Every day at Donatekart we aim to make a real difference in the lives of all those who have no one to care for them. We believe in making the world a better place, one step at a time. Feeding the hungry warm meals, building a home for the homeless, giving the voiceless a comfortable life – we work towards restoring the faith in humanity.
Trust, transparency, and a seamless user experience are our pillars. Our Product Team and Customer Support Team work together to give our donors a simple yet fulfilling sense of joy when they decide to give back to the causes close to their hearts.
Yet, there are times when we face donor abandonment. In simple terms, it’s when a prospective donor fails to complete the donation process. Research from around the world shows that 60% of donors leave the process midway with the intention of returning at a later date but rarely ever do.
But why does it happen?
When we asked our Senior Product Manager, Avishek Sharma why this is a common occurrence for crowdfunding platforms, he had something interesting to share.
“Well, think about how many times we end up abandoning our carts while shopping online. It’s easy to add items to your cart, but going in and completing all the steps to finalize your purchase is a lot more time-consuming. It’s the same with donations.”
Complex processes, too many steps to complete the donation, mixed messaging, lack of brand consistency, and security concerns for the money being donated are some of the top reasons donors drop off.
“It is absolutely essential that the website is welcoming and easy to navigate. In my experience, users want to be able to make an impact but not get overwhelmed by the process. So, it’s our job to make it easy for them with incentives like coupons, transparent and secured payment gateways, providing multiple options to donate like social media channels, etc,” – Sharma adds.
Sharma thinks that for a product-based company like crowdfunding platforms to make it big, solutions shouldn’t just focus on being need-based but should be optimised in nature.
What is that one thing you think can visibly reduce donor abandonment?
Definitely updates, Sharma says. Regular, detailed updates not only help in retaining donors but also encourage new ones when they see the impact already created. They’re a motivation for anyone to make a difference from the comfort of their homes.
Our Customer Relationship Manager, Ankita Chakraborty agrees to this. Chakraborty adds that one of the major ways to help donors is to provide help through every step of the process so that in case there’s any confusion, it can be mitigated immediately without it leading to donor abandonment.
“Our is a unique platform and going the extra mile to explain to our donors how the process works is sure to help. In case there are people who tend to abandon their cart, we are getting back to them with a payment over WhatsApp,” she says.
While donor abandonment can’t be fully prevented, it is essential to understand the root cause of it and work towards it and the only way to do this is with proper technical support and customer care service.
