How digital trends and SMS are shaping the future of charities

SMS Messaging ideas for charities

Times are tough and money is tight for consumers across the globe. And that pinch is certainly being felt by charities. The organizations which millions of people around the world rely on to assist them in the most challenging moments of their lives need to find new, better ways to do that work. Digital trends in technology can help. It’s important that charities embrace technology to ensure they’re on the receiving end of donations when they are made.

Consider this – a donor arrives at your organization’s website but can’t find how or where to donate. They’ll soon turn to another website or another charity and consider yours to be a waste of time. This is an appalling example of a missed opportunity which could have been solved by a better user experience on your website. Better communication and customer service could also have assisted if that person had reached out to the organization. Studying your customer’s experience journey as they navigate your website could pinpoint specific trouble spots and pain points. Of course, understanding their questions and feelings as they begin this process will mitigate many possible issues along your various touch points.

Addressing global challenges recently, Red Cross South Africa CEO Derick Naidoo referred to just this, saying that organizations had to accept that there was a need to do more with less. He also mentioned the need for charities to make use of technology.

“At a time of escalating humanitarian crises, constrained budgets and in an increasingly unpredictable world, humanitarians need to be more agile, more anticipatory, and more alert to change. Although we often cannot predict disasters and crises, we can develop ways to respond to them as quickly and efficiently as possible. We can also incorporate emerging technologies into our practices to save and improve more lives.”

Here are just some of the digital trends and technologies which charities should consider embracing.

Embrace social media

There’s no doubt, when considering the past decade, that social media has changed the way that charities are doing their work. These types of digital trends have been helpful to organize mobilization and to get volunteer feet on the ground at the moments when they’re most needed. Using a chatbot for customer support could make this process even more simple. For instance, Clickatell Touch enables you to resolve customer queries through your website, chat apps, and social media channels. That would immediately have solved that pesky communication issue along the customer experience journey.

Make it easy to donate by SMS

Barriers to donating along the customer experience journey are what stop many people from doing just that. But for charities and donors alike that might be remedied with the help of technology. One of the most recently reported digital trends is that Amazon’s Alexa will enable donors to “sign” a check for their favorite charity with just their voice. That’s right, all donors have to do is say, “Alexa, donate $10 to California Wildfires Relief”. Alexa, helpful as ever, will take care of the rest.

Use the digital trends which work best

Charities don’t have a lot of time and money to research new tools. They need to take advantage of what they know works. And the one tool that every charity has access to and that is proven to work is SMS. Yes, SMS has been around forever. But that doesn’t make it any less valuable. In fact, SMS messages are opened more often and far faster than email. You might consider using our SMS Platform. It gives you the ability to SMS-enable any application, website or system. Bulk messaging has never been easier.

To read more about how the non-profit industry and SMS can work together, read our recent article. It highlights what the benefits are for the industry (and there are many).