The Two Kinds of QR Codes to Use for Fundraising

QR codes can be a powerful tool for nonprofit fundraising—just make sure you’re maximizing their effectiveness. A QR code can simply load a website. But it can also do more. You can create a QR code that captures someone’s contact info for easy follow up before you send them along to that website.

How QR Codes Work

The simple QR code saw a resurgence during the pandemic when nobody wanted to physically touch anything. Suddenly they were everywhere, from the table at your local restaurant to Super Bowl ads. They allow people to load a menu or simply pull up a specific website—all without having to type in a long URL into your phone. All someone has to do is aim their phone’s camera at a QR code.

More than simply pulling up a website, a QR code can initiate an action. That means you can do a lot with a QR code, but you need to think through what you want people to do.

QR Code Example

Here are two QR codes pitching the same resource—in this case our resource featuring nine stats about texting—but they do it differently.

The first QR code simply takes you to a webpage

This is how QR codes are commonly used. It’s quick and immediate. It works fine.

But the second QR code takes you to the same page, but first captures your mobile number.

That’s pretty powerful.

How It Works

The second approach has someone text a short code to 24365, which then sends a link to the webpage. The QR code magically pre-populates the phone number and the short code, so the person just has to press send. That minor extra step means you just captured the person’s cell phone number.

It’s still really simple, but now you have a way to follow up with someone who’s expressed interest in your nonprofit. That’s invaluable.

Why Does It Matter?

OK, so what’s the point? How does this help your nonprofit hit your fundraising goals?

Let’s say these QR codes were designed to get people to make a donation to your nonprofit organization. Something like 20-30% will donate (yay!), but that means 70-80% thought about it but didn’t follow through (doh!).

So what if you could follow up with those 70-80% who didn’t donate and give them a gentle reminder? A little nudge to think about donating again? Chances are you could convert even more of them (our stats show at least a 30% increase in completed donations).

The first QR code sent folks directly to the page and didn’t gather any info. You’ve now lost that potential donor.

But the second QR code gives you that opportunity to try again because you captured their cell phone number and have a way to follow up.

Make It Work

You can build this kind of useful QR code using Rally's Enhanced QR Code. Capture their mobile number and follow up later to complete their donation.

Book a demo now to see more of how Rally works and how it can help you hit your fundraising goals.

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