Busting the Myths of Mobile – More Effective Donor Campaigns with Mobile

If you’ve ever thought about fundraising more effectively; having better engagements with donors, increasing donor retention and breaking through the “clutter” – mobile can do that for you.  But not if you get frightened away by the myths you may have heard about mobile. You can realize mobile’s full potential in your fundraising campaign if you get the facts.

Don’t let the myths of mobile scare you! Let us spook-away some of the most frightening myths about mobile before they haunt you. After all, done right, mobile offers treats, not tricks! 

Here’s our Halloween treat for you – Busting the Myths of Mobile! 

This is first in a series of three – watch for parts two and three as we clear away the cobwebs from more Myths of Mobile.

Myth: You Don’t Need a Mobile Strategy.

Fact: If you think this, then you haven’t looked at Google Analytics for your website, which would likely show you that a large segment of your web traffic comes from mobile phones. As mentioned earlier, in 2014 more people are projected to be accessing the web from their mobile devices than from a desktop computer. Already, 55 percent of mobile phone owners use their devices to access the web. 

A mobile strategy is built on the knowledge of the central role that mobile devices play in our daily lives. And that role continues to grow. Mobile should be central to the strategic vision of how you will get supporters to donate, visit your web site, receive information and share it with their friends and families.

Myth: Donations made by mobile phone don’t provide meaningful data. 

Fact: If executed properly, mobile can become a pipeline for building donor and supporter profiles through different data collection methods gained with user permission.

Data collected through mobile can be integrated with CRMs, correlated with information in your database and used to collect additional information through mobile web forms.

Mobile polling also presents great opportunities to collect data. More people will likely respond to a mobile poll because of the proximity of their cell phones and the greater likelihood they will read your text.  Through a mobile poll you can collect both qualitative and quantitative information.

Donor and supporter acquisition has become one of the most effective ways nonprofits use mobile. It’s not about the $5 or $10 micro-donation – it’s about getting people involved in your cause so you can cultivate them to give in a multitude of ways!

Myth: Mobile is only good for engaging Millennials.

Fact: Grandma most likely uses a mobile phone.

The largest demographic group in mGive’s 2013 Text Donation Study who contribute by text is baby boomers at 35 percent. Millennials are second, at 33.8 percent, followed by Generation X at 28.4 percent. A small number of the Greatest Generation also donate via text. Text donors include people of all age groups as the population as a whole increasingly relies on mobile phones to stay connected and engaged. According to eMarketer, the U.S. senior (age 65+) mobile phone penetration is projected to be 72 percent in 2014.

Watch for more Myth-Busting to come!

Have questions about mobile?  Not addressing one of the mobile myths that is confounding your organization? Ask us in the comments, or, talk it over with one of our account executives at 866-720-3350.