Didion Golf Sponsorship Form — Dual Payment Path Design

Overview

The Didion golf sponsorship page requires a form update to support two payment methods (credit card and check) within a single user flow, plus a new standalone silent auction donation section. This article captures the agreed design spec and fallback options discussed in the April 2026 working session with Diana Henry.

Related client context: ^[1]

Problem Statement

The existing sponsorship page uses separate "Reserve Now" and "Pay by Check" buttons that route to distinct forms. The goal is to consolidate into a cleaner flow while preserving check-payment support — a meaningful path since many corporate sponsors route payments through their accounting departments and cannot pay by credit card at the point of selection.

Additionally, a new "Support Our Silent Auction" section needs to be added to the page, with its own dedicated form.

Preferred Design: Single Form, Conditional Payment Path

Ideal flow:

1. Visitor selects a sponsorship tier on the page ("Reserve Now").
2. A single Gravity Form loads with the selected tier pre-populated.
3. A radio button or dropdown asks: "How would you like to pay?"
   - Credit card → proceeds to PayPal/payment gateway checkout
   - Pay by check → reveals mailing instructions inline; no payment gateway required
4. All other form fields (contact info, sponsorship details) are shared across both paths.

Key UX note: Check payers will not know their check number at submission time — they are submitting intent and routing the payment request to their accounting department. The form should not require a check number field.

Feasibility: Ishak (developer) needs to confirm whether Gravity Forms conditional logic can toggle between a PayPal gateway step and a static "mail your check to:" instruction block within a single form. This was the open technical question as of the call.

Fallback Design: Two Separate Forms

If the single-form conditional approach is not feasible in Gravity Forms:

• Keep two distinct CTA buttons per sponsorship tier: "Reserve Now" (credit card) and "Pay by Check"
• Each button routes to its own form
• The check form collects the same contact/sponsorship fields but replaces the payment step with mailing instructions

This replicates the prior year's structure and is the known-working fallback.

Sold-Out State Handling

Sponsorship tiers that sell out should be hidden (not shown as disabled/selectable). The current implementation shows sold-out options in a non-selectable state, which Diana finds confusing. The preferred behavior:

• Active tiers: visible with CTA button(s)
• Sold-out tiers: hidden entirely from the public-facing page
• Page is managed by toggling visibility in the Divi backend; no new mechanism needed

Keeping sold-out tiers visible (with a "Sold Out" label) was discussed as an alternative — it lets prospects see what was available and potentially plan for next year — but the default preference is to hide them.

Silent Auction Section

Page Structure

Add a new section below the sponsorship tiers, anchored so the top-of-page navigation can link directly to it. Suggested heading: "Support Our Silent Auction"

Include a short blurb of copy (to be provided by Diana) explaining the silent auction and the donation opportunity.

Standalone Silent Auction Form

Create a separate Gravity Form (do not embed the silent auction ask inside the sponsorship form). Rationale: some donors want to give cash without taking a sponsorship package — forcing them through the full sponsorship form creates friction and may cause drop-off.

Form fields:
- Contact information (name, organization, email)
- Donation amount selection: preset options ($100, $250, $500, or custom)
- A required acknowledgment field with a "Not at this time" option — making the field required forces the user to actively consider the ask rather than skip past it

Implementation note: The pre-order golf balls form in the existing Gravity Forms setup was identified as a good duplication candidate — strip the golf-ball-specific fields and repurpose the structure for silent auction donations.

Sponsorship Tier / Form Field Updates

• Dollar amounts for some tiers are being revised upward (Diana to provide final pricing)
• "Print Partner" tier was missing from the Gravity Forms dropdown and was added during the call — confirm this propagates correctly (PayPal integration pulls the cart total dynamically, so no PayPal-side update should be needed, but Ishak should verify)
• Tier descriptions/bullet points can remain largely unchanged; Diana will flag any specific bullets to remove

Timeline & Ownership

Related

• ^[1]
• ^[2] (create if pattern recurs)
• ^[3] (see same call)