Four Mobile Fundraising Questions Your Data Can Help Answer

Mike Montalto is amplifi’s Marketing Manager and has been with the company for over three years. His role involves producing and distributing educational content that helps nonprofits rise above the noise by thinking differently about their fundraising approach.

As fundraisers, we’re always looking for the next big thing that can raise more money, achieve our fundraising goals, and change the world for the better. And for many, that next big thing is mobile fundraising! 

But getting started with mobile fundraising is a big undertaking. And you may be wondering what a mobile giving program could look like for your organization, or if focusing on mobile donations is the right strategy for you.  

And you probably have the answers right in front of you! Data is the key, as it is in all things related to your fundraising outreach. After all, strong donor data can tell you what areas to focus on, how to engage donors more relevantly, and what changes you should make to improve results in the future.  

So, here are four common questions about mobile fundraising your data can help you answer: 

Will donors give through text? 

Remember, 90 percent of text messages are opened within three minutes and 98% are opened overall. But how do you know if donors are simply opening that text to get rid of the notification icon or if it inspires them to take further action? 

Has your nonprofit reached out to donors by text before? If not, try it out and see what you learn! Send donors a text with a unique link, one that you don’t use anywhere else, and see how they respond.  

Using a custom bit.ly link will make it easy to see how many people click from your text message to your website. While bit.ly’s back end will not allow you to see who clicked the link, it will tell you how many people used it to reach your donation page.   

This will give you the data you need to gauge how open your donors are to engaging with your organization through text message. This can help you decide whether to focus on a text-to-give (or text-to-donate) campaign or other mobile fundraising initiatives.  

Can I drive mobile donations from social media? 

Another area where mobile giving shines is on social media. After all, 58 percent of nonprofit social media engagement happens on mobile, according to Nonprofits Source.  

And if your data shows that you have a following of highly engaged supporters on your social channels, you can focus on using mobile to secure additional gifts from your followers.  

Social media gives you the opportunity to share your appeal story in a new way.  

You can provide context and create suspense by introducing the problem you’re trying to solve and what made your organization want to help in the first post of a series. As the story unfolds over time, be sure to let your donors know what they can do to make an impact.  

And don’t forget to include a CTA that links to your online donation page! If you’re tracking website interactions with Google Analytics, you can see how many of your users used a mobile device to view your website during the duration of your social campaign.   

Is my donation page effective for mobile users? 

How do you know if your donation page is working for you or against you? And how can you determine if what you find holds true for mobile users?  

Well, if you’re tracking your website interactions with Google Analytics and monitoring online donations through a donor management system, you can determine your conversion rate in three simple steps: 

1. Using Google Analytics, determine the total number of unique visitors to your online donation page within a specific time period. 

2. Using your donor management system, determine the total number of online donations made during that same time period. 

3. Divide the number of unique visitors by your online donations to determine your conversion rate. 

Calculating your online conversion rate for mobile users requires a little more work. While Google Analytics allows you to view data specific for mobile users, it’s up to you to determine how many conversions came from mobile before you can calculate your conversion rate for mobile users.  

How much work is ahead of me? 

That’s a fair question. And one that only your nonprofit’s data can answer. As you know, no two organizations are the same. We’re all communicating with different audiences with different messages. And we’re not all starting at the same place.  

Obviously, organizations that have used text messages to engage donors before will have a head start. And others may not have up-to-date mobile numbers for everyone in their database!  

But there is one constant. Data will drive your strategy. So, take what you already know about your donors and how they engage with your outreach and use that as a starting point. Then, try something new (like A/B testing), track your results, and learn what you can do to improve!  

Final Thoughts

Ready to learn more about how to take your fundraising to the next level? Check out these additional resources!

• Learn How to Effectively A/B Test Your Fundraising Communications
• How to Use Outbound Text Messages to Boost Donor Retention
• Email Course: Text Fundraising Crash Course

About amplifi

amplifi works with nonprofits to improve the value and effectiveness of their fundraising communications and related outreach. We partner with nonprofits to build fundraising strategies that fit each organization’s unique needs from strategy, to execution, to analysis.