SPN 114 (Some Personal News)
How to deploy Donor Surveys that deliver against fundraising objectives; how to get more from your SEO articles; and Jobs that took my fancy this week
A very warm welcome to all the new subscribers. I’m thrilled to have you as readers and truly appreciate your feedback and support.
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In this week’s SPN:
Actionable ways to get more out of your SEO articles
How to deploy Donor Surveys in support of Fundraising objectives
Jobs that took my fancy this week
Get More From Your SEO Articles
I had a rude re-awakeneing in my Google Analytics instance this week. SEO articles are not “one and done.”
It’s an iterative process that needs keeping on top of (reminder to self), and it’s also dependent on how well a post is ranking and its trajectory. Here’s a breakdown of that process →
The Approach:
Pop up Search Console every quarter.
Go through the articles that are at least a few months old. Find the ones that are trending downward and add them to a list.
For each page on the list, apply the below changes depending on their current rank.
Ranking 1-7 and getting traffic
These are the articles doing well. They rank for their target keywords and get a decent number of eyes and clicks. Once an article gets 100+ visitors a week, change your goal from SEO increases (views) to conversion increases (sign-ups, donations).
Consider things like:
• Adding CTA’s/a newsletter signup/relevant next articles
• Adding videos to go deeper
• Creating “lead magnets” for newsletter sign ups and content upgrades
• Potentially adding more context to the article
• Don’t fundamentally change the concept of the content.
Google has placed it high for a reason. It’s usually the “feel of the whole blog.” Don’t change that. Changing it often results in losing rank.
Position 8-25
Content ranking here is on the right track, but needs a little something extra.
Often, the post doesn’t address the actual search intent.
Why are donors searching for what they’re searching for? Are you actually answering that question or just addressing it? Are you answering their next question?
You’ll want to add things like:
• Core keyword in the H1/H2’s. You’re likely missing it
• Shorter paragraphs and bullet lists to make skim reading easier (improve readability)
• More internal links
• More focus on the key search intent
• Expanding further to answer their “next question”
Pos. 25+
Assuming the post is at least a few months old, it’s likely stuck.
The most common reason it’s stuck is that it doesn’t match the search at all - it’s not even close. Take a deeper look at the page’s ranking for the keyword you’re going for. See what patterns they all follow.
How do they talk about the keyword/key phrase you’re trying to rank for? You’re likely missing something obvious that 5+ pages on the SERPs (results pages) are doing well.
The second most common reason you’re not ranking is likely word count. Check the average word count and make sure you’re matching that average. Unfortunately, shorter is not usually considered better in SEO.
Pos 50+
If you’ve held this position for your core keyword for 6-12 months rewrite the whole thing. No one’s ever going to see this page otherwise.
Additional thought
The problem with content marketing is that every time you publish something, you’re giving yourself future homework to edit and update it in the future - especially if it’s about topics that shift and update frequently. This becomes quite unwieldy and quickly.
It’s one of the many reasons less, but better content is an approach that makes a ton of sense for most marketing teams.
Explore: Nonprofit Tools (link)
Jobs & Opps 🛠️
Share Our Strength: Manager, Digital Fundraising ($70,000 - $77,000)
UNICEF UK: Head of Program Funding Operations (£65,000)
American Red Cross: Director, Development ($135,000 - $150,000)
ACLU: Social Media Editor ($89,791)
Feeding America: Chief Marketing & Comms ($260,000-$320,000)
UNICEF: Innovation Manager, Artificial Intelligence (P4)
UNHCR: Innovation Officer, Partnerships (IICA2)
UN Foundation: Director, Content and Engagement Strategy, Better World Campaign (BWC) $98,000 - $128,000
ALSAC/St Jude: Director, Video Post Production
UN Secretariat: Data Analyst (Consultant)
Royal British Legion: Executive Director, Digital, Data & Technology (£135,000)
Donor Surveys Done Right
Surveys is an area of improvement for most Org’s. And as a tactic it sits very nicely alongside any ongoing donor experience efforts.
Rather than just measuring “satisfaction”, Donor surveys offer a smart way to achieve 4 fundraising objectives sprinkled throughout the donor lifecycle.
Inform website A/B testing, decrease the drop-off rate
Enrich the current donor database, inform audience testing for acquisition
Reinvigorate the inactive donors without an aggressive “Donate Now” CTA
Inform testing for retention tactics
Let’s jump in.
The First objective is to learn why those who were about to donate decided to drop off one step away from doing so.
Most A/B testing or behavior analytics platforms like HotJar offer functionality to ingest a pre-drop-off survey triggered on certain pages for specific audiences or a random percentage of visitors. The survey usually looks like the one below and is served when the prospective donor navigates off the donation form.
I’ve never seen asking prospective donors “one reason to leave” yield any actionable information.
If the reason to leave was a confusing donation form, slow page load speed, or a lack of interest in the Org’s mission – arguably, the three most common options - these 1) won’t be surfaced in the form and 2) will be useless answers.
A better way to manage those is A/B testing several versions of the form using actual CVR as a success metric, ensuring the website technical performance is on par with the benchmarks, and improving targeting in paid media, respectively.
“What information didn’t you find that would convince you to join our mission?”
This is the question I like the most for a survey and I prefer the multi-choice options:
As an open-ended question, which a (small) percentage of donors will answer and share constructive feedback that would spark an idea or two (least favorite option) or
As a multi-choice question with options such as:
Video [from our ED / CEO] explaining the Org’s mission, talking about its impact
Impact report
Recent set of Financials
Beneficiary video from someone the Org has supported
Charity Navigator rating
“Something else,” followed by an open-ended form
Including hyperlinks to the above resources in the body of the survey question is another touchpoint to serve some best-performing conversion assets and convince some donor prospects to proceed, increasing the conversion rate while leaving the option for open-ended feedback.
SPN Tip: the survey above is best tested first on a specific audience with historically low CVR, instead of a random share of prospects who drop off. For example, if your Org’s CVR is the weakest among female donors under-25, serve it only to them first. Then you can expand to a random share of the general population if you see positive engagement.
SPN Tip: if survey statistics show most donors clicking on a particular asset e.g. an Impact Report, then consider proactively promoting it on the website - a small overlay at the top of the website - and monitor the CVR.
The Second objective for donor surveys is learning who the Org’s active donors are to inform future new audiences testing.
Though in print below is an example of a well-written new donor questionnaire from WWF:
Where possible I’d go with shorter and more frequent one-question surveys via email without a donation CTA. These surveys collect zero-party data - acting as an accessible data enrichment source. Send them to new donors of the profile that the Org would like to acquire more of – a high first donation value, quick conversion to monthly donation after an initial one-time gift, or those donating during the year’s low season.
For the email title I use a variation on “Organization X: we want to know you better.” These emails should be well designed and visual vs just a one line sentence but here are some examples of questions to include:
- (if to select a partner for direct deal advertising) Which news outlet do you consume the most? [NY Times, Washington Post, Fox News, CNN]
- (if to pick a new platform to test in social media) Which of these platforms do you use weekly? [Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Pinterest]
- (if to test a creative asset before putting it into rotation) Which of these creative options resonates with you most? [Option 1, Option 2, Option 3]
- (if to inform targeting criteria in Google Ads) Which content do you consume weekly? [News, Recipes, YouTube, Forums]
SPN Tip: Integrate these emails into your regular cadence, and don’t send these surveys to any donor more than once a month. Sending each question to no more than 25% of the donors enables you to run 4 questions per month within your selected group, which will allow for accurate extrapolation.
In a couple of months, your Org’s internal database will be as precise as buying enriched data from some providers charging tens of thousands of $$$ for it.
The Third objective is to prompt the next donation from inactive donors and less aggressively.
Donors who donated once, haven’t donated for 6+ months since (or 12+ months if their first donation was in December), and have opened at least one email are unlikely to suddenly become active again. A survey built to maximize response rate is more likely to “activate” them again than an aggressive “Donate Now” red button, causing nothing but the desire to unsubscribe for good.
The most scientifically backed survey question is NPS’ (Net Promoter Score) “How likely are you to recommend this X to a friend?” This phrasing is proven to drive the highest response rate.
So “How likely are you to donate to or volunteer for or visit Organization X again?” creates a great email to be sent to these inactive donors, with just a 1-10 option dial or progress bar-type visual in the body of an email.
SPN Tip: After sending it to likely-inactive donors, organize their responses into one of three buckets in your CRM:
Those who engaged and answered with 0-6 (called “the Detractors” in NPS terminology) → mark as “inactive” and exclude from any ongoing email cadences. Email list hygiene is important.
Those who didn’t engage or answered with 7-8 (the Passives) → mark as “unlikely” but keep in ongoing email cadences. Lean into sharing impact stories that underscore your value and the impact being made wherever possible.
Those who engaged and answered with 9-10 (the Promoters) → mark as “likely” and put into a more frequent email cadence focused on sharing impact content and include soft asks.
The Final objective is using surveys to inform retention tactics.
Inspired by the below example from Ontario Nature, all Org’s should include an open-ended “I will renew my support of Organization X if” question.
This single open-ended question with no multi-choice options, even if answered by only a few lapsed donors, will likely provide some great experiment ideas for retention tactics.
That’s all for today!
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And huge thanks to this Quarter’s sponsor Fundraise Up for creating a new standard for online giving.
Now onto the interesting stuff!
Reads From My Week
AI In Marketing Copy: A Surprising Sales Killer (Search Engine Journal)
McKinsey technology trends outlook 2024 (McKinsey)
Universal Music Signs Meta Deal Allowing Its Music to Appear on WhatsApp (WSJ)
A new deal with Amazon means users can shop select Amazon ads on TikTok without leaving the app (Seeking Alpha)
Google’s Android Chief on AI Phones, Antitrust and Apple (WSJ Podcast)
Gen AI Creators: A Beginner’s ‘How To’ Series (Brandtech)
How Amazon's TV Deal With Top YouTube Star MrBeast Soured (Business Insider)
Gen Z’s loneliness crisis may be changing entertainment tastes. Can Hollywood adapt? (LA Times)