In the first entry in this series, we discussed how to create a great donate button, but now let’s discuss where that donate button leads. Ideally it would lead straight to your donation form.

Interstitial pages are a challenge to conversion rates. Every page you present donors between their clicking the donate button and an actual donation form represents a decrease in your conversion rate. When donors click that magical button, they expect to be able to donate. They are not asking for more information on why they should donate, how they should donate or how much they should donate; they just want a simple path to actually take the action. After all, the button says “Donate,” not “More information, please.”

Now think about the impact of that “information.” Imagine for a moment if the reasons they have in their head to donate are NOT the reasons presented on that interstitial page! At this point, one of the first steps in the donation process is now telling them they are wrong. It also risks generating cognitive dissonance in the donor—they cannot reconcile the fact that in their heart of hearts they are donating to make themselves feel good while your page is presenting more logically driven reasons that could highlight the potentially selfish emotionally driven nature of their giving. No one wants to hear that they are giving because it makes them feel like a better person, but when presented with reasons to give, you risk that. This is certainly not a great way to start a relationship with donor. Even if they do donate by the end of the process, ultimately you are making part of their initial donative action a potential disappointment.

Depending on the content, these pages can also drive logistical confusion. Often you will find potential donors just click the first thing they see in order to proceed onwards. This can present a challenge if you are presenting “Sustainer” or “One-Time” on the previous interstitial page—then the donor arrives on the actual donation form and doesn’t understand why they are unable to choose to donate “monthly” or thinks “but I just wanted to give once” and —*poof*—you lose the donation. As a point of data, 25% of people searching Google click on the first result that pops up. As humans, we tend to just click immediately to get the dopamine rush of a new screen, one step closer to our goal of completing the task. Don’t let that dopamine rush prevent you from receiving a donation! Use that rush on the actual donation form, not a different page.

All the above applies even if the information on the page is timely and appeals to the donor’s self-interest—for example, during pledge. NPR ran a test and found an interstitial page, even one about premiums currently featured on air—reduced conversion by 15.3%! To be clear, that is a MASSIVE conversion reduction. Generally, if an a/b test changes conversion by 1%, it is a big deal. I can honestly say this is one of the strongest results I have ever seen in an a/b split test. Interestingly, they tested multiple versions, including one about why station support was important, and every version had essentially the same result. It’s clear that simply having a page between the button click and the form is a detriment—no matter the content on that page.

As we know from our previous entry, your donate button does not say “More Info,” but rather “Donate.” Let folks who click it do just that!