Mobile Phones for Service Delivery Slides & Video

More Than Apps: Affordable Program Delivery Through Mobile Phones

Lindsey Bealko, Expert Trainer, Idealware

Principal & Founder Toolkit Consulting

Pat Malone: Associate Director, Immigration Advocates Network

Xander Karsten LawHelp Program Coordinator, Pro Bono Net

What We'll Cover

A new, Mobile World

Providing Information
Conversations with Constituents

Supporting Staff in the field

A New Mobile World

90% of all American Adults have a cell phone

58% of American adults own smartphones

Common across demographics. Not huge gaps

How you can Provide Information via Mobile

Start with the basics: a mobile website is the core of any mobile strategy
If you're going to engage your viewers on a phone, they need to be able to find your site on their phone.

Is your website up to date? Do you have an email-marketing strategy to drive people to your website?

How does your website look on a phone?

Look at your web analytics to see how much of your traffic is coming from mobile, and see what people are doing.

Optimizing your site for mobile

Plan for those who only see the top left of your site, or a full but tiny site

20-80 rule, About 20% of your content is what people are looking at 80% of the time. You mobile site should optimize that 20%. Then, add a link to full site.

People are more likely to be looking at your site while distracted, and are probably looking for quick information rather than in-depth information. (think about what your users really need and want)

Consider responsive design: if you're building from scratch, you can create a site that adapts itself to different devices.

Or create your own simple app. Apps need to be downloaded, but then are accessible offline. Tools like AppMakr, Sweb Apps, MobBase will help you create very simple apps for $100-$200. (make sure you have someone to help you maintain your app).

Or for simply use QR codes to make paper interactive. Direct people to a mobile version of your website.

Mobile Friendly Examples

MontanaLawHelp.org uses the Mobile LawHelp Platform.

CitizenshipWorks.org Mobile App

Pocket Daca: info to help individuals understand and apply for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

Immigo: information for practitioners working in the immigrant integration space

Arkansas Access to Justice Foundation iProBono

Winona County Historical Society: Created with open source software, TapTours, by non-technical staff members.

Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch App

Circle of Six: An app that protects women: women select 6 trusted friends. Sends preprogrammed text to those friends including map of their location. Designed for college-age women with smartphones.

Conversations with Constituents

Sending Texts from Email: not officially supported, so not 100% reliable or for large quantities. A reasonable choice for small numbers of texts.

Sending Broadcast Texts: If you've collected cell phone numbers you can text them messages-- very similar to broadcast email. Start adding cell phone numbers with an opt-in box for text message updates.

Ask People to Subscribe: put it on all your forms, or start a texting campaign. "Text Subscribe to 2934 to stay informed about our organization"

Text messages for 2-way conversations: set up branch logic. You can setup automated responses with a lot of branch points.

You can connect your texts to a database, so people can get automatic texts or responses. Use texts to collect information: People can report emergencies or incidents via SMS, which are collected in a database.

Examples