How JustGiving uses paper print-outs to boost giving online
Howard Lake | 12 September 2013 | Blogs
I've just come across a delightful 'Easter egg' on JustGiving. And it's not visible on their website. You can only see it on good old-fashioned paper, when you print out one of their donation pages.
Donate button online, QR code offline
Simply displaying a graphic 'donate' button on a printed page is no good to anyone. You can't click paper of course.
But you can get to the donation web page fairly easily using a QR code. So, that is what JustGiving presents on the print out, in the place of the donate button.
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View the page online, you see a donate button. View it offline, on paper, you see a QR code, that links to the donation page.
And that's not all. JustGiving has clearly wrestled with the idea of how you share a printed piece of paper.
So, down the right-hand side of the print out of the donation form is a whole series of mini calls to action, each of which can be cut and torn off to give to a would-be supporter.
And the result?
JustGiving's Jonathan Waddingham admitted that "we’ve had just over £3,000 donated via the QR code. Which, for an 18 month period is not world changing". Indeed, JustGiving haven't ever publicised this function. But that isn't to say that these print-out pages haven't generated other donations, for example via the text to donate message, or recruited new donors via the tear-off slips.
So, this isn't a fundraising success. But it is a fine example of thinking how web pages are used and can be used effectively, and recognising that many people still print out web pages. Given that, what key call to action might you add to your site that would appear on printed out pages, but not on the online version?
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.