Top Donor Retention Strategies

Top Donor Retention Strategies

One of the most important things for nonprofit organizations is their donors. Donors help keep the cause running and help the organization grow. However, keeping in touch with the donors can be one of the biggest challenges. You need to stay connected to your donors and keep them engaged so that you can retain them. A lot of donors make one-time donations. However, donor retention allows you to have more permanent donors that you can rely on.

In this guide, we will talk about the top ways how you can retain your donors.

Stay in touch with your donors

The first thing to do is to ensure that you are in touch with your donors at all times. There are many direct marketing ways to achieve this. However, emails and phone calls are spammy and bothering respectively. The best and most affordable way of direct marketing is through text messages. They are personal, direct, and have a high open-rate.

When you use a service like ExpertTexting, you get to send one text message for less than a cent each. These rates make it most suitable for nonprofit organizations that are looking for smart ways to save money.

There are several ways you can stay connected. The first way is to set up the ExpertTexting API and instantly send a message of thanks when the donation is received. This helps the donor know that their donation is received and makes them understand the organization’s gratitude.

Once the donor is part of your list (make sure you have permission), you can send them timely updates. These can be monthly newsletters, event invites, and any other thing. These updates help them know where their donation is being used. Moreover, you can keep them engaged with timely messages.

You can also set up text to donate facilities over text messages to remind them when you need donations. However, make sure to set a special keyword that allows them to subscribe by will. Only send them messages if they have given you prior express consent. Keep an open mind about letting them opt out if they are not interested.

Make online donations convenient

You may lose a lot of donors if the method of donation is complex and lengthy. Hence, one way to retain donors is to make your online donations convenient and easy. Your aim should be to give as much information as possible without taking too much time.

The best way to go about it is to set up a text to donate. With this platform, you can set up your keyword. When donors send that keyword, they get a message with the relevant information. You can also send a link to the donation portal for easy sending. This allows donors to simply make an electric transaction rather than going to a bank or any place to make a physical transaction.

Adding convenience allows people to return subconsciously. The idea is that the convenience of donating does not hinder the process.

Mobile optimized websites

Another way you can add convenience is to ensure that all the web pages are optimized to run on mobiles. Your donors will mostly have their phones within 5 feet of them. Moreover, 70% of web traffic is from mobile phones. If you miss these stats then you will miss out. Make sure that all the web pages that you send out are friendly to use on mobiles.

These make it easier for people to check your pages on the go. Moreover, you can easily convert a high percentage of traffic into a retained audience.

Once your pages are optimized, you can send them to your donors via text messages. if you use ExpertTexting, you will find a link shortening tool. Use this tool to shorten your URL and save on characters. You can also use this feature to track your click-through rate.

Host Events

If you are looking for an offline way to engage your donors, then hosting events is a good way. This way they can come and mingle to know more about the cause. You can also host online events.

To send out invitations, use text messages. These are fast and easy to use. Moreover, you can also enable two-way messaging to get responses from the relevant parties.

Events help the donors feel special and as insiders. A lot of places hold special meetings and gathering for donors to ensure that the gratitude is felt. Moreover, events help retain donors as well.

Begin with ExpertTexting

ExpertTexting is your one-stop solution to text marketing. With ExpertTexting, you can send messages to the donors at the most affordable rates. Moreover, you can enjoy features like personalizing mass texts and scheduling messages.