19 Nonprofit Website A/B Tests Every Fundraiser Should Run

Fundraising studies across the board continue to report the growth of online fundraising. More and more donations are coming in online, and the trend doesn't seem to be reversing anytime soon.

That makes nonprofits' already important websites even more vital. If online is the channel through which donors are moving toward for their donations, fundraisers have to make sure their organization's online hubs are as efficient and effective as possible. Add in the fact that many donors find organizations through online search engines and social-media referrals, and the importance of the nonprofit website amplifies even more.

Just like with direct mail, in order to ensure a nonprofit's website is in order, the organization must run tests. A recent KISSmetrics blog post lays out 19 A/B tests that fundraisers should run on their websites.

According to the post, there are four main areas primed for testing — typography, calls to action, pricing schemes and landing-page copywriting — in addition to some general testing to employ.

Here are 19 elements to test outlined by KISSmetrics, some slightly adjusted for fundraisers:

Typography

• Serif vs. sans serif type
• Colors
• Font size
• Typefaces

Calls to action

• Position
• Color
• Text

Pricing schemes/offer

• Freemium vs. premium offer
• Monthly giving vs. single-gift giving options
• Ask strings on the donation page

Landing-page copywriting

• Short-form vs. long-form copy
• Video vs. text pages
• Actual text

General tests

• Number of columns
• Background images and patterns
• Navigation links
• Link color
• Contact form fields
• Number of steps in your donation process — single-step donations almost always perform better