[Infographic] 9 Must-Know Text Message Marketing Stats for Nonprofits

When it comes to text message marketing, many nonprofit organizations have yet to catch on. In fact, statistics show that many users prefer text messaging, yet very few organizations have adopted it to date.

Embracing text-to-give fundraising can give donations to your nonprofit a major boost. Short message service (SMS) text messages can be a helpful addition to your overall marketing campaign.

Text Messaging and Mobile Giving Statistics You Should Know

Did you know that you can draw more donor engagement with text messaging? Numbers don’t lie—check out these interesting stats about mobile fundraising and text messaging:

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• The number of mobile users worldwide is projected to exceed 7.49 billion by 2025.
• About 97% of Americans own a mobile device.
• Over 5 billion people can send and receive SMS messages, making it the most viable communication channel.
• Text messages get 12 times the response rate than phone calls and emails.
• The average text donation is about $135 per year, significantly higher than other channels.
• 97% of American professionals are within 3 feet of their mobile devices 24 hours a day and look at it 150 times daily on average.
• The average person replies to an SMS message in 90 seconds, whereas it will take 90 minutes to get a response via email.
• A thank-you call/text program generated a 56% increase in first-year donor retention and a 72% increase in first-year retention revenue.
• Only 20% of mobile phone users will answer calls they don’t expect, while texts are read in 5 seconds on average.

How to Drive Donor Engagement with SMS Text Message Marketing

There are several ways to improve donor engagement with text messages. They include:

Keep Donors Updated

Keep your prospects engaged by consistently updating them with the progress of your nonprofit. You can share your ongoing initiatives, announce fundraising events, inform them about upcoming projects, and so much more.

Be Personal and Genuine

Ensure you personalize text messages you send each donor. For instance, you can use their first name and customize the messages to appeal to their particular interests. You can also segment your audience and reach specific groups with a tailored pitch. Make sure your service provider and/or fundraising software allows you to collect and use data from the donation form, including phone number, name, address, and more to grow your contact list. It should integrate with your customer relationship management (CRM) software.

Text-to-Give Donations

Text to give is an easy way for donors to make a mobile donation or pledge to support your fundraising campaign. The simple functionality works when you share a custom keyword and shortcode a potential donor texts on their cell phone (or use a QR code). You send back a simple message and a link to your donation page where they can complete the donation process using your regular fundraising platform by entering their donor data, donation amount, and using their preferred payment method (credit card, debit card, Apple pay, etc.). You can even pitch recurring donations. It’s all part of implementing a streamlined giving experience with a direct call to action.

Share How Contributions Were Used

Instead of a simple thank-you note, send out text messages sharing how donations helped your organization achieve its goals and made a difference in the community. This will go a long way in supporting your fundraising efforts by keeping donors engaged with your organization.

Get a 300% Increase in Donor Engagement With the Rally Platform

Conversational texting goes a long way to build meaningful relationships. With Rally’s AI-enhanced tools, you can easily monitor and respond to donors in real-time—even at large volumes. Whether you’re launching a streamlined text-to-give campaign or using text messages to support in-person events and follow up with volunteers (or both!), Rally can help.

• Engagement: The best text to donate campaign starts with engaging new donors. Rather than a one-way bulk text message platform, we offer true peer-to-peer, two-way text messaging so you can connect and engage with real people. You can send GIFs, emojis, and multimedia to build that personal connection and watch your interactions snowball. Use your contact’s name, write in a conversational tone, and don’t restrict yourself to just 160 characters. This will improve your open and reply rates and keep your donors happy to get your updates for many years to come.
• Fundraising tools: More than just a text-to-give platform, we have other giving tools to help you meet your fundraising goals, including an interactive fundraising thermometer, peer fundraising outreach, ringless voicemail, and more to connect with people where they are on their smartphones.
• Events: SMS marketing can improve your events, from event ticketing to follow-up. Whether you’re doing an in-person gala or an online fundraising livestream event, text messaging can add an additional dynamic, boost connection, and improve your online giving and event fundraising.
• More channels: Use texts to add a more effective channel to your currently marketing strategy. It’s hard not to be on social media these days, but the way the social media sites control the platform you need to invest in other channels. Direct mail may be tried and true, but it’s less and less effective with younger demographics. Email inboxes are overflowing these days and reply and open rates are plummeting.
• Support: In addition to our user-friendly text-to-give software, we’ve got plenty of help including FAQs, integrations, workflows, pre-written text message templates, help videos, and more. We’re happy to get on a phone call and talk through fundraising strategy, pricing, and more. We believe in offering the best customer experience possible.
  
  

Use Rally Text-2-Donate with conversational text messaging to forge unbreakable relationships with donors and volunteers. Text RALLY to 24365 to learn more about our text messaging service.

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‍Sources: 

https://www.statista.com/statistics/218984/number-of-global-mobile-users-since-2010/

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/mobile/

https://blog.hubspot.com/insiders/sms-marketing-for-b2b