It’s easy to view a website as a fixed thing—kind of like a house. You start with a plan, create a blueprint, build it, and then move in. But a nonprofit’s website is much more like a living ecosystem than a static thing—one which must support thousands of people continuously entering and exiting it. And how we approach supporting this ecosystem once it exists determines whether it will thrive or not.
Creating a website to represent a social impact organization and help advance its mission starts with establishing goals (or KPIs). Great effort is put into conducting research and collaborating on design so that it’s as effective as possible in achieving these goals. If budget allows, we may even do user testing of prototypes during the design process to confirm that our assumptions are correct before we commit to creating. Eventually the exciting day arrives that we launch our new website! Then what?
Nonprofits with the most successful websites usually realize that measuring and optimizing their performance is a vital part of the mission. Organizations who rely on their websites for donations or to drive action through campaigns often focus on measuring performance because the link between goals and outcomes is so strong. But think tanks, research institutes, and foundations who emphasize publishing, knowledge sharing, and capacity building also have website goals. Whatever a nonprofit’s approach to change is, the key to maintaining a successful website is being clear on the goals and then committing to achieve them.
This work of measurable design is some of the stuff that Constructive’s Director of Strategy & UX, Paul Sternberg loves most. Interested in tools and techniques to make your digital strategy more measurable and your website more effective in achieving your goals? Then have a look at the resources Paul’s pulled together from our practice to help with everything from planning and research through to continuous testing. Not only can they help you improve in the near-term, the ongoing improvement they offer can also extend the life of your website by making sure it continues to achieve the goals you have for it.
Airtable: Organize and Connect Your Research
Optimizing website performance starts with organized research. Getting this right makes all of the difference in analyzing results. Traditional spreadsheet tools like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets are great, but Airtable is the tool we love most for making research more connected and beautiful.
Crazyegg: Optimize & Analyze the User Experience
Google Analytics are great for giving you an external view of how people use your website. But what about the on-page experience? Crazyegg is an analytics platform that provides invaluable insight into user behavior with heat maps, scroll maps, and click details—then helps you improve with A/B testing, session recordings, and more.
Audience Conversion Optimization with Optimizely
Where Optimizely stands out from the analytics offered on Google Analytics and softwares like Crazegg is in the breadth of its website conversion resources and data. Insights into which of your site visitors are making online donations or joining your community in other ways are invaluable to your funding efforts and engaging with your audiences consistently.
“Moves Management”: What is It and How Can it Help Your Nonprofit
Moves management is the process of cultivating relationships over time, from awareness to active engagement. In this primer, Salesforce explains how nonprofits can use marketing funnels to build trust, show impact, inspire action, and move audiences to increase their contributions to supporting the mission, whatever form it takes.
Building Strategic Meaning: Personas or Archetypes ?
Design that achieves your goals starts with knowing your audience. Personas and archetypes are mainstays of painting a picture of who you’re designing for. But which is better and why? Can you use both? UX Collective breaks down personas and archetypes and how to think about using them.
Consider User Flow In Designing Your Site
Website experiences occur across pages and over time. But often, design work involves static wireframes and comps. Enter user flows. They’re an invaluable way to make sure the website you design achieves your goals and your audiences’. In this article, The Interactive Design Foundation teaches how you can analyze the flow of audiences’ journeys through your website to accomplish both your and their specific goals.
More Constructively Curated
• 7 Resources on Design Principles for Your Nonprofit’s Brand Strategy
• 8 Great Resources to Improve Your Strategic Workshop Facilitation
• 10 Resources to Make Your Design More Inclusive & Accessible
