A Missed Opportunity for Mobile Giving

By
Colin
– 04/01/2010Posted in: Featured, Mobile

Last night, I was fortunate enough to see Spring Awakening at the Margot and Bob Winspear Opera House. If you haven’t had a chance to see the play, it’s essentially about the turmoils of adolescence, set to the musical stylings of Duncan Sheik.

Reviews of the show aside, what really struck me was the missed opportunity at the end of the night. After the third curtain call, a member of the cast walked to the front of the stage to make an announcement.

She was there to represent a non-profit organization known as Broadway Cares, who’s basic mission is to support the fight against AIDS. The young cast member gave a brief pitch to the audience for donations as they exited the theater.

Despite her convincing argument, how many people do you think actually gave? At 10:30pm on a Thursday, most people are fighting the crowds to get home as quickly as possible – stopping to give money to a non-profit is the last thing on their minds.

But what if she didn’t ask for money on the way out, but said instead, “All you have to do to give is text PLAY to 44144 with the donation amount”. Given the general demographics of the audience, I’m sure most had cell phones with messaging plans and many would have pulled out their phones at that very instant to give. Or at the very least remembered to do so before bed that night.

Text messaging is convenient, safe, and easy. As marketers, we know that If you want people to take action, be that a donation, blog comment, or online purchase – you have to make it simple, right?

How much money do you think Broadway Cares left on the table that night? How much do they leave on the table each time they ask for a donation from the audience? If you were in the audience that night, and asked to donate through text message – would you have?

Related posts:

  1. Mobile Hacking: How Are You Using Your Apps?
  2. HOW TO: Build an Effective Editorial Calendar for Your Blog
  3. The Single Most Effective Tactic For Online Marketing Success
Tags: , , , ,

About Colin

Colin Alsheimer is an Account Supervisor for Weber Shandwick and the VP of Promotions for the Social Media Club of Dallas, among other things.