This is lesson fifty-nine. This is towards one of our missions. Education.
You'll learn everything about marketing - from the basics to the most advanced strategies - for free, thanks to VellumWorks.
The Phone Is the Primary Screen
More than half of all emails are opened on a mobile device. Most social media is consumed on a phone. Donations are increasingly made via smartphone.
Your supporters are not sitting at a desk when they engage with your charity. They are on the bus, on their sofa, waiting in a queue.
Mobile marketing is not a separate strategy. It is the lens through which all of your digital marketing must be viewed.
What Mobile Marketing Covers
Mobile marketing is any communication or campaign that is designed to reach people on their mobile device. This includes:
SMS / text messaging: Direct, personal, immediate
Push notifications: From an app or browser, when enabled
Mobile-optimised email: Designed to be readable on a small screen
Mobile-first social content: Vertical video, thumb-stopping formats
Mobile donation pages: Fast-loading, easy to complete on a phone
Each of these is a distinct channel with its own rules and expectations.
The Mobile-First Checklist for Charities
Email: Does your email look good on a phone? Single column layouts, large fonts (minimum 16px), and buttons big enough to tap with a thumb are the baseline.
Donation pages: Can someone donate in under 60 seconds on a mobile? If not, you are losing donors. Remove every unnecessary field.
Website: Is your charity's website fast and readable on mobile? Google penalises slow, mobile-unfriendly sites in search rankings.
Social content: Are your videos vertical? Are your images high-contrast and readable as a thumbnail?
If any of these fail the mobile test, that is where you start.
SMS: The Highest Open-Rate Channel
Text messages have an average open rate of over 90% and most are read within three minutes of receipt.
No other channel comes close.
For charities, SMS works well for:
Event reminders and day-of logistics
Emergency or urgent appeals
Donation confirmation and thank-yous
Volunteer coordination
It works less well for long content, complex messages, or frequent communication. People protect their phone number more than their email address — use it with care.
Always obtain explicit consent before sending SMS to any supporter.
10-Minute Exercise: The Mobile Audit
On your phone, go through these four things:
Open the last email your charity sent. Is it easy to read and tap?
Visit your charity's website. How long does it take to load?
Find your donation page. How many steps does it take to give?
Look at your last three social media posts. Do they work on a small screen?
Make a note of what needs fixing. Prioritise by which channel matters most to your audience.
Why is this important to know?
Because most of your supporters experience your charity through a phone screen, not a desktop.
If your communications, donation pages, and content aren't built for mobile first, you are creating friction at every step of the supporter journey. Removing that friction is one of the highest-impact, lowest-cost improvements most charities can make.
At VellumWorks, we believe knowledge should be free. That's why this series will guide you, step by step, through everything from the basics to the most advanced strategies in marketing: no jargon, no gatekeeping, just education that empowers.
