Text message marketing is one of the most effective ways for nonprofit organizations and groups to engage with existing and potential supporters. Text message marketing is a powerful tool to fundraise for causes, recruit volunteers, and invite supporters to sign petitions. Not only are 90 percent of text marketing messages read in three minutes, but text marketing messages have a 99 percent open rate compared to email marketing, which has a 20 percent open rate.
There’s no doubt most of us always have our mobile phones handy. More than half of American adults check their mobile phones about 160 times per day on average—and 46 percent say they check their mobile phones before they even get out of bed! Most people never leave their phones out of sight, which is why text message marketing is a great communication tool.
With SMS message marketing, you can set your nonprofit text campaign apart from others and engage mass amounts of people in real time in a few easy steps. In this blog, we share five effective ways to increase text message engagement and make the most out of your text message marketing strategy.
What Is SMS Message Marketing?
SMS message marketing, also known as text message marketing or mobile messaging marketing, is a mix of commercial text messaging-related practices. SMS message marketing uses short message services (SMS) and multimedia messaging services (MMS) to send mass SMS text messages to specific audiences.
SMS text messages can contain up to 160 characters, including text, emojis, and links. MMS messages can consist of media content such as images, GIFs, videos, QR codes, and audio files. And with Tatango’s marketing functionality, MMS messages can include up to 5,000 characters and a subject line in each message.
Tatango has been the text messaging marketing industry leader for over 14 years, helping nonprofit organizations engage and communicate in real time with supporters, raise funds, and reach out to volunteers through SMS messaging.
5 Ways to Significantly Increase Text Message Engagement
There are many ways to increase text message engagement. Here are five simple and effective ways to achieve that goal.
1. Fundraising Campaigns
Donors are passionate supporters of causes they care about and stand by an organization’s mission. But with more than 10 million nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) worldwide, attracting committed donors can be challenging.
Text-to-give campaigns are a great way to increase engagement in your text message program. Asking your donors to send an SMS keyword to a text message short code—such as “GIVE” to 12345—is a clear and engaging way to ask for support and encourage new people to join your subscriber list. Additionally, make sure to invite people who have already subscribed to give directly through your text messages. This simple donation process makes it easy for people to contribute to the causes they care about most.
2. Event Sign-up
Many people have busy schedules, and as a result, nonprofit event sign-ups and attendance can be low. Text messages can serve as reminders to register for upcoming events to help boost attendance and engagement. Adding directions or a helpful link to the event’s location makes it easier for supporters to get to your events.
Additionally, Tatango’s merge tags functionality allows you to personalize the text messages you send by incorporating your subscribers’ names, making them feel special. Although many events have moved towards online platforms, people still wish for a personalized experience, so customizing your messages can be one way to show supporters that you value their individual contributions.
3. Post-event Follow-up
Following up with your supporters after an event is as important as texting them before it. With Tatango’s nonprofit text message marketing, you can continue the conversation by scheduling automated messages after an event ends.
Follow-up messages could include:
- MMS content featuring event highlights and inspiring moments, such as videos, quotes, and images of attendees inspired by your mission.
- A direct link to donate to your cause.
- Links to your organization’s social media accounts, where your supporters can see event summaries and share their experiences.
- A survey requesting feedback to capture details about the attendee experience and ways to improve future events.
4. Time-Sensitive Petitions
Nonprofit supporters are passionate and love to help further a mission whenever possible. Another way to increase text message engagement is by asking your supporters to sign time-sensitive petitions. With an astonishing open rate of 90 percent in the first three minutes, text messaging is the perfect communications channel for time-sensitive campaigns.
With text messages, you can easily reach people and engage them with your cause. As a spam-free and direct channel, texting ensures your supporters receive immediate notification when you need them to act quickly and sign important petitions.
5. Thank-You Messages
Relationships are a two-way street. Regularly thanking your supporters goes a long way and enhances their engagement with your text message program and your nonprofit organization. A simple thank-you message can mean the difference between getting follow-up donations or not. Tatango’s messaging automation feature helps you simplify this crucial relationship-building step by automating your thank-you messages. You can personalize messages to make supporters feel valued by adding their first name and even sending a birthday greeting text message on their special day.
Additionally, Tatango’s message preview feature helps you make necessary adjustments to deliver a clear, easy-to-read message that adheres to character count requirements.
Increase Your Nonprofit’s Text Message Engagement Today
Now it’s your turn! Start implementing the engagement strategies we’ve shared here to increase supporter loyalty and rapidly gain new subscribers. There are endless ways to use text messages as part of your marketing strategy so you can meet—and even exceed—your nonprofit organization’s goals.
At Tatango, we have 14 years of experience helping nonprofit groups and organizations raise donations and engage with supporters. We’ve made it our mission to provide the best software for nonprofit text messaging and the guidance our clients need to succeed.
