5 Design Tips to Increase Online Form Donations
This is a guest post from Ashley Walsh, director of marketing, Formstack.
Collecting donations online requires a lot more than putting a credit card form on your website and hoping the gifts flow in. To maximize your digital donor base, make sure to create a seamless giving experience, starting with your online donation form. Instantly amp up your donation form by adding a few key design elements to make it more user-friendly. Below are five design tips and examples to help you create a compelling online giving experience:
#1: Include a strong call-to-action at the top (and bottom!) of the page.
One of the easiest ways to motivate readers to donate is to incorporate strong, directional statements above and on the submit button of your online donation form. Including calls-to-action throughout the giving experience helps users feel like they are a part of a larger community that cares about your efforts. Take Youth for Christ Metro Pittsburgh as an example. This nonprofit’s donation form reminds donors that their gift directly helps the organization’s cause, and it thanks them for joining the effort before they even enter their credit card. Seal the deal with a solid submit button, including phrases like “Donate Now” or “Join Us.” Buttons with a specific call-to-action average a conversion rate of 44%, compared to just 10% for buttons that simply say “Submit,” according to a recent report.

#2: Give context to a donor’s giving.
Along the lines of building community, many donors want to know how their gifts are going to be used at your organization. Using a small sidebar next to the donation form that includes a breakdown of how funds are applied at the nonprofit shows donors that their donations are utilized responsibly. When visitors hit an online donation form, they already have a strong desire to become involved in your organization. Little touches, such as assurance that their gifts will be valued, will make it even easier for them to complete the form.

#3: Include proof of security.
With all the news around compromised data at multiple businesses, one major hesitation around online giving is payment security. After all, no donor wants to make a gift to a nonprofit only to find out the credit card info was compromised. Your form should apply multiple security measures to ensure that all donations are protected within your account. Make this known on your online donation form by including a security badge or other proof of protection.
#4: Maintain your brand throughout the donation experience.
Nothing is more jarring than clicking on a link to give and being directed to a stark donation form that looks like it was coded in 1995. If you’re using an online form builder to capture donations, take extra care to make sure your embedded form matches your brand. If your website uses certain colors or fonts, make sure those are also included on the donation form. Matthew’s House does a great job of seamlessly integrating its form with its overall branding standards:

#5: Break your form into multiple steps.
One key way to secure recurring donations is to collect information about donors and segment their information into an email list for later marketing. However, the only way to do that is to make sure you get that key information in the first place. Unfortunately, visitors might be intimidated by a long donation form with a bunch of personal questions and become reluctant to provide information. Cushion this experience by breaking your donation form into multiple pages. Use one page to gather information about donation frequency, one to capture personal information, and one to finalize credit card information.
Apply these design tips to ensure the user has a seamless experience and can quickly provide pertinent information. Another quick tip: for an even better chance of getting users to fill out your donation form, consider broadcasting the form through sponsored social posts or an email invitation.
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