22 times more than facts alone. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that 92% of people want brands to create story-like ads.

Use your website’s content to tell your nonprofit’s story in a variety of ways, including:

• Testimonials
• Case studies
• Reports and research articles
• External coverage
• Donor gratitude stories

These stories should vary in format, from long-form blog posts to photo essays, infographics, and videos. They should also include direct quotes from beneficiaries and authentic, original imagery. This type of content increases readers’ trust in your stories, showing them you’re committed to transparency and relatability.

4. Engaging, dynamic visual content

As mentioned above, visuals play an essential role in forming visitors’ first impressions of your website. The crux of an engaging website is using visual content strategically to appeal to user preferences.

According to website design research from Clutch, photos/images, color, and videos were the top visual elements consumers appreciate in website design. You can incorporate these elements into your website in a variety of unique ways to increase audience interaction, such as:

• Beneficiary testimonials with portraits of the individuals interviewed.
• Informative infographics with your nonprofit’s unique branding and color palette.
• Photo slideshows recapping recent events.
• An auction item catalog with detailed photos and descriptions of items available for bidding at an upcoming event.
• Behind-the-scenes video tours of your nonprofit’s headquarters or facilities.

We recommend working with a professional photographer or nonprofit video production company to ensure your visuals look polished and compelling. Collaborate with your photographer or videographer to ensure they capture your nonprofit’s unique brand voice and convey your mission accurately.

5. Accessibility

Accessible websites provide a positive, understandable, robust experience for all users, regardless of their ability or mobility level. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 1.3 billion people experience significant disability. This represents 16% of the world’s population or one in six people.

However, many nonprofits have yet to build fully accessible websites that meet various user needs and abilities. As the Nonprofit Tech for Good report states, “Only 22% of nonprofits have websites designed for those with visual and hearing disabilities.”

These are a few core components of accessible websites that users will be looking for:

• Sufficient color contrast between foreground and background
• Alternative text for images
• Captions for videos
• Simple and easily understandable navigation
• Hierarchical page structures with logical headings
• Keyboard navigation
• Clear, straightforward language without jargon

Accessibility isn’t just a nice-to-have website feature—it’s a legal requirement for nonprofits that receive federal funding. With that in mind, your organization should consult with a professional web design firm and build your website following the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). These regulations are the industry standard for building accessible websites, and following them will help you maintain compliance.

Even more importantly, developing accessible web content improves the visitor experience for all users, improving your organization’s reputation and increasing donor loyalty.

Wrapping up: Tips to track website results

As you implement these strategies, monitor your website’s analytics throughout your efforts to improve the user experience. Double the Donation’s nonprofit marketing guide recommends tracking metrics such as:

• Total page visits for individual landing pages.
• Bounce rate, or how many visitors visit your website and click away without taking an action.
• Conversions, or how many visitors complete an action to further engage with your nonprofit, such as donating or registering to volunteer.

Use these insights to understand which strategies work best and which need improvement. With a continuous improvement mindset, you can refine your website over time and make it a valuable resource for all audiences, no matter their preferences.