Website analytics: The numbers don’t lie!

Everyone loves the sweet smell of higher recognition. Marketing and fundraising activities are recommended strategies to achieve this goal. But not every NGO has a clear idea of how much bang you can get for your buck. How much money could you earn from a well-designed website? Here’s some data that could help you calculate how much time and money to invest on the web.

US-based group M+R has released their 2014 Benchmark Report that analyses NGOs’ marketing activities. An exhaustive study of over 2 billion emails, 5.6 million donations and 7.5 million actions online[1] by U.S. based NGOs shows how much effort it takes to convert users into donors and keep them coming back. We’ve presented key factors that may be of interest to NGOs. Don’t let the data paralyse you! Use this report as a benchmark to measure expectations for your own campaigns. The NGOs they surveyed have a much larger reach than most Indian NGOs, so do keep that factor in mind as well.

• Website traffic: Website traffic for NGOs increased overall by 16% from 2012[2], as did social media reach. Medium-sized NGOs reported the highest increase in traffic

Remember: Make sure to have a responsive website. People accessing your website are not necessarily going to be sitting at home in front of a computer. Make sure your site and newsletter are easily viewable on a smartphone or tablet.

• Online Giving: Online giving had increased, with nearly all sectors they viewed reporting an increase in online revenue between 2012 and 2013[3]. Small NGOs saw a    drop of 3% in their online revenue, so if you’re a small NGO make sure that’s not you!

Remember: A donation page is a great way to accomplish fundraising goals for your organization. The page gives donors the satisfaction of having supported your NGO. Donation pages in the sectors they surveyed had more than 12% conversion rates. Look to have a payment gateway on your website, and direct traffic from your newsletters/emailers and social media campaigns towards it whenever relevant.