1. Official publication of the Fundraising Institute of New Zealand 11www.finz.org.nz
By Georgia Silver
Marketing Co-ordinator
Everyday Hero
Mobile Responsive Design
What the Mobile Revolution Means for You
By the end of this year, it is predicted that
more than 1 billion people worldwide
will use mobile devices as their primary
method to access the Internet.1 With the
use of smartphones and tablets rapidly
becoming more prevalent, the online
world is shifting away from people’s desks
and into their pockets, changing the way
they interact and behave online.
As screen real estate gets smaller,
those accessing the Internet using mobile
devices expect responsive, easy-to-use
functionality at their fingertips, forcing
not-for-profits of all sizes to re-evaluate
their online strategy and seek out ways to
become more mobile than ever before.
Online Fundraising is on the Move
Let’s think about your supporters
for a minute. Every day they are on the
move, doing everything from email, to
banking to grocery shopping on their
phone or tablet, so it’s no big surprise
that they also want to raise money and give
to your cause whilst using these devices, too.
In the first half of 2013 alone, 43 percent of
traffic to Everyday Hero Supporter Pages and
30 percent of donations are coming from
mobile devices2, so if you’re not mobile,
chances are, you’re missing out.
The reality is that your supporters love
you. That’s why they give so many things
to your cause — their time, their voice and
access to their wider networks just to name
a few. But to enable them to do all of this;
to put themselves out there and ask their
friends and family for money, it’s up to you,
their charity, to give them the tools. For
them to love you, you have to love them
back, understand their needs and realise that
clunky, unresponsive fundraising pages are
actually making their job harder, not easier.
Your supporters want more. They expect
more. And they don’t want to have to pinch,
scroll and zoom to do what they want to
do for your cause. And if they have to, then
they may not do it at all. They know that
‘mobile friendly’ is not ‘mobile responsive’
when it comes to their Supporter Page or
your donation form, and they need you
to understand that the differences are
fundamental; not only to their success, but
to that of your campaign as well.
So What’s the Difference and Why Does
it Matter?
Simply put, ‘mobile responsive’ design
is a layout that will automatically adapt
to different screen sizes. This means that
whether you view a webpage on your iPhone,
tablet or desktop computer, the design of
the page will rearrange itself to suit the
device you are using and makes viewing and
interacting with the page easy and seamless.
In the not-for-profit sector, many online
fundraising providers in particular, claim to
be ‘mobile’ but it’s important to avoid simply
accepting these claims on face value. There
is a difference between ‘mobile friendly’
and ‘mobile responsive’ and it is vast and
significant.
The days where ‘mobile friendly’ design
(when a page displays accurately across multiple
devices but does not resize or rearrange to
accommodate those devices) are over. Your
supporters are smarter and more technologically
savvy than ever before, and if you think they
won’t notice that you don’t know the difference,
they will, because they do.
Mobile Friendly vs. Mobile Responsive
This difference is immediately obvious
when you compare our classic ‘mobile
friendly’ fundraising page with our recently
released ‘mobile responsive’ Next Generation
Supporter Page.
The Next Generation Page (right) is not
only better looking on a mobile device, but
it’s also clever enough to adapt its design
across devices and operating systems to make
the giving (and fundraising) experience
fun and engaging. The important elements
like your ‘Give Now’ button and Page total
move into a central position on the Always-
in-View Give Bar, and the Page activity
feed resizes to make it easy to read and
interact with.
Compared to the classic ‘mobile
friendly’ page (left) — which requires
zooming and scrolling to complete
desired actions — the responsiveness
of our Next Gen Page highlights the
obvious distinction between the two,
and the important role that mobile
responsive fundraising technology plays
in the minds, palms and pockets of your
Supporters.
But Don’t I Need an App for That?
The great thing about mobile
responsiveness is that it is a lot more cost
effective and easier to implement than
a native mobile app. Unlike an app you
would download through the iTunes or
Google Play store, mobile responsive
pages are accessible by simply visiting a
link in your device’s web browser, can be
updated instantly without the need for Apple
or Google approval, and don’t need to be
built specifically for an operating system like
Apple IOS or Android.
Sure apps are great for specific purposes,
but the reality for many not-for-profits is
that they are expensive and require continual
maintenance to keep them up-to-date.
So in actual fact, you don’t need an app to be
mobile, because mobile responsive supporter
pages and donation forms are just as effective
and ultimately easier for your supporters to
access as there is no need to download an
app to begin.
If You’re not Mobile,You’re not Anywhere
With all of this in mind, it’s becoming
increasingly more obvious that the key
to successful multichannel not-for-profit
campaigns is mobile responsive technology.
Fundraising is on the move, so why miss
the opportunity to put it in your supporter’s
pockets and help them do what they do for
your cause anywhere, any time and on any
device.
The revolution is here, so if you’re not
mobile, you’re not anywhere.
Everyday Hero is a leading provider of online
fundraising software and services and the only
completely mobile fundraising platform in
New Zealand. Since 2007, more than $130 million
has been raised through Everyday Hero by over 1,700
charities worldwide. Learn more about how Everyday
Hero can help you become fully mobile responsive by
visiting fundraisingisonthemove.com.
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