How would you track change of email address?

Teresa Woods

We have a tool that integrates with the database and our email platform that we are considering whether or not to renew.

If we decide not to renew, the question came up along the lines of “how would you know if a relationship manager changed an email address in the database and how would you know to then change it in the email platform?”

I could, for example, run a query of records last changed by someone other than myself. But, if I add a gift to the record, that “changes” it, too.

So, I ask the group – How would you track if an email address has been changed?

Austen Brown

At a previous Org, we would include notes in the comment section for additional information we wanted to track.

JoAnn Strommen

I put note in comment section telling how we got info. If you're marking these as primary you could also do a query of “primary” with data of “ this month” or certain time frame as the date field updates to the date any change was made. Would that capture them?

Your correct, date of record change tends to reflect more than the one field we might be looking for.

Teresa Woods

Oh good grief - I just now noticed this: in database view, phone numbers now have “date last changed” where it used to be date “from” and “to,” which I can query on.

Barbara Kunkel

Would it be easier to have a relationship manager update the email platform when an email address is changed? I am glad to see that Teresa noted the Phone date last changed. That should be helpful for you.

Cait McGrath

Could use that idea but inverse it, too. Apply comments to emails you DO have imported (like “existing xyz mailing record", ask fundraisers to remove comment when updating email. Would also say, you dont' want them overwriting emails either, so that you know which emails to REVMOVE from your email client, too.