Text to donate makes the act of kindness frictionless. It increases engagement because 90% of text messages get read within minutes. It reduces the administrative costs of collecting donations for high-volume and low-dollar value campaigns.
How It Works
Branding
The organization fully customizes the campaign with its text, images, URL links, and workflows. Running A/B tests on each generates the data needed to optimize the delivery. More complex flows include recurrent payments, variable amounts, and website interactions. The following illustration outlines a simple use case.
Supplemental Services
Organizations can augment campaigns to provide a complete solution. Examples are:
Receipts for expense claims and tax returns.
Shortcodes for high-volume text messaging.
Integrate workflows with the website and other systems.
Gift donations anonymously.
Account Setup
Credit card details never go through text messages. Donors must register through a website or use a physical payment terminal. The advantage of terminals is lower merchant banking fees. Clients can also use digital wallets, allowing them to make payments on mobile devices with minimal typing.
Texting Numbers
Organizations can apply for dedicated shortcode texting numbers. These are for organizations sending hundreds of text messages a day. Short means the phone number has fewer than the standard number of digits. In Canada, the length is five or six. These numbers avoid the filtering implemented by mobile carriers. However, they only support text and not rich data formats like images.
Merchant Banking
There are many merchant banking options. The most reliable have a direct relationship with the merchant bank because they run credit checks and understand the underlying business. Most organizations also get lower banking fees. Aggregator services charge higher rates and create accounts without validating the company. That makes them more prone to fraud, which can impact your ability to clear your funds.
Security
The text to donate services must comply with privacy regulations and the Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards. A secure solution follows these guidelines:
The messaging brand makes it easy for donner to validate the origin of the text message.
Never send credit card data in a text message.
Protect donors from SPAM by using private phone numbers and avoiding shared services and shortcodes.
Use 3DS for online payments and EVM for card-present transactions.
