Are you looking for a way to accept Stripe donations on your WordPress site? There are multiple solutions and payment gateways; however, one of the most widely accepted and trusted is Stripe.
Luckily, AidWP makes accepting Stripe donations as easy as a couple of clicks. All you need is an active Stripe account, and you can start accepting donations and even running your own fundraiser.
In this AidWP review, we’ll take a hands-on look at this tool and its feature set so you can decide if it’s the right WordPress Stripe donation plugin for your website.
AidWP Review: A High-Level Overview
AidWP is one of the top WordPress Stripe donation plugins. It makes setting up and receiving donations on your WordPress site easy.
The plugin utilizes the Stripe payment gateway, which not only reduces fees but also improves payment security. Stripe also supports the most widely used credit cards and is one of the most trusted online payment processors.
Not only that, but there aren’t any additional fees or transaction charges you or your donor will be responsible for. Plus, there’s built-in SCA payment support for European customers to authenticate online transactions.
You get easy form customization, security features, and simple form placement, all in an easy-to-use package.
Here are some of the core features:
- Full control over donation forms. Easily customize your donation forms to match the design of your site, with complete control over form fields.
- Easy form placement on site. Use the included shortcode to display forms in high-converting locations easily.
- Personalized email notifications. Customize automated donor receipts to help deepen your relationship with donors.
- Built-in payment security. Stripe is trusted and secure, plus the built-in number-matching captcha helps to prevent bot attacks.
- Full donor list access. You get access to an in-depth breakdown of all your donor information. It can even be exported into a CSV for easier data management.
An In-Depth Look at Using AidWP
Now that you have a better understanding of what AidWP does and some of the features that set it apart, let’s take a more detailed look at how this plugin works in real-time.
Setting up the WordPress Stripe donation plugin is incredibly easy. Once it is installed, you can connect your Stripe account and start receiving donations.
Once that’s set up, you can starting creating your WordPress donation forms. We’ll show you what that process looks like below.
Note: For this review, we are using a premium version of AidWP, which gives us advanced customization and security functionality.
General Form Settings
The first thing you’ll be able to customize is your donation form. You can add a form title, description, and donation for different items, specify donation amounts, choose your currency, add a redirect link, and more.
On this page, you can customize all of your essential form information based on the type of donation you’re running. For example, if you’re running a pay-what-you-want online course, then you can use the suggested donation feature to highlight what people normally contribute.
Customize Your Form
Clicking the Form Settings tab brings you to the form customization screen. Here, you have complete control over how your form appears. You can change the template color, add a display banner, and edit all your form fields.
Here’s some of the information you can customize on your donation form:
- Choose to display a form banner
- Hide or show form labels
- Name and email labels
- Donor address information
- Enable captcha
- Display total daily donations
- And more
Once you’re satisfied with your form fields, you can click the Styles tab. Here, you can customize how your form appears. You can change the colors, width, background, button colors, and more.
After that, you can click the Template menu option to choose your form template. Currently, there are two different options to choose between.
Fundraising
If you’re running a fundraiser, click on the Fundraising tab to set your fundraising goals. All you need to do is check the Enable Fundraising box and fill in your goals to start collecting donations. You also have complete control over the form’s appearance through the Styles tab.
This is an easy way to create Kickstarter-like fundraisers on your own site.
Google reCaptcha Settings
Stripe is already very secure as a payment processor. However, you can add an additional layer of security by enabling Google reCaptcha. This fraud detection service will stop bots and other automated attacks.
To utilize Google reCaptcha you’ll need to setup your site within the Google Cloud environment.
Donation List
Your list of donors can be a valuable asset for future donations and a great way to build a relationship. Clicking the Donation List menu option will bring up your entire list of donors.
You’ll be able to see all of the information you’ve collected from your donation forms. You can view this within your WordPress dashboard or export your data to a CSV or Excel.
You can export this data into your CRM or email marketing tool of choice, to help you better manage, and follow up with donors over time.
Receipt Email Settings
One of the final aspects of your donation experience you’ll want to customize is the automated email. The Recipient Email lets you connect with your donor and communicate any relevant information.
You can change the subject line, message content, footnote, and more. Plus, you can choose from two different email templates. Being able to customize these messages goes a long way towards building an actual relationship with your donors, as opposed to a standard thank you for your donation message.
AidWP Support and Documentation
The plugin is very straightforward and easy to use. The most complicated aspect is probably setting up your own Stripe account if you haven’t already. However, if you do need plugin support, there are a few different options.
First, the Usage & Tutorial tab will answer a few common questions. There’s also an embedded YouTube video that walks you through setting up the plugin, along with basic plugin documentation.
Beyond that, you can access the support forum via the AidWP WordPress plugin page. The developers respond to every question. However, the support form isn’t that active overall.
Finally, you can access support via the Contact Us tab. The speed of support will depend on the plan you’re on. However, the support is always very helpful and will reslve any plugin issues.
AidWP Pricing
You can use a free version of the AidWP plugin to collect donations via Stripe. You can also customize your form, recipient email, and thank you page.
However, to access more advanced features, you’ll need to upgrade to a premium plugin version.
The plans are broken down by feature set. The Basic plan offers the same features as the free plugin, greater control over your admin and receipt emails, and a few other options.
The Professional plan gives you access to the highest-level features. It includes everything in the previous plan, plus additional features like displaying and exporting donor lists, enabling security captcha, extra customization options, and more.
The Basic plan starts at $39.99 monthly or $119.99 for lifetime use. While the Professional plan is $59.99 per year or $179.99 for a lifetime. There’s also an Enterprise plan available, which offers everything in the previous plans, along with the highest level of support. It costs $179.99 per year.
Here’s an overview of the pricing:
Overall, the free version is fine if you need to add simple donation functionality to your WordPress website. However, if your donation process and form needs become more advanced, the Professional plan is your best option.
Real User Reviews and Feedback
Overall, there aren’t many user reviews across third-party platforms like G2 or ProductHunt. However, within the the WordPress repository AidWP gets a lot of love. It currently has an impressive 5-star rating with 23 five-star reviews!
Most website owners who use the plugin love its ease and elegance, as well as the quality of the support team.
Final Thoughts on AidWP
Overall, AidWP is a solid and easy-to-use WordPress Stripe donation plugin. It doesn’t have the prettiest interface, but it’s very easy to use and makes it simple to add Stripe donation functionality to your site.
The premium version packs even more punch. It lets you create fundraisers, completely customize your forms, and make donor management incredibly easy.
If you’ve been looking for a way to start accepting donations via Stripe, then AidWP is one of the best ways to do it. Plus, the premium version comes equipped with a 14-day money-back guarantee.
So, not only can you test out the free version of the plugin, but you can test drive the premium version for two weeks to see if it fits the needs of your WordPress site.
