To: Customer Service Center, http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/

If you want people to donate cell phones for our soldiers (and it sure looks like you do!) my suggestions for increased success are as follows:

1) Make it obvious and clear what the correct donation process is for a user up front – and walk them through it step by step through your website. Don’t leave it up to the user to decide whether to delete the info on the phone. This should be built into the process because it’s a best practice. Because this is true, building it in will boost your credibility as a legitimate charity immediately and make it more likely that people will follow through.

2) Re: Deleting the info from the phone to be donated, the current process breaks down impossibly when it comes time to input phone model. Most people aren’t going to remember whether their *old* phone is a Razr V3C or V1H or A2Q, for example. They may not have used the phone in question for years, and most (like me) probably never knew the exact model. You need to explain how people can find out what version they have and make that as easy as possible to figure out via your own website.

3) Note the above items are necessary if you want to maximize the number of phones you get, and by extention, the number of soldiers you help. Don’t go thinking that because most of your current donated phones don’t use the data deletion feature that it isn’t important: many more would use it if it was easy to do and you made it clear it is a part of the standard process, and more people overall would actually donate, because they would know it is safe to do so.

4) By the way, are you REALLY refurbishing and donating these phones to soldiers? How do I know this isn’t a scam? How about showing me real soldiers using your phones? How about some testimonials? Maybe some press coverage from a reputable source? Also, if this is a legitimate charity, can I deduct this on my taxes? I know some of this is on the site, but it’s buried. You have to convince me this is legit on the first screen view; orient the landing page strategy around this and conveying the impression that this site makes it straightforward and easy to donate, with a well-thought out process.

Please let me know when the above issues are addressed, and I will gladly donate my phone and encourage others to do so as well! Thanks.