Best Practices: Designations

Hi Danielle,

I'm not aware of any data out there that says more or less designations can have a significant impact -- that said, I like it that you are thinking about your constituent experience.  I agree that 30 designations seems like it could be a bit overwhelming and difficult for a donor when using the online form.

Some approaches you could take to simplify:

1) You could create multiple donation forms - each form could have a different set of options.  This would allow you to offer different giving opportunities (different giving links) that point to the various forms.  If you choose this route, make sure that you are placing the links to the various donation forms in a place on your site where the donor understands the difference between the various forms.

2) You could simply remove some of the designations that are not seeing a lot of online giving traffic or use.  This could also be done by consolidating some of the designation options into a single option instead of having different options for each.

Bottom line, you want to make sure that a donor who is donating online can make their choices with ease as they are donating online.  Keep it simple, and focus on the constituent experience.  Good thinking.

Adam