You, and consumers, and by extension donors, can’t get enough mobile these days. The hours used are going up. The preference over desktops is solid and rising. Even simultaneous use of digital devices is becoming common.

The addiction to smartphones and their apps is astonishing to an old fart like me.

For example, according to eMarketer, by 2017 the smartphone will replace the tablet as the driver of mobile commerce in the US. They forecast that more than half of those who shop online (51.2% of digital buyers or 95.1 million Americans) will do so via their smartphone next year and account for more than half of mobile sales.

So it’s worth paying attention when some of the giant firms who play in the technology and digital space speak up on the subject of mobile, whether or not they are focused on nonprofits or fundraising.

Here are two examples.

The first is Adobe. Here is their report, based on survey data from the US, UK, France, Germany, Japan and Australia: The State of Content: Rules of Engagement for 2016. Their five rules:

• Design for the multiscreen reality. 83% of global consumers report they multiscreen, using an average of 2.2 devices at a time. Your content needs to work across devices.
• Don’t fall victim to #TLDR. Brevity … too long, don’t read. Interesting stat: 57% of consumers would prefer to watch video on breaking news versus read an article.
• You really need to lighten up. 70% say humour makes companies more relatable. Has anyone ever thought of your nonprofit as humorous?!
• In relationships we trust. Consumers are more skeptical than ever. This affects both whose content they will believe … and whose they will share.
• Don’t show up uninvited. Consumers will part with info, but they must see clear value for doing so.

And from Oracle: Relationship-First Marketing for a Mobile World. Does this stat grab you: “More than 90 percent of US adults have a mobile device within reach 24/7, and SMS messages that are delivered to these devices are typically read within three minutes of being delivered … SMS messages earn a staggering 97% open rate.”

How many of your donors/supporters can you reach with an SMS message?! I’ll bet you’re still begging for email addresses … how many cell phone numbers have you collected?

Unlike the Adobe survey (tips based on usage), the Oracle white paper is much more about ‘how to’ conduct various kinds of mobile and integrated channel marketing campaigns.

And importantly, the first challenge they address is how to win consumer (donor) permission to communicate via mobile in the first place … suggesting specific tactics.

From there, it’s on to building personalised relationships, winning engagement (welcomes, voting, contests, inviting info requests, event alerts, etc), then to driving conversion to actual purchases (according to Oracle, 90% of mobile searches lead to action), then on to building loyalty.

The Oracle paper gives great examples of how companies actually use the mobile channel to traverse each of these steps. It’s all very commercial — with examples from retail, travel, finance, health care — but I think you’ll see the parallels to the fundraising context.

Neither of these resources will lift your retention rate next week, but if you’re in the business of effectively delivering messages to donors, you do need to understand what these practitioners are finding and advising.

Tom