How to Collect Signatures for a Petition Online

Last Updated on December 26, 2025 by Hannah Seeley

Launching online petitions is a formal governance tool for professional organizations, such as unions and cooperatives. Traditional paper methods serve a purpose, but pose concerns surrounding security, accuracy, and compliance. Using popular online public petition platforms may also lead to security issues.

When collecting endorsements for board or committee positions, crafting a compelling petition through a secure platform is key to encourage signatures from members. Learn how to start an internet petition and collect signatures in this guide.

How to Start a Petition Online

Once you have thought about all the details your online petition needs to include, it’s time to build your petition strategy to reach the optimal number of signatures. Here’s how to make an online petition stand out and maximize your signatures:

Set Your Goals

Think about what goals you aim to achieve from the petition. For example, consider what impact the petition will have on members within your organization, from employees to leadership. Ways to achieve these goals include the following:

• Stress the urgency: Explain why immediate action is necessary to make an impact. Linking a call to action (CTA) pushes members to follow through with the next stages. Dates of deadlines, contact information, and particular actions to implement changes will enforce the urgency.
• Describe the situation: Include details on whether members of your organization will be affected by actions, and always explain why the action needs to happen.
• Highlight the organizational impact: Clearly articulate the potential consequences for the organization if key leadership positions remain unfilled, or if qualified candidates don’t receive sufficient support. Explain how active member participation in the nomination process is crucial for maintaining effective governance, ensuring strong representation, and ultimately benefiting all members. This demonstrates why reaching the required signature threshold is vital for the health and direction of your organization.

Craft a Compelling Headline

When a petition lands in a person’s inbox, the headline is the first thing they will see. It is the selling point of your online petition and the deciding factor on whether they will want to learn more about it. Particular rules in writing a petition headline apply:

• Use names: Your members need to know whether a petition is relevant to them. Using specific organization and department group names in the headline offers a clear indication of whether the petition is right for them.
• Add dynamic verbs: Online petitions must capture an audience’s attention immediately to encourage engagement. A key factor in achieving this is using dynamic verbs in the headline, such as “endorse,” “nominate,” “support,” and “elect.”
• Be careful with punctuation: Overusing punctuation, such as exclamation marks and writing in all caps, looks unprofessional and uninviting.
• Adopt an urgent approach: To grab the attention of your organization members, think about how to implement emotion and urgency in the headline. If a deadline is approaching, be sure to include it for maximum impact.

Finalize the Petition’s Content

Review the language choices for your petition and how it comes across to your members. Before finalizing the content, ensure you meet the criteria of a strong petition to get members interested in its purpose:

• An attention-grabbing headline
• Compelling language to boost signatures
• A clear explanation of the petition
• Relevant supporting data
• The impact you hope to achieve
• A clear CTA with further instructions

Select the Petition Platform

After establishing the goals and individual elements of your petition, the next step is to choose a reliable and secure platform. Prioritize the following features when selecting a suitable petition platform:

• Data security: Ensuring proper data security measures are in place is crucial to protecting your members’ information. Only collect the information you need for the petition, and make it clear to members how information is stored and used.
• Real-time insights: Choose an online platform that enables you to check the progress of your petition and the number of signatures rolling in before the deadline date. Checking the progress at various stages while the petition is live allows you to determine the petition’s success and better track your goals.
• Petition management: Depending on how much input you desire with the petition’s design and marketing, choose a platform that manages all aspects for you. When provided with the instructions and the purpose of the petition, some digital platforms can take over the layout and marketing practices with your goals in mind.

Top Tips for Online Petition Signature Collection

Aside from creating a successful petition template, setting up a sharing strategy is essential to achieve a desirable number of signatures. Before your petition goes live, think about the following tips to collect signatures for a petition online:

• Create email marketing campaigns: Whether you write an email using a blank template or email marketing software, sending an email with an attention-grabbing headline attracts more interest. With an effective email marketing campaign, members can forward petitions to further member contacts and gain additional support.
• Keep members informed: If progress is being made toward the petition’s goal, send regular updates to your members. They will want to know about changes and progress.
• Use internal message boards: As the deadline for your petition approaches, keep engaging with members by posting regular updates via the organization’s internal platforms. To keep sharing your petition, customize the headline based on any updates and relevant news.
• Build a progress timeline: Within the member updates on the petition’s progress, outline a clear timeline for presenting signatures to your organization’s board. From there, you can detail when you expect to receive an outcome from the board and a predicted timeline for action.

How Do You Create an Online Petition and Voting System With SBS?

At Survey & Ballot Systems (SBS), our voting petition software offers a range of benefits to work well with your organization. For turnkey services, our solutions provide a quick and easy way to collect petition signatures and internal votes. You add your details and images to our system portal, and our team manages the entire project, including a personalized design for your petition.

If you prefer to build your own internal online voting system, our DIY software allows you to make a streamlined voting process for elections with fewer than 5,000 voters. You can set your election to open and close within a specific time frame, as well as send texts and emails for easy access to your petition.

Get Started With Your Petition and Collect Electronic Signatures

The SBS team guides you every step of the way to achieve effective online voting solutions and navigate our nomination and petition software. We have over 30 years of experience in developing effective methods for generating votes and signatures. From educational institutions to credit unions, mutual insurance companies, and farm credit associations, our team is your trusted organizational election partner to reach your goals.

Are you ready to explore our productive online voting solutions? Contact our team today to request a quote and achieve electoral success.