May 1, 2023
Are you considering getting your non-profit organisation its own fundraising app or are already using one, but are still unsure how to get traffic into it, so you can build a strong base of recurring donors and increase your online income? Here are 10 ways how to get more traffic into your mobile application:
You don't have access to the same fundraising budgets as international organisations like UNICEF or SOS children's villages? Don't worry, you don't have to. A paid advertisement campaign focused on app downloads is easy to set up and can give you incredible results, even with lower budgets.
According to Kenshoo, the rate of people clicking on ads for mobile apps goes up 32% every year, while the marketing costs for each click decrease by 33% every year.
Setting up a small marketing campaign on social media will lead to more discoverability and gets more people to join your app. Because of their broad audiences and ability to segment, Facebook and Instagram are very effective advertisement platforms for mobile apps, while making it quite simple to set up.
Paid ads are nice, but you don't have to promote to strangers of your organisation to get more traffic, you can use your already existing social media channels, like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn. It doesn't matter if you have 200 or 200.000 followers, as long as you give them a clear announcement on why they should download the app.
Create powerful visuals, alongside convincing texts and announce that your app is finally live. Here is an example of how you could do that:
Another promising channel is your website newsletter: People who are already interested in your doings as a charity organisation and willing to find out even more about their donation impact.
Preparing a newsletter announcement can follow the same framework as your social media postings, as long as you know who exactly is receiving this newsletter and how to convince them to donate through your new app. Here is an example:
Using your website as a channel for promotion might sound counter-intuitive at first thought because you will lose traffic there.
On the flip side, you guide your visitors to a place where you can achieve way higher one-off donations, and the focus is directed toward getting long-time donors, which will give you a better, more stable cash flow for your projects.
Option 1: Create a landing page and link it somewhere on your main page.
Option 2: Put a "Donate with our app" button next to the usual donation button.
Depending on your organisational structure, you might have the opportunity to invite other partner organisations to your app promotion. They also have channels you can use to get more exposure and more traffic to the app.
Note: Make it as easy as possible for your partners to promote it. This means preparing a ready-made content piece is key, while also making sure they have enough time to communicate your message to their team and followers.
Mailings are still one of the most used ways to fundraise. One of the easiest ways to direct mailing receivers into your app is a QR code of the link to your app inside the app store. Here is an example of what this could look like:
Your F2F fundraisers are your vocal and visual channel on the streets, but getting younger people to take their time and fill out a form can be difficult sometimes. So why not suit your fundraisers up and add a QR code or a link to your app to their repertoire.
Like you look for the best coffee shop in your hometown on Google, people look for new apps in the App Store. Making sure your app ranks for certain keywords is a good way to get organic traffic from the App Store, especially when the density of donation apps in your country is limited.
You don't have to use digital advertisements, just because you want to promote a digital tool. Billboards, placed at the perfect location in a city, can give you a lot of exposure and will drive high amounts of traffic into your mobile app (and you can save on your online budget).
With a well-organised fundraising event, you can not only get traffic from the participants but also invite the press to talk about your amazing innovation. Remember: Your organisation is one of the first to use an app to connect with its donors, so you are more than welcome to treat it like a big innovation inside the world of charities.
Your decision to use a fundraising app was brilliant anyway, as it helps you bind your donors to your organisation and gives you access to younger audiences, which are usually pretty hard to discover. With the right ideas, you can get an incredible amount of traffic into your own app, and you don't even have to spend your digital budget on it.
The real challenge is to find out how you can mix those channels to set up a campaign that suits your needs perfectly. Do you want to get some ideas on how to plan the perfect campaign? Here is the perfect lecture for you.
Niklas loves simplicity and design. As a founder of Felloz he takes on design and marketing challenges and shares them with the community.
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