IE has been disheartened to see the amount of charities jumping on the mobile app bandwagon beginning to slow down. It is easy to assume that all charities should take full advantage of every new technology, but the measure that always needs to be rigorously applied is that of return on investment.

When it comes to new technology, IE is always ready to embrace it with open arms as soon as it’s proved its worth beyond reasonable doubt – and we’ve been no different in relation to mobile apps. We are always delighted when a client comes to us wanting to expand on their digital marketing activity. It’s the job of our Digital Consultants to then work closely with clients to ensure you invest in activity that will generate the best return.

The IE philosophy is that every organisation is an individual. We design and build digital marketing solutions that are tailored to meet your specific needs. It’s this approach that ensures IE solutions don’t just look great – they actually deliver.

As specialists in the charity sector we understand that your mobile app must have a unique selling point, the potential to go viral and ideally a decent marketing / PR budget – or it will simply be lost amongst a multitude of other similar or more-heavily-promoted apps.

In the case of charities, ROI is not about profit but is a more complex mix. Charities tend to measure ROI in terms of raised awareness, engagement (time or money), educational value, opinion shift etc. And where absolute measurement is difficult or impossible we look instead to identify important indicators.

There is no one answer when it comes to how valuable a mobile app might be to a charity – it’s rarely a case of right or wrong. More a matter of expert judgement.