Frequently Asked Questions

• Can I use the eCard forms for Advocacy?

  Good question! We designed the eCards functionality specifically for list-building and fundraising purposes, but we imagine that you could potentially use it for Advocacy purposes as well.

  A few things to keep in mind:

  • We haven’t integrated this with any sort of legislator look-up or congressional inboxes at all.
  • Legislators do tend to block “fancy” emails from their inboxes, so anything that isn’t plain text is very likely not going to get delivered, even if you do encourage your supporters to send a direct email for a legislator.
  • Encouraging emails to specific contacts at corporations will likely have better deliverability – but you’ll want to make sure you have a plan in place for how to handle any complaints from the recipients!
  • The eCards form is likely best used as a form of outreach to raise awareness with your supporters and their networks about a particular action.

• How does the eCard form guard against spam?

  The forms are built through Gravity Forms, a WordPress plugin that includes several built-in features to ensure forms are not abused by spammers.

  WordPress itself also runs security plugins independent of Gravity Forms that help to mitigate spam.

  On top of this, we include integration with a transactional email service as part of the eCard package to ensure that email deliverability is covered, which adds another layer of protection against abuse.

• Are there any other fees outside of the total amounts shown here?

  In addition to the fee for setting up your eCard, you can expect to pay for hosting and maintenance on an annual basis.

  Additional fees may come up for transaction processing if you choose the fundraising features for your eCards. Though we will help configure these settings, the processing fees go to the gateway processor directly and aren’t something that we set nor collect.

  Do you use CardConnect or Salsa Engage for your transactions processing? We offer a free WordPress plugin to connect those transactions with your eCards form.

• How are the organization's messages applied?

  When you invite your supporters to create an eCard message, they are able to customize the message that they send to their contacts.

  As part of that message, we also offer a field where you can append your own organization’s message, usually used for something related to your campaign such as fundraising form or “learn more” links and that sort of thing.

  These appended messages can be applied across your entire eCard platform or customized for specific card art.

• Can I see what the admin interface looks like?

  Sure thing! Log in to check out our demo site’s admin options at:

  https://ecards.cornershopcreative.com/wp-login.php

  with:

  username: hello

  password: neatecardshere

• Can I see some examples from other nonprofits?

  Sure!

  https://ecards.sharsheret.org/

  https://cards.jwi.org/

  https://ecards.warnerparks.org/

  https://ecards.waterforpeople.org/

• Is it possible to download sender and receiver emails?

  Yes, with a click of a button, you can download a complete list of both senders and recipients in the form of a .csv file. You can even select which fields to export and filter by date or other conditions. If you would like the data to feed into a popular CRM, like MailChimp, Luminate Online, Engaging Networks, Salsa Labs, or Constant Contact, then we can set that up too.

• Do I have to embed the form on my website?

  No, you may link directly to the hosted version of the form. It’s a simple design with the ability to customize a logo at the top of the page and include some footer text. In this demo site, we have used the Cornershop logo and kept the footer simple.

• Can I personalize messages to each eCard recipient?

  Yes, while there is a default message for all eCards, users have the ability to customize that message on a per recipient basis.

• Is it possible to simplify the interface so that it only asks for the sender's email address and the receiver’s emails address before previewing the card?

  Yes! The giving fields are not required

• How are the gifts you receive through the eCard platform processed?

  Cornershop has built an integration with CardConnect, the payment processor used by Salsa. In addition, you will have access to PayPal, Stripe, or Authorize.net payment processors.

• Does the eCard sender/donor get confirmation of both eCard send AND the donation?

  The sender/donor gets one notification/donation receipt when it is sent/purchased. If the eCard is scheduled for the future (which is a feature we offer), then a notification does NOT send a second time when the eCards sends. While that functionality doesn’t exist yet, it is on our roadmap to BCC the recipient when the eCard is sent.

• Is it possible to suggest text to go along with each individual image?

  Currently, we offer one organizational message to be used across all the images you choose. That said, you design and upload those images, so you are welcome to add text as part of the design of each image. If you want to be able to customize actual text (not as part of the image itself, but standalone), you can hire Cornershop to add this functionality with just a few hours of work, billed separately.

• We need a platform that will help us to send physical paper cards, as well. Can Cornershop’s eCard platform do that?

  Yes, the platform has the ability to create campaigns that send physical cards, instead of eCards. Your team will have access to a report, which you can use to print mailing labels for your envelopes.

• Do the dimensions of the e-cards have to be square?

  The images can be any size that you upload. The thumbnail preview images on the first page are set to the square dimensions, but the actual image in the eCard is whatever you upload. If you need to change the thumbnail dimensions, you can hire Cornershop to make that one-time change for you with CSS.

• How long does it take to set up?

  It can take up to 2-3 weeks to get your platform setup, customized, and launched

• Is the price for a one-off ecard design or for a platform that we can use multiple times?

  You can use it multiple times!

• Is there a limit to the number of sites you can use this service with?

  Because this is a hosted service built on WordPress, your platform will live at a subdomain on your website, such as https://www.ecards.myawesomewebsite.org/. The platform does also provide an embed code so that you can add this to your website through an iframe. Either way, you won’t have any issues linking to or embedding this service in multiple places.

• Can you have two eCard campaigns going at once?

  Yes, you can have multiple campaigns running at one time. We’ll provide documentation on how to set this up, though it’s very straightforward.

• Can you run a campaign that is free to send the eCard but then add a prompt to add a donation?

  Yes. You can now charge $0 for the eCard and then ask for additional donation. This is how our demo is currently setup, if you want to see it in action: https://ecards.cornershopcreative.com/. We have also added a feature to remove the $0 from the additional donation, essentially requiring a donation be made if you don’t want that step to be optional.