5 online donation form best practices.

How can you create the optimal online donation page for you nonprofit? Well, we’ve got a few tips and one shameless plug. Let’s start with the plug: Zeffy’s online donation form templates are optimized to increase donor conversion by 50% compared to the industry average.

Okay, now for the tips!

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Get the most out of your nonprofit’s online donation forms with these five tips.

1. The best online donation forms have strong branding and engaging visuals.

It probably won’t come as a surprise that online donation forms that look good attract more donations. Why? Well, by clearly branding your online donation forms with your nonprofit’s logos, colours, and tone of voice you will be reassuring your donors that they are giving to a nonprofit organization they recognize and trust. But don’t stop there…

Including relevant visuals and videos will help keep your donors engaged and make the process of giving a little more enjoyable. By including compelling media elements in your online donation forms, you can grab your potential donor’s attention, get them to feel something, and inspire them to act.

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2. Customize the donation options on your online donation forms.

Most nonprofit fundraising platforms allow nonprofits to customize their donation options. Not because it’s a nice to have, but because giving donors options increases donor conversion rates. Okay, shameless plug time: Zeffy’s 100% free fundraising platform allows you to customize your donation forms with your nonprofit’s brand and various donation amounts and options.

Not only should you offer various donation amounts, but you should also include an other field so donors can give any amount they’re comfortable giving. (And don’t forget to include the option for one time or recurring, monthly donations.)

Our last piece of advice here: clearly and honestly provide donors with an example of the tangible impact that could realistically come from their donation amount. This level of transparency will resonate with your potential donors and show them an example of the impact their gift can have.

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3. Make sure your online donation request forms are easy to share.

Adding share buttons to your online donation request forms will make it easy for donors to share your nonprofit’s fundraising campaign with their friends and family. Try and give them as many options as you can: email, text, and all social media platforms your nonprofit is active on. Zeffy even makes it easy to embed forms on your website and has easy-to-share and use QR codes.

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4. Set up your online donation forms to accept a variety of payment options.

Imagine this: a potential donor fills out your online donation request form online to get to the end only to realize the fundraising platform you’ve chosen won’t let them donate the way they want…

Talk about frustrating. Avoiding this is as easy as offering as many payment options as you can. And, not too brag or anyhing, but Zeffy’s online donation forms accept credit cards, direct debit (ACH), ApplePay, Google Pay, and cheques. This flexibility will allow potential donors to give to your cause without having to think too much about it.

We’re all getting more and more accustomed to paying online via simple, pre-filled forms and automated tools. By reducing the friction involved with choosing a payment method, you’re allowing donors to use the payment tools they prefer without having to search for an alternative.

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5. Keep your online donation forms short and sweet.

All this boils down to keeping your online donation request forms simple. Your online donation forms should be visually simple. They should have an intuitive interface that allows your potential donors to navigate filling out the form without putting too much thought and effort into it. They should be easy to share. And, most importantly, they shouldn’t be full of needless questions and unnecessary steps.

There are a few ways to ensure your online donation forms are as simple as can be, but one of the easily overlook ways is by making sure the online fundraising platform you’ve chosen has forms that are optimized for all browsers and devices. This will allow potential donors to quickly fill out the form and make payments on the device they’re currently using without having to switch to another one. And, you guessed it, with Zeffy you can benefit from a free, simple, and intuitive fundraising site with reactive, mobile friendly forms.

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