HKUiGift

HKUiGift is the online public digital campaign for fundraising, which was mainly targeting for the alumni of The University of Hong Kong (HKU).

CHALLENGES

HKU had their existing donation programs but they were in lack of clarity. They had no donation program with specific theme that could draw the attention from alumni. The challenges on this project included:

To initial the creative idea for a donation campaign targeting HKU alumni
Bring public awareness of HKU in development and engagement bonding with alumni
To design one-stop donation website which is responsive for cross-devices and to be spread easily

PROJECT TEAM STRUCTURE

As the UX/UI Lead, I drive the whole design process, initial business strategies and work closely with a developer on Front-end implementation.

User interview
Competitors Analysis
User Journey Map
Persona

Wireframe & Prototyping
Interface Design
Usability Testing

IDEATION

BUSINESS STRATEGIES

To bring emotional engagement is the key element on our business strategy. The major factor to attract donations from alumni is the proud of HKU. As the campaign initiator and an admirable person in HKU, professor Rosie Young is invited as the key person in promotion. Each donors will get their name listed on the donor wall and receive a scarf as the gift, which is designed with a memorable pattern for HKU alumni and the signature from professor Young.

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS

To bring emotional engagement is the key element on our business strategy. The major factor to attract donations from alumni is the proud of HKU. As the campaign initiator and an admirable person in HKU, professor Rosie Young is invited as the key person in promotion. Each donors will get their name listed on the donor wall and receive a scarf as the gift, which is designed with a memorable pattern for HKU alumni and the signature from professor Young.

Insights from statistics

I start from researching the latest trend on digital donation campaign, and found out the key focus should be in homepage-driven and mobile friendliness.

66% of donors decide to give or not when they first view the homepage
51% of donors view the donation website in mobile, websites with responsive yield 34% more in donation
57% more of donors watch the campaign video before giving

* https://www.qgiv.com/blog/fundraising-statistics/

* https://fundraising.co.uk/

Competitor Analysis

I also found the similar campaign and targeted three competitors on University fundraising campaign. Evaluating their business strategies and usability in comparison on benchmark. Some common features are highlighted:

Proper use of CTA (Call-To-Action)
Clearly display the main campaign goal at homepage with videos and dashboards
Viral in social media
Flexibility on donation options

USER JOURNEY AND PERSONAS

I conducted user interviews with campaign owners, discussed my findings on the key features to create further business insights. Based on our discussion, we found out the possible target audience group and I created the user journey and personas to illustrate the whole story.

Highlight of the User Journey

Click "Donate" through the website (expected donor prefers mobile platform)
Fill in donation firm and confirm payment
Receive a scarf as gift
[Optional] Help to forward/promote the campaign

Elderly alumni / HKU professor

They personally know Professor Young well, they are willing to donate because for supporting her and their emotional engagement towards HKU.

"Oh it is Rosie's call, I need to support her..."

"The scarf looks fascinating! Floor tiles from the HKU main building!"

Middle-aged alumni

They are in a professional role in career and always be proud of HKU.

"It's time to contribute my school..."

"Donation? Why not? It is not a big money..."

PERSONA OF MAJORITY TARGET GROUPS

WIREFRAME AND MOCKUPS

HOMEPAGE

To summarise the insights from research stage, I found out the common Design Pattern:

More than one Call-To-Action (CTA) at all pages, make sure user can find it without scrolling the page
With a catchy slogan/hashtag as key visual element
Pre-determined donation amounts suggestions to make the donation process efficient for users
Real-time dashboard of donation numbers
Promotion video involved celebrities as "KOL"

We created the slogan for Call-To-Action is "Be an iGifter" and the hashtag for social media sharing : #HKUiGift.

DONATION PAGE

For the donation page, we also tackle the business challenges when designing the features of the donation platform.

Challenges

Decide where will the donation goes
Decide the donation amount
Really need the scarf as gift?
Be anonymous donor

Solutions

Options for the donation target (by faculties, development funds or educational funds)
Self-defined amount and at least 3 pre-defined amounts
Include option "I don't want the gift"
Include option "To donate as anonymous"

USABILITY TESTING

After the testing session on the usability with campaign owner and users, we concluded there are some elements could be improved:

Users should be able to donate, to navigate different pages and back to homepage anywhere in the website
Donation dashboard should be more engaging to the theme
Simplify the layout and put more focus on the campaign objectives

The navigation header is then designed to be sticky and always fixed at top, with extra added CTA button "Donate Now" and social media widget. This approach helped to maximize the chance for users to donate and share the campaign via social media platform.

On donation dashboard I took referenced on "WWF - Planting For The Future" campaign, to create an animated progress bar to enhance the visual impact and engagement on branding logo and theme.

The mockup is revised after usability testing and presented in high-fidelity prototype for further development. The page layout is further simplified after the video section is removed and integrated in top banner.

BENEFITS

The campaign target is achieved successfully by earning more than 1000 donors within the first two weeks.

For the quick win, it gives a reason for HKU to organise a campaign launch party, which give a chance to gather the alumni and promote another related affairs of their school.

And for the future plan, it is able to get insights of the target audience type who actually donate for them and the donation amount, so that it helps HKU to decide their future direction of similar campaign.

HKUiGIFT