Email, Keep Your Chin Up
New email stats from digital metrics firm comScore indicate a shift is underway, as traffic to web-based email services declined 6%, while the number of consumers accessing their email via mobile devices increased 36%.
I’m not sure this increase in mobile access is good news for online fundraisers, because I just can’t see donors making significant gifts standing in a subway car or in a grocery store line scanning (and deleting) their email on their smart phones.
Maybe they’ll tap the screen for a pre-set $10 emergency appeal. And everyone will say that’s cool. But I dunno. Given the choice (but of course it’s the donor’s choice, not mine), I’d rather have my prospect sitting quietly in front of a computer monitor as they encounter my latest email appeal.
I guess the good news lies beneath the topline data.
As it turns out, email access via computers is increasing, significantly, for consumers age 55 plus. And that’s still the prime fundraising demographic. The aggregate numbers are driven by a huge increase in mobile access by kids — specifically, 12-17 year-olds. Probably not your fundraising sweet spot.
That said, because more and more of your nonprofit’s email messaging will be viewed on mobile devices, you do need to pay attention to how your donors are communicating today and how your nonprofit’s communications come across in that channel. Here’s some previous Agitator advice on that score.
Tom
Behavioral Science Q & A
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