Clickable Phone Numbers and MPD

According to this research by Google, 25% of Americans (assumed), who research charitable giving, end up giving a donation through a mobile device. Most will go to a browser window, but some will use “click to call” to make their donations. So, although the percentage is small, you may still want to have a clickable Donation Services number (1-888-278-7233) on your MailChimp eMails and on your blog or website. This helps your reader make their donation when they are ready to.

The “tel” HTML code sets up a link to make a phone call. Your friend’s phone will either bring up a window to approve the call or a window giving options to call or to add the number to contacts or to send a text. If your financial partner clicks on the phone link using their iPad or tablet (without phone capabilities), they’ll still probably have the option to add the number to an address book. The number in the above paragraph is linked, so click on it with your mobile device to see what happens.

Your Blog or Website

If you would like to have a clickable phone number on an “about” or “join us” page on your blog or website, just use your blogging editor to insert a link with this HTML code:  href=”tel:+18882787233″

Don’t use http:// in the phone link because “http” is for web page addresses. Also, be aware that quotes for HTML need to be straight ( ” ), not curved ( ” ).

MailChimp

I was just now able to add the phone link on the bottom of a MailChimp letter. I’d already added a link to give.cru.org so they can give through a browser as well.

Here’s a sample code to enter, using the “HTML” tab in your MailChimp editor:

Call toll-free at <a href=”tel:+18882787233″>1-888-278-7233</a> or 1-888-CRUSADE. You will need our account number, 1234567.

It will look like this:

Call toll-free at 1-888-278-7233 or 1-888-CRUSADE. You will need our account number, 1234567.

Again, don’t use http:// in the phone link and do use straight quotes. (You might be able to cut and paste the codes from this post.)

NOTES:

• Thanks to this article, “How to create click-to-call links for mobile browsers” for help to create the HTML code I needed and for explaining what happens when different devices encounter this code.
• Personally, I never put our phone number (or a clickable eMail address) on our blog sites to prevent spamming and phishing.
• You can see an example of how I did all this on our about page and join us page if that will help.