Optimising our action page templates is one of the biggest missed opportunities in digital mobilisation right now (in our humble opinion).
Last year, our Digital Mobilisation Tech Report highlighted some of the biggest technical challenges facing non-profit organisations.
These included:
- systems not integrating well with each other,
- stretched digital campaigns teams that don’t have the capacity to learn new skills,
- a lack of digital strategy supported by leadership,
- not being able to take strategic insights from the data you have, and
- not making all digital tools as accessible as possible.
While better templates alone won’t solve those problems, thoughtful optimisation can certainly help relieve some of the strain felt by these challenges, whilst having the potential to increase your conversion rate significantly.
An Action Page Template Refresh for Cancer Research UK
Back in 2020 we built Engaging Networks templates for CRUK which, at the time, followed best practice and were optimised based on what we knew then. But by 2026, these templates were looking outdated, especially considering they had been through a brand refresh, and EN’s template capabilities had also progressed massively.
So a refresh was in order, and together with CRUK, we decided to focus on 3 things:
1. A full redesign
From the supporter perspective, this was the most noticeable change. We went from what were standard-looking templates, to engaging, accessible templates optimised to draw supporters into action by helping them move smoothly through the journey, no matter which device or browser they’re using.
One of our key considerations when designing templates is the follow-up actions, or the ‘daisy-chain’, because we know that when we run digital mobilisation campaigns with our partners, we see that up to 90% of early donations are driven from our daisy-chains immediately after sign-up.
We set up templates to allow unlimited follow up actions, which usually contain things like “Share”, “Donate”, or “Volunteer”. We make sure the supporter is scrolled from one action to the next, that links open in a new tab so as to keep them in the daisy-chain if they wish to return, and that there is a clear progress bar on the page so they know what extra action options are available.
It’s also key that accessibility is taken into consideration when building any templates, because anything that reduces the likelihood of a supporter being able to complete an action (including a difficult to navigate page) will decrease conversions. We want to make sure our pages are usable by the largest group of people possible.
It’s really the bare minimum when it comes to accessible development, and there is always more we can be doing to make pages more accessible.
2. Tracking and analytics
For campaigning and fundraising teams, understanding how supporters move through a journey is critical. That’s why all of our templates include built-in Google Analytics 4 and Meta Pixel tracking by default, meaning we can track not just conversions, but also all supporter interactions on your page.
The thinking behind this is that the more we know about how your supporters are using your pages, the better we can build your campaigns around them.
GA4 events especially offer a very useful breakdown on a click-by-click basis. Here’s an example of the analytics events that fire across all CRUK’s new templates.
Every event is tracked, so we can test what’s working and what’s not by setting up simple A/B tests. This means we can track the impact that small changes can have on a supporter’s likelihood to reach a certain point of the journey, or to take a certain action.
Clearer tracking makes it easier for teams to improve campaigns based on real supporter behaviour.
3. Data-powered templates
Finally, data-powered elements in templates are always a winner.
Social proof, like including a signature counter on the page, can make someone more likely to take an action – so our templates always include them, but with the option to turn them off on a page-by-page basis.
But what’s even more engaging is real-world data, presented to supporters in a relevant and informative way. As part of this project, we built a brand new template for CRUK:
An engagement tool template that, by using EN’s postcode lookup functionality, can present the supporter with localised data from their constituency.
After users input their postcode on the first page, they are shown a series of slides containing localised data that, when coupled with a strong campaign ask, can really compel a supporter to take action.
Knowing campaigning teams are often stretched for time, we designed the templates to fit naturally into CRUK’s existing workflows and ways of working. We built it using EN functionality the CRUK team were already familiar with, so that they didn’t need to learn any new systems.
Now, CRUK can set up a data-powered engagement tool simply by duplicating a template and uploading a new spreadsheet with localised statistics.
Whatever the platform you’re building your campaign pages on, having optimised templates can make the difference between passive audiences and active participation, turning one-off action into long-term supporter momentum.
If your team is thinking about refreshing supporter journeys, improving accessibility, or making better use of supporter data, we’re always happy to chat.