More on mobile - one charity's experience to date.

Following on from the absolutely refreshing post last week from Paul de Gregorio from Open Fundraising about mobile - I wanted to add my two pence worth.  We've been offering Regular Giving via mobile for just over a year now at Sense via Cymba, so still early days, but I wanted to echo and add a couple of other points from my experience to date. I stress this is just one experience of one charity.

• Yes, Mobile Regular Givers will give more if asked by way of another one off gift - and that response varies quite considerably depending on how they joined your organisation
• Previous Mobile Regular Givers who have 'lapsed' are also quite generous if asked for a one-off gift via their phone - again this varies depending on how they were recruited to your cause in the first place
• Retention rates on mobile recruitment are not a million miles away from what you would expect for direct debit recruitment. So attrition for RG by mobile recruited on the street is much higher than those converted from PSMS via the telephone for example.  No surprise really. 
• One of the barriers to click through on content is people feeling they are going to see more information that could upset or make them feel guilty - so being clear, and upbeat on what people will see when they click through has helped increase engagement or so it would appear.
• As does not holding the link to content to ransom.  When we first started we would send the link to a new update to those that successfully made a payment that month - now we send it anyway, and people can choose to make the payment or not after they have had the chance to view.  We are still reviewing the figures but that to me is the better thing to do.
• Regular Gift via your mobile is a great drop ask, there are genuinely people who don't want another direct debit and this does appeal to people who would not have other wise converted. I personally would not advocate a direct to Regular Giving via mobile campaign again for now for Sense - though many charities are having success I am sure. It's just not right for us for now.

This is just a year's worth of experience, and one charity example - so please take from it what you will and however many pinches of salt as well.  With anything, the best thing to do is test for yourself obviously - but I thought I would share one experience, albeit a limited one of mobile giving.  There's much more to test and much more to learn but so far it is has been a positive experience.

Thanks as ever for stopping by.

Do you know what you are selling?

I was struck by the headline of a recent commentary piece on the return of Oddbins off-licence to the High Street. Which stated "Staff need to know what they're selling" [as a prerequisite for any future survival], and this made me think of the importance of our own personal knowledge of our cause and organisation.

Each person that works for any organisation at some point is a spokesperson or representative for that organisation in the outside world. Thus it is probably useful to be able to speak with some knowledge on all areas of the organisation's work and not just the area you specifically work on.

So, as something that may help assess your own position, ask yourself this question - If your supporter care team (if you have one) passed on to you the latest supporter query to a recent fundraising activity or campaign ,would you personally be able to answer it?

And coming back to my original point, if you were given a more general query about your organisations work would you be able to answer it confidently ?

If you do not answer with an emphatic yes, then it could well be that you want to try responding to some supporter queries and see where your knowledge gaps may be.

As an aside, in a previous work life I was the supporter care function as well as the fundraiser, planner and a data person in one role. I know that in bigger organisations where there are supporter care departments that often that level of knowledge or skill is not specifically required from us. But whether it is part and parcel of your job or not - it probably should be a skill we all have.

In the end it can only be of benefit to you, your organisation and any future supporter you may well meet. It is nice to be prepared after all!

Thank you as ever for stopping by.