Why add a donation form to your emails? There are a couple of reasons you may want to try this:

Improving the giving experience

Allowing donors to click directly on the amount they want to give and have it pre-populate on the donation form means one less step in the overall giving process. Simplicity = a better giving experience and improved conversion rates.

Increasing average gift size

By proposing a specific gift array in your email, you may see an increase in your average gift size which may bolster your overall fundraising results. To test this, take your typical average gift size by email and increase it slightly in the gift array. If your average gift size was $112, try rounding up to $120 or $125.

Increasing email click-through

So much of email fundraising boils down to math. The more opens you have, the more clicks you’re likely to get—and the more clicks you get, the more donations you’ll get. By testing new calls to action (like specific ask amount buttons), you may see an increase in click-through rates.

Practice makes perfect!

Most email service providers offer a way to test a couple of different emails at one time. The fancy name for it is an A/B test, but whatever you call it, use it! Send one email with a donation button and one with an array. Try different array amounts. Try different-colored donation buttons. When you get a winner, test another piece of the email until all you do is win, win, win!

Here’s another example of a donation form in an email from Win Without War.

And another example from Sunrise: This email uses a combination of both a donation form in-email and two hyperlinked asks in the copy of the email. By adding both options and testing, you can see over time which type of CTAs perform better in order to optimize your emails.

Sometimes all it takes to level up is putting two pieces of the same puzzle together in a way you hadn't previously.

Adding a donation form to your donor-facing emails has the potential to unlock next-level donations and supporter engagement—try it in your next email!