Step 1: Fix Your Forms—Knowing Your Options
In Which We Make Small Changes for Big Effects on the Highest Leverage Part of Your Program
OK, buckle up, people. Here I am, Porter Mason, The Donation Guy, back as promised to hold your little hand and walk you gently through The Seven Digital Fundraising Steps to Success.
What are those? Well, they’re a simple framework designed to optimize your digital fundraising, helping you prioritize your time and grow your program. And in this blog/newsletter/thingie, I’m taking you through all of them. If you need a refresher, you can read last week’s introduction to and overview of The Seven Steps:
“Well, Porter,” you might say. “That sounds great, but I come here for the witty banter.” No! There’s no time! We have a lot to cover. No time for witty banter! There’s only time for regular, non-witty banter! Onward to the information!
Why do we start with the forms? Why?!
All digital transactions go through your donation form, no matter if it’s coming through email, text, ads, or just organic traffic. You donation form is the “heart” of your digital ecosystem, pumping your “blood” (your donations) through your “arteries” (your bank account) to your “intestines” (your… program staff?).
(Please don’t tell your program staff that I referred to them as essentially responsible for the bowel movements of your nonprofit.)
Point is, any improvement you make to your form improves everything. You know the phrase, “a rising tide lifts all boats”? This is that tide. Roll tide.
And the opposite is true too. Any impediments you put in the way of donors on your form, any hoops you make them jump through, that holds back revenue across all your digital channels.
Your donation form is your point of greatest leverage on the success of your digital fundraising program. If you have limited time and resources (and you DO), this is where you start.
The time you want to waste redesigning your homepage carousel for the seventeenth time?
The effort you want to flush down the toilet re-editing your Great American Novel disguised as a fundraising appeal?
The money you want to blow on cringe-y TikTok ads?
Over the long-term, all of that time, effort, and money would be better spent on some boring project to improve your forms.
So what do we fix?
Maybe you don’t need convincing, maybe you know your form sucks, maybe you’re willing to move form improvements to the beginning of your to-do queue, but you’re just screaming: GREAT, SO WHAT DO I ACTUALLY FIX?!
First: Stop screaming. Breathe.
Second: Well, there’s lots of stuff to fix. But today, we’ll concern ourselves here with the basics: the options. Which fields do you have on your form. Doesn’t get more basic than that.
We’ll focus on your main donation form. That’s the most important one. Your main form. You know it, right? The one linked prominently in the top right hand corner of your homepage?
Wait. Your donation page IS linked prominently in the upper right hand corner of your homepage, right? It’s not hidden behind a menu or stuck in the footer? Right? RIGHT?!?! Do I need to make a step 0?!!
You are only as good as your options.
Generally, the rule of user experience and decision science is that the more options you give people, the longer they’ll take to actually make a choice. But too few options makes them feel backed into a corner.
If I’m driving with my daughters, and give them only one option for where we stop for food, it won’t work. They want a choice. But if I give them seven or eight choices, they’ll argue with each other for hours. And yet, if I just ask the open-ended question, “What do you want for dinner?” This is bad too. This is like infinite options. We will literally be stuck in my minivan until the end of recorded history, until a volcano preserves us like the citizens of Pompeii, still discussing the pros and cons of Popeye’s chicken tenders versus Taco Bell’s cantina quesarito, as our lungs blessedly fill with ash.
We want our donation forms to have the options people need, but no more. This will help guide people toward the best choice for them and your organization.
Gift frequency: For the love of God, turn on recurring giving
If there’s a single thing you can do, to improve your digital fundraising program, it’s going into your donation form software right now, and finding some little box to check that makes your form offer “gift frequency” or “recurring giving” options. (Seriously, go do it.)
These are, ideally, the three options you want to offer:
One-time gifts
Monthly giving
Annual giving
If it only lets you have two options, then do the first two.
If there are dumb, internal financial or tracking obstacles that prevent you from checking that box, then the best place to spend your energy and time is on removing those dumb, internal financial or tracking obstacles.
What’s so good about recurring giving? Well, it’s just a matter of math.
A single monthly recurring gift is generally worth less to you at the outset. Donors give less when they give monthly, and so their initial gift will be worth about ⅕ to ⅒ of the one-time gift they would have made instead.
But asking for a monthly gift is not about the short-term. It’s about being smart and winning big-time in the long-term. Each month, those recurring gifts add up.
In just six months, assuming normal monthly retention rates, you hit a breakeven point. You now have made as much from the monthly giver as the one-time giver. This is where the magic of recurring giving really starts to kick in.
One year out, donors who give monthly brought in double the revenue of the one-time giver. Two years out, you’ve gotten 167% more value from the monthly donor. And three years out, that one decision to include monthly as an option on your form, will have tripled the revenue from donors who chose monthly.
And guess what? If you don’t have the option present on your main form, you will get no monthly gifts through that form. It’s our first example of what I’ll call one of our Digital Fundraising Inconvenient Truths: You only get what you ask for.
You will get monthly gifts when you ask for them, and ask for them prominently. If you want more of them, you have to ask for them more. That’s it. That’s the advice. And the easiest way you can start asking for monthly gifts is simply having them as an option on your main donation form.
How many will you get by doing this? Depends. But here’s what’s certain: More than you’ll get if you don’t offer the option.
Oh, also: Add an annual recurring option. Why? Don’t more options frighten and confuse people like an Unfrozen Cavemen Lawyers? Yes, but… let’s return to those donor value numbers in the chart above. After a year, due to the increased retention rate of automated recurring annual giving, that donor will have gotten you 27% more revenue than if they had made a one-time gift. After two years: 49% more revenue. And after three years, 66% more.
That’s less than monthly, but more than one-time. Add the annual option.
In fact, default to the annual recurring option. We’ve run tests with lots of nonprofits and generally found that defaulting a form to annual, while offering a one-time option, makes no difference in overall conversion rate. And yet it recruits anywhere from 25 to 40% of the donors into the annual recurring program. That’s basically all upside, no downside.
Or, if you’re feeling frisky: Default to monthly! This will lower conversion, but it will also definitely increase new monthlies. How much will it do both those things? There’s the rub. You could test this. Or you could make a strategic decision and just make the move. Or you could split the different and stick with the annual default.
Donation amounts: How much is enough?
OK, so we’ve made the biggest leverage move. We added recurring.
Now. How MUCH do we ask for?
Your form NEEDS to have predefined donation amounts. If your form only has a field asking people to type in their donation amount, without any suggestion of what you want it to be, you must change this. You are essentially giving them infinite choices, and thus putting the ultimate obstacle in front of them. You are making them think. Don’t make them think.
You only get what you ask for. You need to ask for real amounts of real money. But which ones?! Good question.
The amounts you offer should mix your aspirations with donors’ reality (with a sprinkle of psychology added in). I’ve developed a process to get you to some pretty solid defaults. (I love developing processes.) Why? Because I am delightful.
First, you’ll need to gather some numbers, if you can:
Your overall average gift from the last 365 days (or, if you have a mid-level program or major gifts program, your average low-dollar gift, however you define that).
The amount that gets donors into your mid-level program, if you have one.
The amount that gets donors into your major gifts program, if you have one.
If you truly can’t get these numbers, no worries. We’ll try and help more in the future when we get to Step 5: Track Stuff Better. For now, just use my tool with no default values.
HOW TO DETERMINE THE DONATION AMOUNTS ON YOUR FORM
(Or just use the handy little calculator.)
1. If your average gift is under $100, or you don't know it, add $100 as an amount. If not, round your overall average gift to the nearest $100. That’s one of the amounts. For example, if your average gift is $80 or $45 or $10, then $100 should be an amount on your form. And if your average gift is $125, $100 should be an amount on your form also. And if your average gift is $560, then $600 should be an amount on your form. (And also: lucky you!)
2. Multiply your first amount by 2.5. That’s another amount. So if you added $100 as an amount in the last step, also add $250 as an amount. If you added $200 last step, add $500.
3. If your first amount is $100, also add $500 as another amount (or your mid-level threshold, if it’s under $1,000). So you added $100 as an amount in the first step, then $250 last time, now add $500.
4. If your average gift is below $75, round UP to the nearest $10, and add that. That’s an amount. So if your average gift is $34, add $40. If it’s $12, add $20. If it’s $61, add $70.
5. If your average gift is below $50 (or you don't know it), add $50 as an amount. If you haven’t already. (Don’t add $50 twice obviously.)
6. If you don’t already have five options, add $1,000 as an option (unless your mid-level threshold is low or… unique). Pretty much in all cases, this is a good amount to have on there, unless your mid-level threshold is, like, $1,100 or $600. That would be weird… but I guess possible!
7. If you don’t already have five options, add your mid-level threshold as an option. So if it takes $5,000 to join The Champion Guardian’s Circle or whatever, add that.
8. If you don’t already have five options, add your major gifts amount as an option. So if it takes $25,000 to join The Society of the Keepers of the Flame of Eternity or whatever, add that.
9. If you don’t already have five options, double your highest amount. This would only happen if your average gift is high, but you haven’t established mid-level and/or major gifts thresholds.
10. If you don’t have an odd number of choices, double your highest amount again. Rare scenario, but again, possible.
11. Last, figure out your monthly amounts from your one-time amounts. For your lowest monthly amount, divide the lowest one-time/annual amount by four, and round to the nearest $5. Then, add $5, that’s the next amount. Add $5 again, that’s another amount. Then take your two highest amounts, divide by 10 and round to the nearest $5 for each. Those are your last two amounts.Remember, I’ve made a calculator for you, you don’t have to actually do all these steps. And if you feel you don’t want to use the recommend options, fine. Try and at least stick to these guidelines:
You should use three or five amounts. This is purposeful. You want an odd number, to get a little of that Goldilocks effect going on. And this is your main form, so you need to offer a wide array of options from your smallest to largest potential donors. But five choices is really the limit of how many you can present to someone without putting them into paralysis.
You should use round numbers (unless you have a great reason). Fives and tens and fifties and hundreds, please. Only exception is if some unique number is associated with your organization and your donors are very aware of that, e.g. the Jackie Robinson Foundation offers a $42 gift as a default since that was famously his jersey number as a player.
You should arrange them in ascending order on your form. There are differing opinions on putting the amounts in ascending (smallest to largest) or descending (largest to smallest) order. But since this is your main form and will have a wide array of donation amount options, I think’s it’s best to start with the smallest amount, so as to not scare off low-dollar donors.
Your lowest amount listed should be higher than your average low-dollar gift. We want to meet people where they’re at, but we also want your revenue to grow, guys. Just remember that Inconvenient Truth: You will only get what you ask for. So don’t ask for less than they’re already giving, guys!
You should default the second amount. You want to get them higher than your floor (which is already higher than your average gift) and leave them room to aspire to higher gifts. Your default amount subconsciously tells them, “This is what we expect," as well as, “This is what most people do.”
You should try and include mid-level and/or major gifts thresholds. Those folks will come to this form too, and you want to let them know this form is as fine a place as any to make their huge gift. And if it’s making you uncomfortable to include at least the mid-level amount as the highest amount on your main form, then you might consider whether your mid-level amount is too high or your average gift is way too low.
You should include an open field as an option (just not the only or main option). I’ve been slagging on open-ended questions and infinite choices, but as part of the suite of options you’re offering people, they’re fine and needed. Especially on the main form where donors of all shapes and sizes are coming through. Just please, please, don’t default to that.
You should not just divide by 12 to get your monthly amounts. You’re not guaranteed to get all 12 gifts, guys! You need your monthly amount to be lower, but not that much lower. For the lower dollar monthly defaults, just divide by 4 or 5, and round to the nearest 5. It’ll get you an amount that feels much lower, but is still a huge lifetime value win for you. For your highest asks, your midlevel folks, you can divide those amounts by 10 if you just feel really weird about the sticker shock.
Overall, just keep that Inconvenient Truth in mind: You will only get what you ask for. So don’t ask for less. Ask for, you know, more.
Payment options: Opt for simplicity
OK, let’s make this quick.
Here’s the payment options you have to offer:
Credit cards - Because everyone has them, and they’re easy to use.
That’s it, that’s the list.
BUT!! BUT. But… if it’s easy for you to offer these other options, while still defaulting to credit card, go for it:
Paypal - Because most everyone has it, and it’s easy to use.
Apple Pay - Because the people with more money have it, and it’s easy to use.
Checking Account - Because it has high retention for recurring gifts.
If you must, you can also offer one additional digital wallet method. But only if you’ve seen evidence that your donors actually use it.
Do not be on the bleeding edge of offering new payment options. Remember, we are in the business of limiting options to make this transaction easy for people. Your form likely isn’t getting enough traffic to reach enough people to make offering fringe payment methods worth the risk of lowering conversion rate.
If you must add another payment method, only keep it if people use it. I know what happens. Your manager or board member or celebrity donor wants some payment method on the form because they use it or read about it in a magazine or invested in it, and you have no choice but to add it. So you end up with SmackDogWalletCoin on your form, because it’s “really takin’ off” and “by 2040, we’ll be doing most of our transactions on the SmackDog block chain”. Fine, but watch it like a hawk.
If you go through months with less than 10% of your donors opting to use a payment method, drop it from the form. Especially if you go through a full November/December giving season and see this.
Remember: as many options as you need, but no more.
All other options: Less is way, way more
Please, please, please, get rid of as many other options on the form as you legally can.
If you can, get rid of:
Tribute gift options - Unless a double digit percentage of ALL your gifts are “in honor/memory of” gifts, do not clutter your main form with this. Put it on another form that’s dedicated to this type of giving, label it clearly with a good heading, link to it on your website clearly so search engines can find it, and get it off your main form. At best, I will allow you to link to that tribute form in the footer of your main form. That’s it.
Needless personal info - Salutations, middle initials, prefixes, suffixes, race, genders… It’s all got to go! Would it be nice to have lots of nice detailed salutatory and demographic information on your donors? Sure. Is it worth taking up any space on your form to do so? No! Every little field you add makes it that much more visually daunting. First name, last name. That’s it.
Weird address fields - No multiple lines for street address. No apartment field. No double fields for zip codes. I get that for fraud reasons, you might need zip code. And if you’re stricter on fraud, you might have your reasons for including street, city, and state. But keep it to the minimum necessary for fraud purposes. If you want their address to target them better, or to send them direct mail, then think of a good reason to ask for their address in the thank you email (e.g. “Get local/advocacy updates”, “We’ll mail you a free sticker”, etc) and do it there.
Restricted giving fields - If at all possible, don’t let them choose where their money is going! For starters, it’s yet another choice you’re forcing them to make. But more importantly, your organization needs unrestricted funds not earmarked, inflexible dollars. You, as the organization, know best how to spend their money to achieve your mission, and if your donors don’t trust you on that, you’ve got bigger problems than form fields to solve. If you truly feel that a double digit percentage of your donors need to specify what program gets their donation, or they will NOT give… include the option. But do me a favor, add an unrestricted option (“Use my donation wherever it’s most needed”), default to that option, and check back in 6-12 months to see if truly more than 10% of them specify anything.
Anything else! - This is not a survey! Don’t ask them how they found you! Don’t ask them what they like most about the organization! Don’t ask for any feedback! This is not the time for feedback! You can send them a post-donation follow up asking for feedback. (Great idea!) Right now, just get them through the transaction.
In summary: I could talk about forms for days
OK, so we’ve talked for three thousand words and we’ve covered: which fields to use on your donation. And I could keep going for about ten thousand more words! Jeepers creepers! Seems crazy, but I think that’s appropriate.
These form decisions are the single most important choices you can make about your digital program. Time spent thinking about these things is worth more than most anything else. That’s why I put it at Step 1, people!
Do you have other burning questions about forms? Paid subscribers: Leave me a note in the comments! We will have future posts going into more about forms because there’s plenty more to say: Optimizing for mobile! How are the buttons styled? Error checking! Nudges! Upsells! What are you most interesting in hearing more about?
Next week we’ll move on to talk about everyone’s favorite topic: Sending more emails. Yes, everyone loves getting more email, right? Right? No? Just me? Wait, not even me?!
Oh, and by the way, my daughters ultimately decided on Taco Bell. Which put a significant strain on the… “program staff” of my body for the next several days.
Thanks for reading, ya’ll.