A recent survey by the Pew Research center shows that almost one in 10 Americans have made a donation via text. Furthermore, taking the “Text to Haiti” campaign as a test case, the study found that 73% of those who donated did so within 24 hours of hearing about the campaign. And 43% of donors encouraged friends and family to donate as well.
Quick-response text donations aren’t just great because they increase the volume of donations. They also allow fast reactions to emergency situations. As a Mashable.com article about the study points out,
There are some major pluses to donating via text. No snail mailing checks or waiting on hold while you call-in to make a contribution. The speed at which money can come pouring into relief efforts with text donations could have a major impact on the recovery efforts, possibly helping solutions be implemented quicker.
To see a few examples of mobile giving at work, check out our case studies and blog posts here, here and here.
And the ease and quickness that makes mobile so successful in turning impulses into actions works for other kinds of impulses, too. Like the impulse to call your Congressman, or even buy basketball tickets. The trick, as the Mashable article points out, is that it happens fast – before users can change their minds or get distracted.