No one knows more about usability than Jakob Nielsen; he recently tested nonprofit web sites and found that much can be done to optimize online giving. Major points:
- nonprofit web sites are good at attracting new donations but less so in ‘sustaining long term donor relationships’
- potential donors primarily want information on the organization’s mission, objectives and work as well as how it uses donations but few nonprofits provide this information prominently on their home page, where many constituents begin (and may end) their research
- donations are discouraged by usability problems relating to page /site design and by poor content not optimized for the web
Not to my surprise, Jakob also mentioned how poorly large affiliate based organizations integrate national web sites with local chapter sites, saying that most looked ‘completely different’ from the main web pages. At my organization, we provide templates to insure some level of consistency, but there still isn’t enough coordination to insure consistency with our national site.
This report shows the value of doing actual user testing, not just asking others in your nonprofit what they think users want. Don’t wait until you’re ready to do a full web site redesign, which for many of us may not happen very often. Use inexpensive tools such as 4Q and SurveyMonkey to learn how your web site can be improved.
Jakob’s full report is available here.
As I was reviewing our data base, I came across some significant data contradictions in favor of new technology versus old technology. In any given situation and/or environment, there are always discrepencies concerning technology. If at these times, I had a data filter process that only allowed the current definitions and proofs and disallowed all disproven theories, it would be such a wonderful world!!