Textual content messaging is an more and more essential useful resource for reaching supporters with unmatched immediacy. Not solely are 99% of textual content messages opened, however 90% are opened inside three minutes after they’re acquired.
This chance to attach instantly and instantly with supporters has made texting a key channel year-round and particularly throughout crucial fundraising campaigns like Giving Tuesday, end-of-year fundraising, and rapid-response moments. Regardless of its rising utilization, dependable fundraising knowledge round nonprofit textual content messaging outcomes have been restricted till now.
Final month, Tatango and MissionWired launched the Nonprofit Textual content Messaging Insights Report as a place to begin for metrics on fundraising and engagement textual content messaging throughout the nonprofit trade. The report contains knowledge on greater than 200 million nonprofit textual content messages despatched, 162,000 donations acquired, and $5.4 million raised from nonprofit textual content messaging in 2023. Listed below are six takeaways from the report:
1. Textual content Messaging Accounted for 4.5% of On-line Income
In recent times, texting has develop into one of many fastest-growing channels for nonprofit direct response. Whereas texting hasn’t caught as much as e mail but—e mail generates 16% of on-line income—nonprofits are creating multimillion greenback texting packages that proceed to attain robust progress.
For some nonprofits with sturdy texting packages and particularly throughout crucial moments, textual content messaging is beginning to outpace e mail as their largest driver of income. MissionWired, co-author of the report, has run assessments to make sure this shift doesn’t imply texting is detracting from e mail income: slightly, we discovered that organizations operating multichannel campaigns elevate more cash for his or her packages general they usually’re increase a extremely precious viewers of multichannel donors whereas they’re at it.
2. Nonprofits Despatched 46 Textual content Messages Yearly
Nonprofits with established texting packages are utilizing the channel for proactive, ongoing communications just like how we historically have used e mail. Right here is the cadence of texts despatched by nonprofit organizations:
- December: 5.5 texts
- November: 5 texts
- January to October: 3.5 texts every month
By establishing a daily messaging cadence, you’ll be able to set an expectation amongst supporters that they’ll obtain just a few texts per 30 days. Then you’ll be able to improve that frequency throughout your greatest year-end campaigns, similar to you’d in different channels.
3. 52% of Texts Have been Targeted on Fundraising
Profitable nonprofit packages are utilizing textual content messaging to ask, steward, and interact donors. Whereas 52% of texts had been for fundraising, 48% had been targeted on sharing affect and telling tales, deepening engagement, and thanking donors, slightly than counting on it solely as a way for repeated fundraising appeals. For nonprofits that aren’t sending a mixture of fundraising, cultivation, and engagement texts, contemplate the channel an essential alternative to give attention to retention charges and supply extra surround-sound touchpoints to your viewers all year long.
4. Fundraising Texts Despatched After 6 PM Ship 37% Extra Conversions
If, as we talked about earlier, 90% of texts are opened inside three minutes after they’re acquired, then timing actually issues with texting. For the messages analyzed on this report, conversion charges elevated later within the day. We broke down night hours additional, ship occasions between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. We noticed the best conversion price from fundraising texts despatched between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.: 0.205%, in comparison with 0.095% and 0.057% between the hours of 6 p.m. and seven p.m. and between 7 p.m. and eight p.m., respectively. We additionally noticed opt-out charges lowest between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., at 0.18%.
To account for this development, it’s honest to theorize that in the course of the week folks are usually extra engaged with textual content messaging after work after they have free time. Whether or not they’re watching TV, studying a e book, or scrolling via social media, it’s probably that smartphones are shut by. This might simply contribute to nonprofits seeing increased conversion charges over textual content within the evenings.
5. Shocker: 25% Increased Conversions January–October vs. Finish of 12 months
With any good outcomes report, the enjoyable begins when some quantity takes us unexpectedly. On this report, that shock was that fundraising texts had a 25% increased conversion price from January to October in comparison with texts despatched in November and December.
What does this imply to your texting technique? For organizations hesitating to make use of texting as a core channel for a daily cadence of fundraising, engagement, and cultivation messages, this knowledge factors to textual content as a dependable channel for driving conversion all year long. There isn’t a want to attend till November and December to broaden your multichannel campaigns into textual content.
6. Nonprofits Despatched 58% MMS Texts and 42% SMS Texts
Whilst you’ll typically hear “SMS” used synonymously with “texting,” textual content messages
might be despatched both as SMS or as MMS texts, and nonprofits will leverage every textual content
message sort for various functions.
- SMS refers to text-only messages, with components which can be 160 characters lengthy, which makes them resemble a tweet
- MMS is a textual content message with a 5,000-character restrict that may embody an image, video, or GIF, which might make them look extra just like an e mail
The report authors discovered that fundraising texts had been break up evenly, 50% every MMS and SMS texts. Nevertheless, engagement and cultivation texts extra typically used MMS (67%) than SMS (33%) texts.
Whereas MMS can incur increased prices than SMS, the return on funding might be important. The distinction in inventive alternatives to interact your viewers could make MMS simpler in sure moments or cultivation efforts.
In our inaugural Textual content Messaging Insights Report, the groups at Tatango and MissionWired got down to set up a place to begin for the nonprofit trade. Amongst our most significant takeaways is the proof on this report that nonprofits are utilizing texting as an ongoing communication device to interact with supporters, join, and fundraise.With unmatched immediacy and engagement, textual content messaging has develop into a vital nonprofit channel to your core digital fundraising program alongside e mail, social, and digital adverts.
To listen to the report’s authors focus on the findings, watch our on-demand webinar, Introducing the Nonprofit Textual content Messaging Insights Report.
