Summary
The Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) was ramping up for a web and CRM migration, and in order to make this a smooth transition it was vital to have all constituent records in their database clean and organized. Like many organizations, CHANGE inherited a 13-year-old-database that had supporters groups and segments that were not documented.
Good data hygiene allows for more effective and targeted communications that will be imperative to launch any new social and multi-media campaigns, something that was a priority for CHANGE.
Strategy
- Analysis of current database
- Recommendations
- Implementation
Implementation
After analyzing CHANGE’s current database, it was obvious that they had a significant number of supporters in their database, however, a majority of those supporters are not engaging with email communications or making donations. Having a CRM with constituents that are not engaged decreases open rates and makes it difficult to send personalized emails.
To help with this issue, I took the following steps:
Phase 1: data clean up
I exported all data and saved it externally, worked with the client to decide what supporters to exclude from any deletion (board members, staff, etc.), deleted any invalid supporters, deduplicated records, deleted undefined “tags†in the system.
Email campaign with opt-in/out options
I sent a series of two emails allowing individuals in the database that have not opened any emails in the last two years, one last chance to opt-in to your list. The opt-in is a great way to make sure you have a more engaged list. Because subscribers have to confirm, you know that the people on your list really wanted to sign up. That should make them more responsive to your emails, and more likely to open and click.
Phase 2: data clean up
This step includes deleting all unsubscribes and no opens in the last two years (unless they are a donor or on the excluded list).
Segmentation
The way CHANGE chooses to break down their list depended on which constituent categories were most pertinent to the organization. Marketers who can segment their lists are able to communicate on a personal level, discovering the true potential of every donor. I assisted by collaborating with the team to decide on the best way to segment their list.
Vetting and recommending a new CRM
CHANGE wanted to migrate to a new Customer Relationship Management system that was user-friendly, modern and included advocacy features. I vetted and did a complete comparison of 9 platforms and made a recommendation based off of budget and feature requirements.
Results
CHANGE went from having a large list of constituents (about 19,000) that were not engaged, to a smaller list of supporters they know and can better cultivate (10,000). This will also help to increase open and click rates moving forward.
Before:
Average open rate: 15.3%
Average click through rate (CTR): .73%
Results:
Average open rate: 17.3%
Average click through rate (CTR): 1.06%