EZT's Favorite Texting Tips to Increase Supporter Engagement

What Are the Benefits of Using SMS Marketing to Increase Supporter Engagement?

The benefits of using SMS marketing to increase support engagement are almost endless! SMS marketing is a powerhouse for reaching your supporters and keeping them engaged. With SMS messages' high open rates and broad reach, your text engagement messages are more likely to be opened and read by your supporters.

Several helpful SMS marketing features can boost engagement with your supporter network, some of which we'll cover next.

Text Engagement Tips for Supporters

Now it’s time for the big reveal: our favorite tips for increasing supporter engagement for your nonprofit or charity organization.

Personalize Messages

The key to supporters’ hearts is connection. While your cause is meaningful and worthy of your audience’s attention, sometimes it takes that extra TLC to motivate supporters to engage. An easy way to do this is by using the contact’s first name in every message. This helps them feel like they’re not just another phone number but a valued member of your audience.

You can even go a step further and tailor messages based on the supporter’s donation, volunteer, or other engagement history. This is where customer segmentation comes in handy; it allows you to nurture each supporter where they are in their journey with your organization.

Promote New Fundraisers

Tell your supporters about current and upcoming fundraisers via well-timed, informational text messages. Engaging fundraiser texts should include content and/or links to more detailed information with which the supporter can connect. Tug at their heartstrings and tell them why this particular fundraiser should be vital to them.

Is your organization hosting an auction or a gala to support a cause? Create buzz around your fundraising event by sending out save-the-dates and reminder texts as the events get closer.

These tactics are all part of your support engagement campaign to alert your donor base, provide information about the cause, and motivate them to attend and/or donate.

Need fundraiser inspiration? Check out our tips on how to start a fundraiser and our top 10 fundraising ideas for nonprofits.

Incorporate Text-to-Donate Fundraising

Your supporters are busy, and sometimes your text message might catch them in a work meeting, running errands, or while otherwise distracted. Text-to-donate, or text-to-give, fundraising is an important SMS feature for nonprofits because it makes it extremely easy for supporters to donate — it just takes a few taps on their phone.

Learn more about the ins and outs of text-to-donate fundraising for your nonprofit or charity.

Showcase the Success of Past Fundraisers

Increasing supporter engagement isn’t just about boosting financial giving; it should also focus on fostering meaningful connections with current and new supporters.

One way to do this is by sending SMS texts showcasing past fundraisers' success and providing links to your website for more content. Many nonprofits and charity organizations also create year-in-review brochures, which your texts can link to, highlighting the causes they focused on in the past year and how donors and other supporters helped.

Use these text engagement strategies for your audience to highlight how every action counts — whether a donation or volunteering — toward furthering your organization's cause.

Share Informational Posts

Sometimes, people need more information before donating their money or time to an organization — which is valid for potential and current supporters. Providing more context with informational blog posts, videos, or social media content can often make or break for potential donors.

Engaging content should be shared through interesting texts: Simply share links to this content in your message to guide supporters to learn more about the current state and statistics of your cause, a video highlighting a success story, and more. This will give them the information they need to propel them toward donating.

Answer Questions with Two-Way Texting

Make sure to keep your communication balanced; use two-way texting (or conversational texting) as part of your supporter engagement campaign. With two-way texting, you can have one-to-one conversations with your supporters, meaning that you can answer questions, provide more info, and have more intimate connections, just like you would with a friend.

Two-way texting works wonders for customer service and can also help boost text engagement with nonprofit supporters. Get more tips on using conversational SMS marketing.

Say Thank You

Remember your manners and send a thank-you text every time someone donates, attends an event, volunteers, and helps the organization in other ways. Expressing gratitude goes a long way in increasing supporter engagement and creating longtime donors. Supporters want to feel valued and that their effort — no matter how large or small — makes a difference. Tell them how much their support means with a simple thank-you text message.

What Are Some of the Most Important Things to Keep in Mind When Texting Supporters?

Here are some of the most important things to keep in mind when texting supporters:

• Keep messages short and sweet. Get to the point quickly and briefly. SMS messages have a 160-character limit, so you need to be concise. You can always link to more information in your texts.
• Personalize. Use the supporter's name and other previously mentioned information to create a more intimate connection.
• Be timely. Schedule messages to be sent when your supporters are most likely to read them (weekdays during business hours). Ensure you're sending enough texts to keep them engaged without spamming them.
• Offer value. While the cause is inherently valuable, you must also let supporters know why you're texting them. Is there an urgent situation that needs their donations? Is there an upcoming event? You may want supporters to read more about a success story or your year in review. Make sure that the reason for your message is apparent.

EZ Texting Helps with Supporter Engagement

Now that you know our top text engagement tips to increase engagement among supporters, let EZ Texting help your organization reach more people, mobilize volunteers, increase donations, and help you make a bigger impact on your cause.