Ultimate Guide to Mobile Bidding

Posted by Emily Clare on 20 October 2022

Are you getting caught up in the old fashioned world of fundraising? You wouldn’t be the only person. For over a decade, we’ve hosted bake sales, rallies, auctions and galas but most people are still using the tools that were available in the 60s. Pen, paper, leaflets, flyers and using word of mouth. It’s a lot of effort and most of the time, the results don’t match. So today we want to give you the ultimate guide to mobile bidding.

Technology has advanced the world drastically in the last couple of decades. Every aspect of life seems easier, so why is the world of fundraising struggling to use technology? Well, we believe that it’s a lack of awareness. All the technology is there, it’s just not being used. So to stop people wasting their efforts on pen and paper, it’s time to look at how you can re-write every aspect of fundraising with technology.

Now, there’s more to online platforms than just mobile bidding. Which is why we want to look at the entire scope of the fundraising process. We believe that online platforms have transformed the bidding process the most, but that they should be utilized for all of the elements they provide – not just one.

Event promotion

When it comes to your event, you may have already started using technology. Let’s face it, we’ve been setting up Facebook events for a while now. But there is so much more to it than that. Event promotion isn’t just a case of sending out a notification inviting someone to a location on a particular day. 

If you’re looking to successfully promote your event, your invites are only the first step. You need to create a strategy that keeps your guests and potential guests excited. Platforms like Givergy give you everything you need in order to maximize your attendance and in turn – profits.

A hub like Givergy can house all your contacts, so you can invite them one day and then continue the communication. All marketing plans do this. Reach out once initially then continue. It doesn’t matter if they sign up or not. Keep sending regular updates out about the event to keep interest levels high. Let your guests know about the latest speaker, entice them with clues to what the big prize is, even update them on your fundraising total and what the goal is. The more you reach out, the better – but make these updates valuable. You don’t want to be spamming your audience. 

Take a look at how you can run a Live Event with your Mobile. 

Event ticket sales

Of course you don’t want to be putting all that effort into promoting your event and then having your audience jump through hoops in order to buy tickets. There’s no reason why people shouldn’t be able to buy a ticket with their cell phone, and with mobile platforms such as Givergy they can. People should receive information about your event, via push notification or email or any other online way and the very next step after taking in information, should be buying tickets.

By having online ticket sales you give people the easiest route to accessing your event. They don’t need to call a number, visit an address, or even fill out a form. Simple taps on their smartphone screen will give them everything they need. What does this mean for you and your event? More ticket sales.

Think about it. You can sit from your laptop at home, send out information and give total access to your event and someone can buy their ticket without moving a muscle. The easier you make the process for someone to buy a ticket, the fewer chances they have to say no.

Take a look at our Mobile Ticketing service. 

Messaging

In some cases you’ll discover that your event promotion and ticket sales come with some questions. People might want to double check a piece of information (that is out there but that they didn’t read) or they might even want to help with the event – volunteering their time or contributing financially. You never know! Which is why it’s essential to have your communication lines open.

By hosting your event on a platform like Givery you extend the level of communication. Having software to message your guests information can help run your event smoothly. Take a look at our Guest Messaging service. 

Mobile Bidding

This is perhaps one of the most exciting things about using an online platform. Mobile bidding transforms your fundraising process. No credit cards to deal with, no personal details to keep track of, no cash to worry about and lock up at the end of the night. Mobile bidding, when connected via a cell phone, makes bidding easier than ever.

Platforms like Givergy allow you to raise money with them. Imagine this. Your event is in progress, you send out a notification about the start of the event as something interesting has happened. Your audience member, who has bought a ticket to watch online, but hasn’t logged in, gets this news, sees what’s going on and it pushes them to donate. That’s the beauty of mobile bidding.

You need to view mobile bidding as your way to access an audience that isn’t in attendance. Not just making things easier for those who are at your event. Sure, for those attending in person, it is still a huge benefit as they don’t have to stress about cash and personal details. But accessing donations through mobile bidding removes a lot of the barriers that are in place to hit the high fundraising targets we all have.

If you’re not using online platforms for anything currently, the very first thing you need to consider is mobile bidding. For years remote bidding has occurred whereby the purchaser is in one country and someone else is at the auction in person, on the phone, bidding from afar. This cuts out the middleman completely. It gives your bidder more time too, because they can have one screen on their cell phone focusing on the event and their laptop focused on an important meeting. 

Take a look at our Bidding or Silent Auction services. 

Creating your events using an online platform

So let’s take this from the top. You’re currently putting on fundraising events whereby you discuss events on social media. You invite people in person using paper and pen – in some form or another. Your ticket sales involve handling cash or personal details or even relying on card machines to work in person, you may have online ticket reservations available but the system isn’t secure. Most of all, your bids, donations and any other transactions need to be done in person – no matter what form the money comes in.

Sounds a bit complicated now doesn’t it? But it’s what millions of North Americans are doing. Simply put, there is no need for it! Platforms like Givergy will handle and host everything, securely. This first of all completely transforms you and your audiences’ experience but perhaps more importantly, diverts all your resources elsewhere. You don’t need to fund someone counting the ticket sales, tallying up donations or sending out invites. There is no working with printers to collect flyers. No paper boy to distribute leaflets. Just this one platform that does it all for you.

Using online platforms like Givergy means you can create the ultimate fundraising team with just you and your cell phone. Nobody else is needed, you don’t need to scrounge for volunteers, you don’t need to beg committees for help. All you need is this secure platform. Now, doesn’t that sound much easier?

At first, it might seem a little different and almost alien to do fundraising this way. But after you have your first event we’re sure it will be a huge success and the only question you’ll be asking then is ‘why didn’t I do this sooner?’

Emily Clare

Campaign Success Team Manager – North America

Emily is an experienced and passionate fundraising and events consultant, working with and supporting clients on their special events and fundraising campaigns all over the world.