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Texting to the Rescue: How Hope For Paws Used Texting + Video to Increase Donor Engagement

November 9, 2023

Texting to the Rescue: How Hope For Paws Used Texting + Video to Increase Donor Engagement

3 min read

Overview

Hope For Paws is 501(c)(3) non-profit animal rescue organization that rescues animals in the Los Angeles area and beyond in an effort to end animal neglect, homelessness, and abuse.

The team rescues animals, provides veterinary care, and transfers the animals to partner adoption centers where each animal finds a loving forever home. After the rescues, the team creates videos which they share on YouTube and Facebook to educate the public on the importance of companion animals in our society and inspire people to take action, support the cause, adopt animals, and help reduce euthanasia rates at shelters across the country.

Challenge

Hope For Paws needed a new channel to re-engage lapsed donors and promptly distribute their long-form videos which are shared on YouTube. The challenge was finding a solution beyond a standard CRM add-on. They needed a centralized dashboard with a user-friendly interface. That's when they discovered Prompt.io.

Solution

Using text messages for donor retention, Hope For Paws regularly achieves up to a 20% conversion rate with each message. Outreach via text messages, which is paired with email notifications, has reduced donor churn and led to increased donations which allow Hope For Paws to support more animals in need.

As part of their fundraising and engagement strategy, Hope For Paws produces high-quality, heartwarming videos showcasing the transformation of neglected and abandoned dogs, cats, and wild animals. However, due to the length and quality of these videos, sending them as MMS texts wasn't feasible. Instead, they chose an alternative approach by uploading the videos to YouTube. They then sent text recipients an image screenshot of the video along with a SmartLink, allowing recipients to click and watch the video.

When sending text messages, content that included images from the video achieved a click-through rate (CTR) of 7% to 13%, which is up to double the rate observed with emails.

In conclusion, by combining texting with compelling long-form videos, Hope For Paws successfully re-engaged existing donors and reached new audiences.

Ready to get started on your next campaign? Reach out to the texting experts at Prompt.io.

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