Top Trends in Mobile Giving from mGive

By: Partner

The first thing we learned in our joint webinar with our partners from mGive is that many of our assumptions were totally wrong - in a good way. Best practices on how to use texts to solicit your donor base are changing quickly. Here are some of the trends they highlighted:

Increased ability to build mobile lists: When people give money today, there is almost always a spot on the online donation form for phone number. Companies like mGive can run this list to see which phone numbers are mobile, then you can text your supporters one-time to ask if they are open to receiving texts. Result: Instant opt-in for future text campaigns.

Your supporters want to be texted: People want to be approached MORE by mobile. Yes, you read that right. Your donors want text solicitations. And with 97% of texts being read, you can't afford not to consider this channel. Just be smart about how you approach them: make sure you have permission and be conscious of not looking spammy. It’s all about context! According to mGive's recent survey, the vast majority of text donors were extremely satisfied with the experience, yet only 30% give this way on a regular basis.

Mobile can turn social media supporters into donors: A common problem for nonprofits is what to do with their massive base of social media supporters who like every post but haven't become donors yet. Texts are a great way to turn social media likes into action. Integrating text donations with social media (particularly Facebook and video) is a great place to start. Social media has the potential to increase awareness, and mobile programs make it easy to engage and give, but keep in mind that both require the ability to influence decision-making among your supporters.

Segmentation matters: Getting the right message to the right people at the right time is particularly important with mobile. Possible ways to segment your data could include donor history, geographic area/timezone, issue preferences, or activity preferences (do they prefer to donate or volunteer?). Of course, integrating your text giving with a CRM like Salesforce will help tremendously in this process, and helps differentiate between past behavior and self-selected behavior or survey/poll responses.

Use texts for non-donation engagement: Try sending a text asking supporters what is important to them (and linking to a survey). This will help build rapport through the mobile channel and give you increased info for future segmentation. You can also use texts to have supporters opt-in to your email newsletters or get updated email addresses for bounce-backs (and don't forget to cross-pollinate in the other direction: you can use email to get mobile numbers, too). One mGive client ran a quick mobile poll and found that nearly a third of subscribers were interested in local volunteer opportunities - something the client would have never known if they didn’t ask!

How they donate matters less than why: As Angela Whaley pointed out on our webinar, “People don’t donate because it’s easy, they donate because they feel personally compelled to take action." Make sure you target every call-to-action towards engagement. Causes like the #bringbackourgirls campaign have been great at using social media to drive text donations. Over 65% of donors said they'd be more likely to donate by text if a company or brand name they know or like asked them to donate. Again, it is all about context and your audience.

Drumroll please...what is mGive's #1 tip for getting started with text giving?

Add an optional mobile field to your website forms and donation forms, along with a checkbox opt-in for whether they want text message updates. You want that mobile number regardless of the text message subscription, because individuals are keeping that mobile number longer than any other piece of contact information. Afterwards, craft mobile supporter personas and cultivation plans for how they will integrate with your larger fundraising strategy.

Find mGive's recent survey here and watch our webinar on Best Practices in Mobile Giving with mGive here.