The World of Phone Service is Changing...

A new study says 3 in 10 get all or most calls on cell phones, and I am certain that number will only rise in the near future.

Nearly 1/3 of those under the age of 30 have cell phones only.

In general, people are more private with their cell phone use. They are often more reserved with giving out this number, and enjoy the decrease of direct marketing calls compared to landlines. There is no "directory" for cell numbers-which is both good and bad (depends on who you are and what you want).

Keeping aware of this technology shift is important for those who do modeling and use "preferred channel" type categories as independent variables. It may also be important to the annual fund folks, where phone solicitation is still a tried and true method of raising money. Perhaps this shift might imply an increase in email or online solicitations to targeted groups as opposed to trying to reach them on the phone? Or a comprehensive program to acquire cell numbers of recent grads?

All the wonderful messaging and strategy in the world is useless if we have no way of contacting our donors. Being aware of trends like these is vital.

For nearly three in 10 households, don't even bother trying to call them on a landline phone. They either only have a cell phone or seldom if ever take calls on their traditional phone.

The federal figures, released Wednesday, showed that reliance on cells is continuing to rise at the expense of wired telephones. In the second half of last year, 16 percent of households only had cell phones, while 13 percent also had landlines but got all or nearly all their calls on their cells.

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