1. Consent is Key
Opt-In Requirement: Send messages only to individuals who have explicitly opted-in to receive communication from your organization.
Transparent Expectations: During the opt-in process, let supporters know what type of messages they can expect (e.g., event reminders, donation appeals, or engagement opportunities).
Leverage Rally's Forms and Widgets: Rally Corp's built-in opt-in tools make managing consent easy and compliant. If you are a customer, we offer forms and widgets via Rally.so here.
2. Warm Up Your List
It is important to send consistently throughout the year rather than only once a year asking for a donation.
Gradually sending non-solicitation text messages to a new list of contacts to get them accustomed to receiving texts from your organization prevents them from marking your messages as spam or unsubscribing. Like any communication channel, it's always best to build on a relationship and create value before diving in for an "ask."
Need help crafting a mobile fundraising plan? See here.
3. Write Engaging, Relevant Messages
Focus on Value: Ensure every message offers something meaningful to the recipient—whether it’s an event reminder, progress update, or a call to action. Remember, gratitude goes a long way! (e.g., donation or volunteering thank-yous.)
Professional Tone: Use proper grammar and avoid jargon. This reflects positively on your organization.
Limit Emojis and Symbols: While they can add personality, overuse can make messages feel unprofessional or spammy.
Use Branded URLs: When including links, we recommend using branded URLs or Rally Corp's link tracking to maintain trust and transparency. Avoid using tools like bit.ly as they are common among spammers.
4. Enable and Honor Opt-Outs
Clear Opt-Out Instructions: Every message, unless using Peer-to-Peer (one-to-one) messaging, should include instructions for opting out, like "Reply STOP to unsubscribe."
Manage Replies: It's best to check for replies to make sure you manually opt out anyone who may reply asking to be removed without using the command "STOP."
For instructions on manually opting out contacts, see this article here.
5. Monitor Your Campaigns
Rally Corp Dashboard: Use Rally’s analytics dashboard to monitor delivery rates, engagement, and opt-out trends.
Detect Issues Early: Track delivery reports to identify problems like carrier filtering or high opt-out rates.
Avoid Over-Communication: Respect supporters’ time and attention by limiting message frequency—stick to meaningful touchpoints.
For more information on error codes and filtering, see the following help document: Error Codes here.
6. Verify Mobile Numbers
Reduce Your Bounce Rate. You can only text a mobile number. Landlines will bounce; thus, reducing your bounce rate will improve your trust score. Sending to landlines, for example, is a sure way to signal to the carriers that your list may be comprised of invalid / non-consenting numbers.
Validate Mobile: Use Rally's Mobile Validation or Data Enrichment feature before you launch a campaign to pre-validate numbers. Note that if you do not, numbers will be automatically opted out if they are determined to be landlines.
For more information on pre-validating a number, see this article here.
Want more ideas? Join our next Webinar or schedule open office hours with our team and we'll pull example campaigns and share what works. We aim to drive 20MM people to act on behalf of causes and charities each year (raising just over $1 billion!)