Using RENXT as if it's Mailchimp

Alice Vicentin
Alice Vicentin
Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussions

We would like to use RENXT as if it's our main newsletter, but it doesn't look like it's fit for purpose. How do people subscribe if they are not automatically updated on the system? How do they update their preferences if there isn't anywhere where they can say? Are solicit codes the way to do it? Anyone else is using it as a newsletter (with consent)?

Comments

  • Dariel Dixon
    Dariel Dixon Community All-Star
    Seventh Anniversary Kudos 5 First Reply PowerUp Challenge #3 Gift Management

    Welcome to the community @Alice Vicentin. I'm not certain if I'm understanding your question. RE is a donor database first and foremost, with some email functionality littered around. You can track unsubscribes with solicit codes, but I would think about it a little differently. What isn't able to be updated by users? Why do you think people can't subscribe? There are places to store custom data in RE. RE to MailChimp is really an apples to lima beans comparison.

  • Karen Diener
    Karen Diener Community All-Star
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 First Reply Name Dropper

    @Alice Vicentin I think the biggest challenge here is that you (probably) have people on your email list who are not donors. This means they will have to be added - as constituents - to RE in order to receive email. This also has a lot of potential to bloat your database, driving up record counts and putting you into higher payment levels.

    It is challenging to offer the ability to subscribe to different newsletters, though you could do it via the consent options. But if I understand and remember correctly, there is not a “manage your email preferences” page. All of the consent options are within transactions such as online donations or event registrations. I could absolutely be wrong about this - there might be something in the donor portal. I recommend researching that on your own because there are some other challenges with the portal.

    Blackbaud did recently announce a partnership / integration with Constant Contact. Although details have not been outlined, including timing or cost, it is on the near horizon. I recommend attending a PUB (Product Update Briefing) next week. You can easily Google that and find the registration page.

  • Amanda Polson
    Amanda Polson
    Third Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    @Alice Vicentin we are also trying to figure out how to do this. We do not have the budget or the staff to manage multiple databases and all our emails are either for day to day school issues (sent through our student info system) or development/fundraising (which we have been sending through RE). But I can't even figure out how to add a form for people to subscribe to our mailing list in RE without making a donation or attending an event. It is very frustrating.

  • Alice Vicentin
    Alice Vicentin
    Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    @Dariel Dixon We would like newsletter subscribers to be able to choose if they want to receive emails regarding events in business, or arts & culture events etc, so it's something they could opt in for, if you know what I mean

  • Alice Vicentin
    Alice Vicentin
    Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    @Amanda Polson We figured this out, it's through Online Express, but it's still far from perfect, we still would like to do so much more with this…

  • Amanda Polson
    Amanda Polson
    Third Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    @Alice Vicentin Thanks! I've been trying to figure out the online express, it seemed like that was the answer but its not easy to understand how to make it work!

  • Alice Vicentin
    Alice Vicentin
    Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    @Amanda Polson True, I read a few things, and we managed to create a sign up form which is connected to RENXT. BUT it's very basic, it just asks for consent basically. We were thinking of creating a workflow for new sign ups, where we then ask for more information (but it will all be manual, nothing that will update RENXT automatically, which is a shame)

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