How to set up a donor acquisition analytics funnel for free with google analytics and tag manager

In today’s world, donations are essential for non-profit organizations and charities to carry out their social missions. However, acquiring new donors is not always easy. It requires a deep understanding of your audience and their behavior. Building an acquisition funnel through analytics can help generate insights and facilitate informed decisions. In this article, we will show you how to set up a donor acquisition analytics funnel for free using Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager.

How to set up a Google Tag Manager account

If you haven't already done so, setting up a Google Tag Manager account is an essential step in tracking your website's visitor data. Google Tag Manager is a free account that syncs easily with your Google Analytics account, making it a powerful tool for tracking your website's performance.

To get started, head over to the Google Tag Manager website and create an account. Once you've created your account, you'll be provided with a unique code that you'll need to embed across all the pages on your website. This code allows Google Tag Manager to collect data on your website visitors and send it to your Google Analytics account.

But before you start embedding the code, it's important to understand how Google Tag Manager works. Essentially, Google Tag Manager acts as a middleman between your website and your Google Analytics account. Instead of having to manually add tracking codes to each page on your website, you can use Google Tag Manager to manage all of your tracking codes in one place.

Once you've embedded the Google Tag Manager code on your website, you can start setting up tags, triggers, and variables to track specific actions on your website. For example, you can set up a tag to track when someone clicks on a specific button on your website, or when someone visits a certain page.

By setting up these tags, you can gain valuable insights into how your website is performing and make data-driven decisions to improve it. So if you haven't already set up a Google Tag Manager account, now is the time to do so!

How to set up a Google Analytics account

Before creating your acquisition funnel, ensure that you have created your Google Analytics (GA) account. GA is a powerful analytics tool that tracks user behavior on your website. It provides in-depth insights about visitors on your website, including their demographics, the devices and browsers they use, and the actions they take on your site.

To set up your GA account, go to the GA website and create an account by providing your basic information. Once you’ve created your account, you will need to add your website to your account. This can be done by clicking on the “Admin” tab and selecting “Create Property” under the “Property” column. From there, you will be prompted to enter your website’s URL and other relevant information about your website.

After adding your website, you will need to add the tracking code to your website. This tracking code is what allows GA to collect data about your website visitors. To add the tracking code, click on the “Tracking Info” tab under the “Property” column and select “Tracking Code”. From there, you will be given a tracking code that you will need to add to every page of your website, just before the closing tag.

Once you’ve added the tracking code, you can begin tracking your website’s behavior by setting goals and conversion-tracking goals. Goals are specific actions that you want your website visitors to take, such as filling out a contact form or making a purchase. Conversion-tracking goals are goals that track when a visitor completes a specific action that leads to a conversion, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter.

By setting goals and conversion-tracking goals, you can gain valuable insights into how your website is performing and make data-driven decisions about how to improve your website’s performance. For example, if you notice that visitors are not completing a specific goal, you can use this information to make changes to your website that will encourage visitors to complete that goal.

In addition to setting goals and conversion-tracking goals, GA also provides a wealth of information about your website visitors, including their demographics, the devices and browsers they use, and the actions they take on your site. This information can be used to create more targeted marketing campaigns and improve your website’s user experience.

Creating a trigger and tag in GTM is an essential part of any digital marketing campaign. This process allows you to track user behavior on your website and gain valuable insights into how users interact with your content. To create a trigger, you first need to identify the event that you want to track. This could be anything from a user clicking on a specific button to a user scrolling down to a certain point on the page. Once you have identified the event, you can create a trigger in GTM that will fire when that event occurs. After creating the trigger, it’s time to link it to a corresponding tag. The tag is responsible for tracking the event and sending the data to Google Analytics. To create a tag, you need to select the type of tag that you want to use. This could be a Google Analytics tag, a Facebook pixel tag, or any other type of tag that you need for your campaign. Once you have created the tag, you need to configure it to work with the trigger that you created earlier. This involves setting up the tracking parameters and ensuring that the tag is firing correctly. Overall, creating a trigger and tag in GTM is a crucial step in setting up your acquisition funnel. By tracking user behavior on your website, you can gain valuable insights into how users interact with your content and make informed decisions about how to optimize your website for better results. So, if you haven’t already set up GTM and created a trigger and tag, now is the time to do so!

First funnel event: when a web visitor clicks a donate button

The first funnel event you’ll want to track is when a visitor clicks your “Donate” button. This is a crucial step in the conversion process as it indicates that the visitor is interested in supporting your cause or organization. However, simply having a “Donate” button on your website is not enough. You need to ensure that it is easily accessible and prominently displayed on your website.

One way to make your “Donate” button stand out is by using contrasting colors that grab the visitor’s attention. You could also consider using a call-to-action (CTA) phrase that encourages the visitor to take action, such as “Support our cause” or “Make a difference today.”

Once you have optimized your “Donate” button, it’s important to track when visitors click on it. This is where Google Tag Manager (GTM) comes in. GTM is a powerful tool that allows you to track user behavior on your website and set up custom triggers and tags.

In GTM, create a new “Event” type trigger and link it to a new tag. Select “Click ID” as your trigger type to ensure that the tag only fires when your custom button is clicked. This will give you valuable information about how many visitors are clicking on your “Donate” button and how often.

Tracking this event is just the first step in optimizing your donation funnel. Once you have this data, you can start to analyze it and make changes to your website and donation process to improve conversion rates. For example, if you notice that many visitors are clicking on your “Donate” button but not completing the donation process, you may need to simplify the process or offer more payment options.

By tracking the “Donate” button click event and making data-driven decisions, you can improve your donation funnel and ultimately raise more funds for your cause or organization.

Second funnel event: when a web visitor creates a donation intent (amount, frequency, etc.)

The second funnel event is a crucial step in the donation process. It is when a visitor decides to make a donation and creates a donation intent. This is a critical moment because it represents a significant conversion point for your organization. To make the most of this opportunity, you need to create a custom form that asks visitors for donation information.

The first step in creating this form is to determine what information you need to collect from your visitors. You will need to ask for the donation amount, the frequency of the donation, and the payment details. By collecting this information, you can better understand your donors and tailor your fundraising efforts to meet their needs.

Once you have determined what information you need to collect, you can create a custom form using a tool like Google Forms or Wufoo. These tools allow you to create simple, easy-to-use forms that can be embedded directly on your website. You can also use Google Tag Manager to track and report on all the variables collected through your custom form.

It's important to make the donation process as easy and seamless as possible for your donors. By providing a custom form that collects all the necessary information, you can streamline the donation process and make it more convenient for your donors. This can lead to increased donations and a better overall donor experience.

Additionally, it's important to follow up with donors after they have made a donation intent. Sending a personalized thank-you message can go a long way in building a relationship with your donors and encouraging them to continue supporting your organization. You can also use this opportunity to provide more information about your organization and the impact their donation will have.

In conclusion, the second funnel event is a critical step in the donation process. By creating a custom form that collects all the necessary information, you can make the donation process more convenient for your donors and increase the likelihood of a successful donation. Following up with donors after they have made a donation intent can also help build a relationship with your donors and encourage them to continue supporting your organization.

Third funnel event: when a visitor fills out payment information and personal information

The third funnel event is a crucial step in the donation process. It is when a visitor fills out the payment and personal information to make a donation. This step is critical because it is the point at which the visitor decides to make a financial contribution to your non-profit organization.

It is essential to make this step as user-friendly as possible. Ensure that your form requests personal information that’s useful to your non-profit, such as name, email address, and mailing address. This information will help your organization to better understand donor demographics and tailor future fundraising campaigns to specific groups of people.

It is also important to ensure that your donation form is secure. Visitors will be providing sensitive financial information, and they need to feel confident that their information is safe. Make sure that your website has an SSL certificate and that your donation form is encrypted.

Another way to encourage visitors to complete this step is to provide them with multiple payment options. Some people prefer to use PayPal, while others prefer to use their credit card. By offering different payment options, you can make it more convenient for visitors to make a donation.

Finally, it is a good idea to thank visitors for their donation and let them know how their contribution will make a difference. This step can help to build a long-term relationship with the donor and encourage them to make future contributions.

In conclusion, the third funnel event is a critical step in the donation process. By making this step user-friendly, secure, and informative, you can encourage visitors to make a financial contribution to your non-profit organization.

Fourth event: donation success

The fourth and final event is to measure the success of your donation funnel. When a visitor completes the donation process, they should be taken to a thank-you page. A thank-you page is the best place to track and measure the success of your donor acquisition funnel.

It's important to make sure that your thank-you page is optimized for conversions. This means that you should include a clear and concise message thanking the donor for their contribution. You should also provide them with information on how their donation will be used and the impact it will have on the organization.

Another way to optimize your thank-you page is to provide the donor with an opportunity to share their donation on social media. This can help to increase awareness of your organization and encourage others to donate as well.

Once you have your thank-you page set up, it's important to track the success of your donor acquisition funnel. You can do this by setting up conversion tracking in Google Analytics. This will allow you to see how many visitors are completing the donation process and how much revenue is being generated from those donations.

It's also important to analyze the data to see if there are any areas of the donation funnel that need improvement. For example, if you notice that a large percentage of visitors are abandoning the donation process at a certain point, you may need to optimize that part of the funnel to reduce friction and increase conversions.

By measuring the success of your donation funnel, you can make data-driven decisions to improve the user experience and increase revenue for your organization. So don't overlook the importance of the thank-you page and tracking your donor acquisition funnel!

Things to track: what channel they came from, conversion rates across channels, device types, average donation sizes

Once you’ve set up your acquisition funnel, it’s time to start tracking metrics that will help you understand the behavior of your website visitors. Some popular metrics to track include:

• What channels visitors came from, such as social media, email, or search engines
• Conversion rates across those channels, to help you determine which channels perform best
• Device types, such as desktop, mobile or tablet
• Average donation sizes, which can help you identify opportunities for increasing donations.

While these metrics can be tracked easily with GA and GTM, you can also use other donor management software to explore your data further. Popular options include Salesforce, Blackbaud, and Donor Drive. Keep in mind though that these options aren’t available for free and some may come with biases. Our subjective recommendation is 'Wegive'.

What should your full conversion rate be?

The conversion rate for a donor acquisition funnel varies depending on your website’s industry and the quality of your website content. However, on average, a good conversion rate can be between 10-15%.

What should your conversion rate be at each funnel step?

Your funnel’s conversion rate at each step should ideally be between 20-25% for your donor acquisition funnel to be considered effective.

By implementing the strategies mentioned in this article, you can track your website traffic easily and see where visitors are most engaged. This will help you make data-driven decisions for your organization, creating a more efficient and effective donor acquisition process.