How to design your website for service users

What is the point of a website that feels clunky and tricky for users to navigate? Charities need to ask this question when setting up and maintaining their sites.

 

Here we consider how charities can best design their websites so they are an effective online shop window for the organisation, highlighting the impact it makes and how users can get involved, from donating to volunteering.

 

We will look at the platforms and themes to choose and how best charities can meet the needs of users, in particular ensuring accessibility.

 

 

Aligning website and purpose

 

Crucial for web design is for a charity to first map out what it wants to achieve. Each one of these goals should be easy to find and use, such as highlighting donating and volunteering opportunities.

 

Information about the charity’s impact should also be prominent as this will help encourage people to give. Charities have not always been good at that, but they are improving according to evidence published recently by finance firm RSM. 

 

This research found that the number of charities with a separate page on their websites outlining their environmental, social and governance (ESG) achievements more than doubled, from 14% in 2022 to a third (33%) in 2023.

 

ESG information can also include efforts to make the website itself greener, for example by reducing the data storage involved.

 

 

Choosing a platform and design

 

There are several website building platforms for charities to choose from, to suit different organisations based on factors such as available budget and how much expertise is in house. A freelance web developer may also be needed to look at areas such as design, branding and functionality.

 

Among the most well used website builders are:

 

 

Wordpress

 

Wordpress is the most widely used, with a variety of templates aimed at charities that can be customised through plug-ins helping users to donate or shop online. As it is an open-source site, new templates and plug ins are constantly being created and upgraded. Another plus for charities is that it is responsive to mobile use and is search engine optimisation (SEO) ready.

 

There are two versions of Wordpress, WordPress.org, where charities can host their own website, which can cost between £5 and £60 a month, depending on the level of functionality and design involved. The other is WordPress.com, where WordPress hosts the website for free, or for £7 a month offering extras such as premium themes and live chat support.

 

 

Wix

 

Wix is another popular web builder, which uses drag and drop techniques to make it easy, particularly for small charities, to construct a website. It was voted the best website builder by Cnet in 2023. There are a range of templates for charities, including those with built in donate buttons. A free version is available as well as advanced options, ranging from between £4 and  £21 a month, with discounted rates available on subscriptions via Charity Digital.

 

 

Weebly

 

Weebly also focuses on ease of use, with Cnet voting it the easiest web builder to use. However, it also comes with a more limited range of added features and reduction in flexibility. It also has a free option, as well as more advanced packages costing up to £19 a month.

 

 

Calls to action

 

Calls to action are great ways to engage users and encourage them to donate, volunteer and sign petitions as part of lobbying efforts. This can be achieved by ensuring the desired action is easy to carry out, such as ensuring they can donate via a prominent button. A direct message from a charity web page saying “Help us to support more people” followed by an easy way to donate, regularly or as a one off, is crucial. If a call to action is followed by too many clicks and complicated forms then potential donors could be lost.

 

 

Monitoring

 

Once a website is up and running monitor who is interacting, where from and for how long. This information can be found using Google Analytics and will be able to show information such as how long people use the website in a single session, whether they donated or volunteered as a result, or how many pages they viewed. This could, for example, show that a website is less successful among users using certain web browsers, or mobile phones.

 

 

Accessibility

 

A strong charity website needs to be accessible to all, including users with visual impairments. Sight loss charity RNIB website is a good example of this in action, as it has been designed and developed with the needs of people with sight loss and disability in mind. This includes regular user testing by blind and partially sighted people on a variety of web browsers and devices.

 

RNIB’s web design includes ensuring pages can be magnified. The site’s sections are clearly titled and separated by space to avoid looking confusing. In addition, as with Twitter, users can switch between light and dark mode at a click of a button. A large donate now button, in pink to stand out further, is also prominent on the home page as colour contrast is vital for users with a visual impairment.