By John Killoran

Donor engagement success is the backbone of so many of your outreach, fundraising, and general strategies so it’s not surprising that it can make or break your mobile fundraising efforts, too.

Engaging your donors through mobile avenues can be a tricky feat so it needs to be thoughtfully considered and examined. You’ll need to know your donors and your organization through and through in order to boost your donor engagement.

Luckily, we’ve crafted 5 tips to take your mobile donor engagement to the next level! Check them out:

1. Know your donors’ preferred mobile giving method.
2. Determine the best times to connect with your supporters.
3. Recognize mobile donation trends.
4. Send out a survey on your mobile strategies.
5. Keep your mobile strategies cause-oriented.

If you’re ready to engage and retain your donors through your mobile fundraising and outreach, then let’s dive in!

1. Know your donors’ preferred mobile giving method.

The better you know your donors, the better you can cater your outreach and fundraising strategies to them and see more instant success.

You can look at your data from previous mobile giving campaigns to know which mobile giving methods your donors like the best.

If you’ve stored this donor data in your donor management or CRM solution, it’ll be easy to find and use, making this an effortless step.

For example, if two of your donors loved donating through your text-to-give solution, you’ll know to send them a text and pique their interest in donating that way again.

On the other hand, if you have a donor who only likes giving through your online donation page, you’ll know to include that donor in your upcoming email campaign that links back to your donation form.

The bottom line: Knowing your donors’ preferences shows them that you value their support and their comfort levels. Be sure to connect supporters with their favorite mobile giving methods.

Bonus! Check out @Pay’s Text-to-Give Guide to learn everything you and your supporters need to know about text giving.

2. Determine the best times to connect with your supporters.

You’ll also want to turn to your data to determine the best times to interact with your supporters through mobile methods.

You’ll notice most people check social media around noon every day during their lunch break and 6pm on weekdays when they get home from work. That being said, content posted at 12 PM is more likely to have a high amount of views than something posted at 10 AM would.

You’ll want to think about best times for checking social media and peak times for sending emails.

Your organization can also take a look at when your nonprofit website sees the most traffic. This will come in handy so you can coordinate when you send out emails that include a link to your online donation form.

If most people are viewing your site at 7 PM on weeknights, you might schedule your emails to deliver around the same time to encourage even more traffic to your website at the most convenient time for your donors.

The bottom line: You’ll want to interact with your constituents at the best times for them in order to strengthen donor relationships and encourage more donations.

3. Recognize mobile donation trends.

Now that you know the best times for your organization to reach out to your supporters, you’ll want to figure out some other imperative details like the following:

• How often they donate to your organization
• The average amount they give
• When they have previously donated
• Which device they like to give from

You might even be able to estimate details about your donors from trends formed by their giving habits.

For example, if your donor gives $20 through text-to-give once a month, you may assume they’re a millennial because millennials are more likely to use text-giving than their parents are.

You won’t want to judge completely based off of their giving trends, however, so don’t forget to do your research on different donors.

You can also add other information fields to learn more about your donors, catering each field to what’s important to your specific nonprofit. For example, you can easily know donors’ ages by adding an optional birthdate information field on your online donation form, but you can also add more personal details like dietary preferences to help plan stewardship events.

With this information on your side, you may even be able to predict when your supporters will donate again because past giving is a great indicator of future giving. Take into consideration donations your supporters have made to other nonprofits, as well, to help find the pattern in their giving history.

The bottom line: Researching your constituents’ mobile donation trends can help you cater your fundraising asks and overall engagement to their liking. Remember that timing is everything and you’ll need to be strategic about when you reach out to donors so you don’t overwhelm them.

4. Send out a survey for your mobile strategies.

Take into consideration that your donors are crucial elements to your nonprofit’s fundraising, which directly supports your nonprofit’s projects to further your mission.

Your donors are the backbone of your financial support so they’re incredibly important and should be treated as such! Ask your guests for feedback by offering surveys regarding your mobile strategies.

Make sure this survey is short and sweet so it doesn’t take up too much of their time. With the data from these surveys, your organization can see where your mobile outreach and fundraising event methods fell short and where they excelled.

Learning your supporters’ opinions and preferences will help you reshape your mobile strategies to cater to them. This way, you’re optimizing your mobile methods for the most success, whether that be for online fundraising or for strengthening your donor relationships.

Plus, asking your donors for their thoughts on your mobile strategies will prove that you value their opinions and look forward to incorporating their feedback, which is an act of donor stewardship in itself.

You can easily add links to your survey throughout your mobile strategies. For example, within emails, you can include a hyperlink that will redirect donors to your survey. You can do the same for text giving. It’s also important to include your survey on your website so it’s always accessible for donors who want to submit feedback.

The bottom line: Sending out a survey to give your donors a voice and input into your organization proves that you value their opinions and gives you easy ways to reshape your strategies to their liking.

5. Keep your mobile strategies cause-oriented.

While it’s easy to get swept up in your multi-channeled fundraising or outreach hustle, it’s important to remember that it’s all about your cause.

Keep in mind that donors were originally drawn to your nonprofit organization because they support your cause, which is what you’re ultimately trying to further!

There are a few easy ways to keep your mobile strategies cause-oriented:

• Focus on your mission statement. Supporters can easily identify your organization’s morals and values through your mission statement and it’s most likely one of the details that will be commonly known throughout your donor base.
• Always tell donors where their donations are going. No matter what your project is, your organization should sit down and determine where raised funds will really be going. If you’re building a shelter, for example, a $25 donation might go toward nails and hammers whereas a $500 donation would go toward internal plumbing fixtures like a sink.
• Give your supporters updates. Your supporters are investing in your projects and cause so they’ll want to know how everything is progressing. You can easily send them updates through email or even through text! When communicating through text, you’ll want to make sure to do so sparingly so you don’t overwhelm your donors. You might try sending them a text to sign up for your emails and then simply update them through that channel.

Keeping it cause-oriented reassures your donors that your organization’s heart is in the right place, strengthening your relationship, and perhaps even encouraging larger donations!

The bottom line: Your mobile strategies should always be cause-oriented. Remember to emphasize how much your supporters can help to further your cause and where their money will be put to good use!

Now that you have our top 5 tips to take your mobile donor engagement to the next level, there’s nothing holding you back from forming strong, reliable relationships with your supporters. All that’s left to do is revamp your mobile strategies and get to stewarding!

John Killoran is CEO of @Pay, an exciting new fundraising technology that makes it easy for people to donate in two clicks from text, email, web, and social media sites. John pioneered SMTP payments and has been a major innovator in the mobile payments space for the past 5 years. When he is not running a company, he is cooking food for his family and telling his dogs to stop barking.