Mobile traffic dominates JustGiving on London Marathon day
Howard Lake | 23 April 2013 | News
Mobile traffic to online fundraising site JustGiving on the day of the Virgin London Marathon exceeded desktop traffic for the first time. The site handled over £300,000 in donations (excluding Gift Aid) from smartphones and tablets on the day.
On Sunday 22 April 2013 58% of traffic to JustGiving came from mobile devices, compared to just 42% from desktop computers. This is an increase of 52% from the day of the 2012 London Marathon.
The event, already the world's largest single day fundraising event, also represented a record amount for an event for mobile donations made on JustGiving.
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Mobile social media generated substantial donations too, with 20% of smartphone and tablet traffic to JustGiving coming from Facebook mobile on Marathon day.
JustTextGiving by Vodafone
Runners in the Marathon also used JustTextGiving by Vodafone, the free text donation service: over 1,700 runners chose to use their code this year. Over 12,000 text donations have been made so far to support Marathon runners and to date.
Singer Katherine Jenkins, who ran the Marathon on Sunday, has raised more than £800 through text donations alone.
Anna Kuriakose, Head of Product at JustGiving said: "Just looking at the number of smartphones in the crowds on Sunday brought home just how important mobile has become in mass-participation events… The past year has seen a huge leap in the number of our users reaching for their smartphones to show their generosity – to give wherever they are and whenever they choose."
JustGiving developed a completely mobile optimised product in 2011 and has continued to improve this as smartphone technology moves forward. In particular, social media platforms are helping to push users to give from their mobiles, with 20% of smartphone and tablet traffic to JustGiving now coming from Facebook mobile on marathon day.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.