I recently received the campaign above, so I thought I would share my thoughts on it.

First of all, the copy could be improved.  It is not inclusive and inviting – in fact it pushes you away. They don’t make me feel special as part of that 1%, and the task of getting everyone to donate is not something I, as a donor, can achieve.

However, the use of a highlighted personalised reminder of my previous gift was good.

Also, the buttons embedded into the email were clever – especially the renew button.

I clicked that button which took me to this landing page…

There wasn’t an affirmation – “Yes! I’d like to support Wikipedia…” and no thank you. Either would be good, and both would be better.

Because I donated before, they know how I donated (credit card, Amazon or Paypal).  The email click could have taken me straight to the donation details entry form.  Instead, I had to click ‘donate by credit card’.

This should have been the landing page from the first click I did in the email.  But with an affirmation or thank you added.

Unfortunately, despite Wikipedia being global, I couldn’t actually make the gift.  Only US states were available, so I couldn’t get past this.

Darn it.

Perhaps, they would argue, I could donate by PayPal but that is not a very donor-centric approach.

When you are putting all that effort into a campaign, using clever buttons and personalisation, it is worth the while going through the user experience from the donor’s point of view.  Make sure they can actually give.

Find out how you can avoid these common mistakes and learn how to effectively communicate with your (potential) donors by checking out our Mid-Value Donor Super Course. It’s available for all members of The Fundraisingology Lab.

Sean