In the wake of the recent Haiti earthquake, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and its research partner, Lightspeed Research, have released the results of the latest Consumer Briefing reports into mobile giving in the UK, French and German markets, demonstrating that people are increasingly turning to mobile as a way of quickly donating to a cause. Following the disaster, 23.4% of all UK, French and German people surveyed donated to the Haitian Earthquake relief efforts. Of these donors, 21.4% had pledged money via text, and 7% by visiting a charitable website from their mobile device.
This total of 28.4% of donors using mobile to give money to Haiti demonstrates a clear trend towards its emergence as an important and instantaneous new way for people to help victims and charities.
France emerged as the market most likely to use mobile for charitable donations with 30% of all donors choosing to text their financial support and making this the most popular way of contributing. Germany was a close second, with 26% of all donors using text - a strong choice behind PC-based donation. The inclusion of donations made via a website accessed from the mobile device into statistics made mobile the most popular way to contribute in both France and Germany. Although UK consumers showed that they had a way to go until they caught up with their European counterparts, with 9% of all donors using text and 8.6% visiting a website from their mobile phone, UK mobile consumers described themselves as the most likely to donate by mobile in the future, with 19% stating that they were very likely or likely to do so, followed by the French at 16% and the Germans at 11%.
The report also noted that in all countries it was the younger population that donated more via text, although this trend was more pronounced in the UK than in France or Germany where there was less difference between age groups. There was also no significant difference in popularity between the genders, except in France where more females than males donated via text.
When asked about previous charity campaigns, the results showed that both French and UK consumers reported relatively high levels of prior experience with texting as a means of donating or responding to ads. 16% of French and 14% of UK respondents indicated they had experience of texting donations or replying to adverts, compared to 6% of German respondents.
"Humanitarian disasters demand immediate response, and the donating public appears to recognize the effectiveness of texting and using mobile generally as a way to help those in need, when they need it," said Dr. Peter A. Johnson, VP of Market Intelligence for the MMA. "We are encouraged to see that even more citizens report themselves willing and ready to pull out their mobiles to take instant action when the need arises in the future."
"The research shows that donating to charities using mobile phones is now popular and with the high penetration and usage of mobile, this medium could provide an attractive new opportunity for charities to fundraise," said Ralph Risk, Marketing Director, EMEA, Lightspeed Research. "To help encourage more people to contribute, charities still need to educate people about how they can donate, while at the same time re-assuring them that the money will go to the nominated charity and that their phone numbers will not be used without their permission."
No comments:
Post a Comment