Nonprofits are always on the hunt for creative new ways to connect with donors, raise more funds, and build relationships that last. If your organization is looking for new marketing or fundraising strategies to propel you to year’s end, look no further than the device in the palm of your donors’ hands.
On average, Americans check their phones once every 10 minutes—making text messages the perfect way to reach busy supporters. Whether you’ve never tried text marketing for your nonprofit or you just need to mix up your strategy, these four creative ideas can help you get started:
- Incorporate texts into your fundraising strategy
- Encourage one-to-one conversations
- Create interactive surveys
- Inspire supporters to advocate for your cause
Text marketing offers limitless potential once you have the right tools and strategies to leverage. Start with these four ideas, then let your imagination and knowledge of your donor base take the lead.
1. Incorporate texts into your fundraising strategy
If SMS isn’t one of the channels you already use for fundraising communications, start by adding it to your strategy. Alongside emails, direct mail appeals, and social media posts, text messages can help you create a well-rounded strategy that grabs supporters’ attention. In particular, Mogli’s guide explains the benefits of SMS marketing like this:
- Texts have an impressive 98% open rate. Since most people check their messages constantly throughout the day, texts about your fundraiser are much more likely to be opened and read than emails are. While emails may get easily lost in a crowded inbox, you can rest assured that most donors will read your texts.
- SMS’s click-through rate is 19% (compared to email’s 2.6%). When you include links to your donation page, fundraising event registration page, or other resources in your texts, more recipients will click on them than if you sent them over email. Clicking these links is often the first step to taking action, so SMS’s high click-through rate is a major benefit.
- Texts are easy to send and easy to read. Simply because of how short and straightforward texts are, they’re easier for your staff to write and for your supporters to read. Instead of spending hours drafting the perfect email or letter only for donors to skim through it, you can write a quick text that gets straight to the point.
There are numerous ways to incorporate texts into your fundraising outreach to access these benefits. For example, you might leverage text-to-give to streamline the donation process, or you could send out periodic text reminders about your year-end giving campaign. Texts are also perfect for sending initial thank-you messages to donors right after they give.
2. Encourage one-to-one conversations
According to eCardWidget’s guide to donor retention, a lack of personalized communication is one of the top reasons donors lapse. To reduce the risk of losing donors, use text marketing to encourage one-to-one conversations that help supporters feel closer to your organization.
The personal nature of texting makes this easy to do! Just by sending a personalized message or question and using the recipient’s name, you open the door for them to respond directly.
For instance, say you send a message that reads, “Dylan, thanks again for donating to last year’s holiday fundraiser. We’re hosting another Christmas gift drive now—are you interested in donating?” Dylan might respond with a question about the fundraiser’s specifics or ask if he can donate an in-kind gift instead of a monetary donation. This gives your staff the chance to strike up a conversation that brings Dylan closer to your organization, even if he doesn’t donate.
Plus, if you use a text marketing app that integrates with your organization’s CRM, you can easily record any information learned from these conversations in your database for future reference. For example, if you use Salesforce for Nonprofits, a Salesforce SMS app can add information from texts right to the appropriate donor profiles.
3. Create interactive surveys
You likely already know how effective surveys can be for engaging donors and showing them that you value their opinions as members of your nonprofit’s community. But did you know that you can send interactive, engaging surveys that supporters can take right from their text messaging apps?
Instead of texting a link to an online survey form that supporters have to exit their apps to access, the best text marketing platforms allow you to send survey questions as texts and automatically collect responses. Plus, automation features can send different follow-up questions based on supporters’ previous responses.
For example, a text survey asking supporters their opinions about an upcoming fundraising event might look like this:
- Have you registered for this month’s pancake breakfast yet?
- For those who said yes to Question 1: Can’t wait to see you there! Do you plan on participating in the raffle?
- For those who said no to Question 1: If you love pancakes and supporting the local music community, register here! Want more information about the event?
- For those who said yes to Question 2: Great, we’ve got some exciting prizes! Do you have a favorite breakfast food you’d like to see at the event?
- For those who said no to Question 2: If you decide to later, you can buy tickets at the door. No matter what, we appreciate your support and can’t wait to see you there!
These surveys can be as complex or straightforward as you want. Use them to gauge interest in an event, collect personal feedback from donors, or just give supporters an opportunity to speak their minds.
4. Inspire supporters to advocate for your cause
Finally, don’t limit your text strategy to fundraising. Thoughtfully crafted text messages can also help you inspire supporters to take other actions like volunteering, spreading awareness of relevant issues, or advocating for your cause.
To inspire action with your texts, start by choosing a clear, straightforward action you want supporters to take. This could mean asking them to sign a petition, share a post on social media, or sign up to attend a volunteer recruitment event. Then, consider creating segments of supporters who have volunteered or participated in advocacy efforts in the past to ensure you’re reaching the people who are most likely to participate.
After making an ask, don’t forget to track metrics like each message’s click-through and conversion rates. These numbers will help you write better, more inspirational messages in the future by pointing out what tactics work best.
With these text marketing strategies, your organization will be able to better capture supporters’ attention and build stronger relationships over time. These ideas should give you a strong foundation, but don’t be afraid to experiment with new strategies and types of messages to find out what resonates most with your supporters.
