Why are your supporters not completing their donation? As digital fundraisers, we’re always so focussed on conversion rates that we may be overlooking those donations which are abandoned mid-way. At THINK Digital Forum we became a little obsessed with wanting to know exactly why users drop-off during the donation process. So we conducted a mini-study for our Digital Forum to compare donation basket abandonment rates over 1 month, across six non-profit organisations. The results varied tremendously but what is clear is that identifying and tweaking the weak spot in your donation process could make a big difference to your conversion rates.

1. Digital Forum 4 November 2014
Donation basket abandonment rates research

2.  Number of people who click on the donate button on your
home page
 % of people who started and completed a single/regular
donation
 % of people who started and didn’t complete a
single/regular donation
 Of those who didn’t complete a single/regular donation,
the reasons why (e.g. 3-D secure password failure, card
type did not match card number)
Numbers we are interested in …

3. Organisation 1:
(Month August 2014)
87% who began a CC single donation completed it
13% did not
Of the 13%:
7% = Card type did not match card number (user error)
4 % = 3-D secure password failure (user error)
2 % = Technical error
Numbers we are interested in …

4. Organisation 2:
(Month August 2014)
78% who began a CC single donation completed it
22% did not
Of the 22%:
Most = Card declined - Most common issues here are people failing the 3D secure/Visa
verified fraud prevention step or putting in an address different to the card address. Some of these then
going back a do it successfully for a second time.
Some = Going to regular donate - Having got to the check out of a single donate some
people then change their minds and go back to the regular donate page instead.
Some = Timing out - Some people just close the browser or leave it open on the card page
without confirming until it times out (15 minutes or more).
Numbers we are interested in …

5. Organisation 2:
(Month August 2014)
81% who began a DD donation completed it
19% did not
Numbers we are interested in …

6. Organisation 3:
(Month August 2014)
86% who began a CC single donation completed it
14% did not
Of the 14%:
7% - User error
5% - Declined bank
2% - Fraud
Numbers we are interested in …

7. Organisation 4:
(Month August 2014)
42% who began a CC single donation completed it
58% did not
Of the 58%:
33% Gift Aid
26% Personal details
16% Card details
25% Tech errors
Numbers we are interested in …

8. Organisation 4:
(Month August 2014)
33% who began a DD single donation completed it
67% did not
Of the 67%:
41% Gift Aid
34% Personal details
14% Bank details
1% Summary
10% Tech errors
Numbers we are interested in …

9. Organisation 5:
(Month August 2014)
96% who began a CC single donation completed it
4% did not
Of the 4%:
50% Exit
14% Navigate back to make a regular gift
10% Card declined or failed
24% Unknown
Numbers we are interested in …

10. Organisation 5:
(Month August 2014)
14% who began a DD donation completed it
86% did not
Numbers we are interested in …

11. Organisation 6:
(Month August 2014)
55% who began a CC single donation completed it
45% did not
Numbers we are interested in …

12. Organisation 6:
(Month August 2014)
43% who began a DD donation completed it
57% did not
Numbers we are interested in …

13. Summary

14. Single gift = 26% avg abandonment rate
For every 100 people who arrive at your
single giving page and start to give, on average
74 (96 best/42 worst) of them will
successfully complete the transaction.

15. Regular gift = 57% avg abandonment rate
For every 100 people who arrive at your
Direct Debit page and start to give, on average
43 (81 best/14 worst) of them will
successfully complete the transaction.