Mass Texting Service for Nonprofits
Want to learn how texting for nonprofits works? We share the ins-and-outs of how to get started in this guide.
Despite differing missions, services, and scope, all nonprofits have to focus on one thing to sustain growth: reliable communication.
Discovering more efficient ways to engage your donors and those you serve is the cornerstone of nonprofit marketing. With text marketing, you can send custom messages to all of your supports at once with no delays and at a low cost.
How to Use Texting for Nonprofits
Maybe you need to reach an audience that doesn’t always have access to email. Or perhaps you’re looking for a more efficient way to reach larger audiences with one message.
Either way, a reliable communication platform is crucial.
There’s a reason why 15% of nonprofits worldwide regularly send text messages to donors and supporters.
Not only does texting have a 98% open rate, but it also has a 209% higher response rate than phone, email, or social media.
Nonprofits around North America use SimpleTexting to reach their audience for several reasons:
- Offer helpful resources and information to the groups your NPO serves
- Coordinate and recruit volunteers
- Share donation appeals and updates
- Reduce pledge defaults with automated reminders
- Connect quickly with staff and your BOD
- And more!
We’ll cover these use cases in more detail a little later. But first, here’s some insight into why texting is so effective.
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The Problems a Group Texting Service for Nonprofits Solves
So, why is nonprofit message text marketing worth the investment?
To begin with, our mass texting service for nonprofits is affordable. Our pricing plans are based on how many messages you intend to send monthly, and it’s easy to up or downgrade at any time.
In addition, we offer a 15% discount to all 501c3 nonprofits!
Resources are often stretched thin at nonprofits. When it comes to marketing, you don’t have the opportunity to “throw things at the wall and see what sticks.”
Why Your Nonprofit Should Use A Mass Texting Service
Luckily, mass texting has been proven to drive results in businesses across all industries. Check out the numbers:
- Text messages have an average open rate of 98% and around a 40% response rate.
- 82% of text messages are read within 5 minutes, but consumers only open 1 in 4 emails they receive.
- 68% of consumers say that checking, sending, and answering text messages is the activity that they’re most engaged with on their phones throughout the day.
- SMS response rates are 295% higher than the rates from the phone calls.
Mass texting for nonprofits is just as effective. Investing in a group texting service for your nonprofit can help you reach your audience faster, increase event attendance, and create stronger donor appeals.
How SMS for Nonprofits Works
Nonprofit SMS marketing can be utilized for both one and two-way communications depending on your needs. For a lot of groups, it’s a combination of both!
From sending out a simple text blast to more complex solutions developed with our API—almost anything is possible!
To give you a better idea of how nonprofit SMS works, we’ll walk you through a few of our most common use cases.
Reaching Your Audience With Nonprofit Text Message Marketing
Nonprofit text message marketing can help you reach the people you serve with resources, events, program updates, and more. And there are a few different ways you can do it.
One of the simplest ways to reach a large audience with bulk messages is through keywords. An SMS keyword is a word or phrase that people can text to your number to opt-in for messages.
What might this look like for you?
Let’s say your nonprofit organizes summer meals for kids on free lunch programs. On the last week of school, a child hands a flyer to their parents that says, “Text LUNCH to (833) 602-8038 to enroll your child in the free summer lunch program.”
They take out their phone and text the keyword (LUNCH) to your phone number and immediately receive the following text message:
Feel free to test how this works for yourself. Try texting LUNCH to (833) 602-8038.
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Without the need for telephone tag or emails sent to spam, you seamlessly enrolled a child into your program in seconds. And better yet, you can follow up with parents and automatically send a series of texts using our autoresponder feature.
Registration for our summer lunch program ends tomorrow. Take 2 minutes to register your child here: https://txt.so/GHTGD
Are you still interested in receiving support but missed the registration deadline? Feel free to reply to this text, and we’ll connect you with resources!
Once you’ve gathered your contact list, either through keywords or by uploading a list of phone numbers that have permitted you to text them, you can send them informative text blasts in a few clicks!
For example, you could let them know about upcoming events or fundraisers. You can even include photos of event flyers to provide additional details when needed.
Texting 1-on-1 With Donors, Volunteers, And The Folks You Serve
A lot of nonprofits use texting as a way to send reminders, schedule appointments, and gather information.
It just makes sense when the average response time for a text message is 6,000% (60X) faster than email, and more than half of people feel more comfortable sending a text message to a business vs. calling.
With our nonprofit messaging service, you can receive text messages as well as send them.
Consider adding a click-to-text button to your website to start more conversions with people who may need your services.
The Crisis Text Line uses a keyword to connect people in need of emergency mental health assistance access to counsel immediately. Their click to text button even opens the message pre-loaded with the phone number and keyword for you.
Many of our customers also connect their web forms to SimpleTexting so that they can automatically send a text message to interested parties. The benefit? Instant response times leave people feeling heard, cared for, and secure.
Examples of Text Message Marketing for Nonprofits in Action
No matter what messages you’re sending, there are a few cardinal rules that will help steer your texts in the right direction.
- Make it short: quick messages that are easy to digest result in quick responses. The goal is for your texts to be skimmable.
- Make it clear: be sure to include a call to action with all your messages. The reader should always know what you want them to do— sign-up, click this, register now, etc.
- Make it personal: Data shows that something as simple as including the recipient’s name in a message can lead to better responses and CTRs.
How to Choose the Best Nonprofit Text Message Marketing Service
We’ve worked with thousands of nonprofits to help them with their SMS needs. However, he’s some impartial advice:
- It’s not uncommon for text messaging platforms to allow you to either text 1-on-1 with customers or send mass texts. You want a service that will enable you to both.
- If third-party tools like Mailchimp or FundRazr are integral to your business, you’ll want to be sure you can integrate these platforms with your SMS program to send automated messages. Ideally, you’ll want a service that offers multiple SMS integrations.
- If you offer many different services or events, you want to be sure you find a provider that doesn’t limit the number of keywords you can create. (We do not.)
- If you plan on using a nonprofit SMS service for two-way messaging with customers, you’ll want an SMS inbox with the functionality to manage multiple conversations.
Your best bet is to read reviews on third-party sites and sign up for a free trial before diving into anything.
And last but certainly not least, consider the cost of an online SMS service.
Industry standard pricing can vary depending on the features we mentioned above. But it’s the per-message price that you may find the most useful to compare with.
It’s also worth understanding if credits roll over from one month to the next or if a discount is available for nonprofit organizations! If you remember from a little earlier, ours is 15%. 😉
💡SimpleTexting Tip: 501C3 nonprofits interested in leasing a dedicated short code for their business may qualify for a Charitable Organization discount (60% off the monthly cost). If your NPO has at least three stars on Charity Navigator and has an accredited logo on Give.org, reach out to a SimpleTexting team member for more information.
Here’s the Next Step for SMS Marketing for Charities
There you have it—everything you need to know about nonprofit text marketing in one straightforward guide. Ready to get started?