Start with Your Donation Page
The donation page is the most important page to test before any campaign. Go through the entire donation process yourself — from clicking "Donate" to receiving a confirmation. Check that the form loads correctly on both desktop and mobile, that payment processing works, that the confirmation email arrives, and that the thank-you message is appropriate and specific.
If your donation form is hosted through a third-party platform like Donorbox, PayPal, or Network for Good, make sure your account is active, that the form is connected to the correct fund, and that any matching gift or campaign-specific settings are configured. Don't assume these are working — confirm them.
Check Your Page Load Speed
Campaign traffic is often driven by email blasts and social posts that arrive all at once. If your site loads slowly under normal conditions, it may become unusable when you send to your full list. Slow pages also cause people to abandon before donating — particularly on mobile, where patience for slow sites is low.
Use Google's free PageSpeed Insights tool to check your homepage and donation page load times. If your score is below 50 on mobile, you have a speed problem worth addressing before the campaign. The most common fix is compressing large images, which you can usually do without any technical help.
Review Your Campaign Messaging for Clarity
When a visitor arrives from your campaign email or social post, they should immediately see content that matches what they came for. If your email references a specific campaign or goal and the website they land on is generic, there's a disconnect that reduces conversions.
Create or update a dedicated campaign landing page if possible. At minimum, make sure the homepage reflects the campaign's message, the donation amount or goal, and a clear call to action. Visitors who feel like they've arrived in the right place are far more likely to give.
GoodSiteReport offers a focused pre-campaign website review that checks your donation flow, load speed, trust signals, and messaging before you launch — so you're not discovering problems while the campaign is live. Get your pre-campaign audit.
Test All Forms and Contact Pathways
Campaigns often generate not just donations but also volunteer inquiries, questions from new supporters, and press requests. Make sure every form on your site is working correctly — not just your donation form. Submit a test message through your contact form and verify it arrives. Check that the email address it goes to is actively monitored during the campaign period.
A volunteer or supporter who submits a form and hears nothing back is unlikely to engage again. Campaign periods are high-value moments to build relationships with new people — don't let broken infrastructure squander that.
Verify Trust Signals Are in Place
First-time visitors arriving from a campaign may know very little about your organization. They need to quickly see signals that confirm you're legitimate. Before launch, check that your site has:
- An active HTTPS connection (look for the padlock icon in the browser)
- Visible contact information, including a physical address
- An "About" page with staff or leadership information
- Recent activity — a news post, event, or social media link that shows the organization is active
- Any relevant credibility markers, such as charity ratings, accreditations, or foundation funders
Check Mobile Experience on a Real Device
Preview tools in website builders often look better than the real mobile experience. Before your campaign, pull up your donation page on an actual smartphone and navigate through the giving process. Look for text that's too small to read, buttons that are hard to tap, or form fields that are difficult to complete on a small screen.
More than half of nonprofit website traffic now comes from mobile devices, and that share is higher during campaigns driven by social media. A donation process that's frustrating on mobile will cost you gifts that were already in progress.