Online Express feedback - pros/cons

Aimee White

Good afternoon! 



I'm hoping you all would be willing to offer input on different web donation options that you all are currently using. I am looking at the possibility of going with Blackbaud's Online Express for our organization, and I am hoping some of you who do use it can offer some feedback on the pros/cons of its features. 



I would love to hear the good, bad and ugly with Online Express, specifically, in relations to: 



Online donation forms (donations, memberships, special programs, major giving, monthly/sustained giving, combined donations-membership with an annual fund monthly additional gift and an adopt an animal for example) 



Event registration/RSVP (hoping to have a max number of participants with the option of a waitlist. Some of these cost, some do not, some have member discounts.) 



Program registration/School Groups/Field Trips & Tours 



Marketing: newsletters, membership renewal eblasts, etc. (we currently use Constant Contact) 



Ease of integration of online information with RE data (new and current constituents, different funds for different donations/fees) 



If you would be willing to share your experience with Online Express, or have suggestions for other options, I would greatly appreciate it!



Thank you,



Aimee White

Membership Coordinator

High Desert Museum

awhite@highdesertmuseum.org

Jennifer Reager

In short, I can tell you that Online Express is super-easy to use. I'm not sure what your previous experience with Blackbaud has been, but compared to NetSolutions and NetCommunity, Online Express is a breath of fresh air for this DBA! I also appreciate the frequent updates that are made (and communicated via a regular email).



Donation forms are easy to build and customize - we've already used it for our general donation page as well as a few different specific causes outside of our general fund. We have seen a slight uptick in our recurring giving as well. The forms turn out very clean and easy for donors to use.



Events have worked largely in the same way. The processing for both donations and registrations is fairly straightforward, and identical to NetCommunity, the TeamRaiser/RELO plug-in, etc. Whoever is doing the designing and processing would definitely need a clear knowledge of RE so the fields correspond and customize the way you want them to.



We have sent only a couple of emails, but I've heard that they are really easy to design and send, and on the back end, you can simply click a button to apply this appeal info to RE records. We're also in the process of transitioning from Constant Contact to Online Express, so I don't know all the ins and outs, but the couple of test sign-ups that I've processed have been very easy to use. Plus they create the query for you, so when you go to send your next e-news, there's really no guesswork!



Keep in mind that the pricing is largely based on the number of usuable email addresses you have and the number of emails that you plan to send out, with Event forms being an add-on. So, depending on your constituency, this could be a very affordable option, or not so much.

Tonya Higgins

Hi Aimee -  and all who may read this. You posted awhile ago, so this information may not still be relevant for you, but in case it is...



OLX was our original thought for our membership forms. Our plan was to use Luminate Online for donations (the GO program is going well), and OLX for membership forms as LO does not map to RE Membership fields without specialized programming. However, we ran into the issue of our adoption membership program is too intricate for OLX.



Pros: OLX is simple and basic. Its great for that reason alone. Its user friendly so the need to be "techy" is low. Overall its probably a great option for many organizations who need something reliable, simple, and effective that staff can handle easily. It gives a well rounded insight into how your constituents are interacting with you, and being integrated is the blessing of all BB services, imo.



Cons: there is little to no customizations available. It is what it is right out of the box. This is only a con if you have very specific needs, and are not needing the whole kitnkaboodle that LO gives.



This is just my experience based on my current organizational needs. I never actually used OLX, so I cant say for certain how well it functions, but based on other organizations recommendations, I feel it probably works great if your programs fit its capabilities.



My time is limited (who's isnt these days:), and I am horrible about participating in forum discussions, so I may not keep up with this post in a timely manner. I hope my insight is helpful to you, or any others who may read this. Good luck, and thanks for all you do to make this world a better place.



Best,

Tonya

Greg Fitzgerald

OLX has incredible LIMITATIONS, especially for online giving forms.  As bad as Net Community was in regard to design options, OLX is worse in terms of funcionality and customization. 



For example, we cannot find a means to create a form with an opt-out option to allow us to gather data from our constituents (college employees in a staff drive appeal, in this case) while allowing them not to participate in this appeal.  The data is important for measuring ROI, participation rates, etc.



Setting up a schedule of monthly pledge payments is very cumbersome, and is confusing for the donor.  If one selects an OTHER amount fror their annual gift, the drop down box now lists more than 12 months, based on a selection in the form creation mode that specifies a minimum payment amount.  Example, someone wants to contribute $2,000, and the minimum payment amount selection is $1,000.  The drop down now populates with up to 24 months.  NOT HELPFUL, and very confusing to the contributor,



We want to specify the date that payroll deduction will begin as Nov 30.  The form creator defaults to the end of the current month. Our appeal happens to span September and early October. Depending on when the contributor completes the form, the date could specify 9/30 or 10/31.  Neither date, however, is the date we want, AND we cannot remove that field from the form - it is automatically generated.



These are just the BEGINNING of frustrations we have with ONE of the OLX functions.  This is not a product that should have been rolled out in its current form.  It needs a LOT more work!

 

Lest anyone think we're just complaining for the heck of it, I've been a BB user since 1998, and co-creator of one of the cudrrent BB Analytics products. This product needs serious attention, if it's to be a useful part of a top-line, expensive software suite.



Greg Fitzgerald, Executive Director

Clackamas Community College Foundation

Oregon City, OR  

Chris Martin

Hoping to add value and not stifle healthy dialog, I'd like to offer some perspective that hopefully adds to the conversation.



Online Express was built to be a prescriptive and effective online fundraising and email marketing solution that can be up and running in minutes and doesn't require highly technical staff to manage. The obvious tradeoff though is that Online Express (by design) doesn't attempt to "be all things to all organizations".



Some of the use cases mentioned in this thread describe using Online Express in novel ways but in ways beyond its intended scope. Some of these creative uses of Online Express that we've seen have succeed incredibly well. But others, because the difference between the desired use and OLX's design intent is just too great, aren't a perfect fit.



We're of course biased being on the Online Express team, but for organizations whose needs are for a simple online fundraising and email marketing solution that leverages best practices and integrates tightly with the Raiser's Edge, we think Online Express is pretty hard to beat. The average OLX online gift amount of consistently over $200 vastly exceeds the M&R 2015 Benchmarks industry averages and our email open rates are significantly higher than industry averages as well. Many of our customers have also commented that in addition to these outstanding outcomes, knowing that all of their OLX form and email content is properly and automatically mobile-responsive across all modern devices, browsers, and email clients represents additional and tangible value to thier organization.



By all means, please continue to suggest improvements. We ship 20+ updates to Online Express annually and we're constantly working to make what we hope is a good product an even better product. Thanks for the healthy discussion (and for tolerating a biased opinion).