Email lists from other than a query.

Leah Hollenberger

Is it possible to upload or import a list of emails to utilze the emailing function of Online Express without the constiuents being part of the database? I.e. any other way to provide a list other than by query?

Kath Backhouse

Are there any plans to be able to use external sources for email lists eg Excel?

Steve MacLaughlin

Kath Backhouse:
Are there any plans to be able to use external sources for email lists eg Excel?

No, not at this time. We are going to continue to expand the different constituents and records that you can email to from The Raiser's Edge.



All of our discovery work has shown that allowing external lists doesn't allow nonprofits to optimize their engagement and fundraising results as well as emailing to records that are in The Raiser's Edge.

Naila Asif

We are still waiting to hear good news about uploading the email lists for donors not in Raiser's Edge.


Aslo need to get the email addresses not on Bio 1 and Org 1 e.g. for Individual relationships in Organization record not having a constituent Id.

Matthew Garbarino

Hi Leah. The only way to add lists to Online Express is to use an RE query. This allows a consistent set of merge fields, management of unsubscribes and opt-outs, and tracking of important stats.

Megan Motley

I know this has been answered, but I would just like to add that I would really appreciate this functionality as well. We fall under a parent organization, so while most of our communications take place based on our database, occassionally we need to send something to people in our parent organization's database. When that happens, I have to use a whole different email service, which is far from ideal.

Naila Asif

I know OLX has no option to do this right now, but hopefully something will be done to use a list of emails not in RE.



Naila

Mary Weaver

We have a list of "friends" that was cultivated outside of RE. They are much more likely to open my emails than those whom I used to email (with a general query--everyone who has email) with NetCommunity.



I don't have addresses for them. Given that, is there a way to import their names and emails into the RE database so I can email them via OLX?



And if I could, could I then identify them with an RE query?



If not, I will get better results continuing to email them via GetResponse.

Kathleen Eastman

We have been reviewing OXL and were also disappointed to see that it did not allow for importing external lists for e-blasts. We send communications to several different constituencies and some groups are not in RE and don't need to be. When some purchases are based on # of records in a database, having extra unecessary constituents only for emailing purposes is a huge reason why allowing for importing of external lists is something Blackbaud needs to seriously reconsider.

Steve MacLaughlin:

Kath Backhouse:

Are there any plans to be able to use external sources for email lists eg Excel?

No, not at this time. We are going to continue to expand the different constituents and records that you can email to from The Raiser's Edge.



All of our discovery work has shown that allowing external lists doesn't allow nonprofits to optimize their engagement and fundraising results as well as emailing to records that are in The Raiser's Edge.

 

 

Jen Claudy

Talked about this at bbcon this week.  It is something BB is considering, but will probably be a while in coming.  You can, with 7.94+, have more than one of the same Phone Type on a Constiuent record, so theoretically, you can put multiple emails on one Constituent record, and they will all receive the message without adding a lot of records to your database.  And the NXT pricing tiers are fairly wide, so I wouldn't be overly concerned with that piece (white paper on this subject coming in the not-too-distant-future from Bill Connors).

Eileen Bartlett 2

Chiming in on this issue as well - We were also disappointed to see that it did not allow for importing external lists for e-blasts. We send communications to several different constituencies and some groups are not in RE and don't need to be. Having ecords in the database without having all of the contact information seems unecessary if only for emailing purposes is a huge reason why allowing for importing of external lists is something Blackbaud needs to seriously reconsider.


Wondering if anything new is planned, or at least a way to track and use these emails within RE without having to add constituent records for each email address.

Thanks!

Naila Asif

Yes, I totally agree with you. There should be a way of using email lists from outside RE as creating records just for sending emails through Online Express is not an appropriate solution.


Naila

Kate Henselmans

I support this 100%. Many of our donors reach out to their networks and we use our email system to support them do that. That's how we expand our fundraising capacity.  So it's a critical feature for us to be able to use external lists.  Kate Henselmans, Fundraising Operations Manager, All Stars Project

Becky Wise 2

Leah Hollenberger:

Is it possible to upload or import a list of emails to utilze the emailing function of Online Express without the constiuents being part of the database? I.e. any other way to provide a list other than by query?

I want to join in by saying our organization moved from using NetCommunity to Online Express and the one feature we truely miss is the ability to email to an external list. For example, we want to email the local high school coulselors about scholarships and events that students may be interested in, but it doesn't make sense to put this group of people in RE with our donors and alumni. 

Jen Claudy

Just added this Idea to the OLX Idea Bank.

Eileen Bartlett 2

Becky Wise:

Leah Hollenberger:

Is it possible to upload or import a list of emails to utilze the emailing function of Online Express without the constiuents being part of the database? I.e. any other way to provide a list other than by query?

I want to join in by saying our organization moved from using NetCommunity to Online Express and the one feature we truely miss is the ability to email to an external list. For example, we want to email the local high school coulselors about scholarships and events that students may be interested in, but it doesn't make sense to put this group of people in RE with our donors and alumni. 

 

I asked this same question a while back and the answer is not at this time, I was disappointed. I really think this is a feature that should be added to Online Express, we want to make sure of the integrity of the RE information and by having records with only email addresses is not the way. I am hoping Blackbaud can figure this functionality out soon.

Chris Martin

We're in discovery around how we'll handle this in the next generation of our email capabilities. What we've heard so far is that it's generally a valuable thing to be able to report on outcomes of any email, regardless of whether the nature of the email is fundraising or something entirely different. Virtually every organization we've spoken with values the ability to see who opened a given email, who commonly opens emails, who clicked links, who opted out and when, etc.


So if we're going to be able to track outcomes by recipient, we need a record of each recipient where we'll store those outcomes. And the system that sends those emails is also the system that needs to have awareness of the recipients. Whether we represent a given recipient in the system as a constituent or in a different way to indicate that they are something like a non-constituent contact is something we're looking at.


Typically when this topic comes up, when we dig deep to get to the actual problem that needs solving, it's usually something along the lines of not wanting to be forced to store and treat non-constituents as constituents. And we think we can smartly solve this with our RE team in a way that's both more flexible and more intuitive than forcing you to store recipient lists elsewhere. It will probably include a smart list importer that includes the ability to indicate that some or all of the recipients in your import file aren't actually constituents. That way, you'd be always be able to store the communications history with any of your contacts, regardless of whether they're an actual/potential constituent.


At the moment, this is likely to be a 2017 deliverable for us.

William Tolentino

Eileen Bartlett:

Chiming in on this issue as well - We were also disappointed to see that it did not allow for importing external lists for e-blasts. We send communications to several different constituencies and some groups are not in RE and don't need to be. Having ecords in the database without having all of the contact information seems unecessary if only for emailing purposes is a huge reason why allowing for importing of external lists is something Blackbaud needs to seriously reconsider.


Wondering if anything new is planned, or at least a way to track and use these emails within RE without having to add constituent records for each email address.

Thanks!

What are people doing currently as a work around.  I have a list of about 4,000 e-mail addresses that are part of our maillist that don't even have names.  I don't want to add 4,000 constituents that only have an e-mail address.

Mary Weaver

I have about 4000 names and email addresses of folks who opted in to receive news and info from us. I use GetResponse to email them and OnlineExpress to email eerybody else. I've found that the folks in what I call the "intentional" list--those who opted in--are MUCH more likely to open my messages, to donate, etc. We have loads of email addresses in OX, mostly obtained with RE's email finder. They are much less interested. 


Recent example from Giving Tuesday: my first message to the GetResponse crowd got a 56 percent open rate. My first message to the OX gang got 14 percent. Not bad but no comparison.


There are lots of reasons I wouldn't eliminate our GetResponse account: better tools, better-looking emails, opportunity to tweak html if needed, better analytics. 


Upshot is that when I need to email everyone, I send two messages. I create the master message in GetResponse and then try to duplicate it in OX.


 

Charles Goldberg

Chris. You listed this as a 2017 deliverable -- i.e., being able to mark contacts as not constituents in RE as a way to send OLX emails not through queries. Any update on that?





Chris Martin:

We're in discovery around how we'll handle this in the next generation of our email capabilities. What we've heard so far is that it's generally a valuable thing to be able to report on outcomes of any email, regardless of whether the nature of the email is fundraising or something entirely different. Virtually every organization we've spoken with values the ability to see who opened a given email, who commonly opens emails, who clicked links, who opted out and when, etc.


So if we're going to be able to track outcomes by recipient, we need a record of each recipient where we'll store those outcomes. And the system that sends those emails is also the system that needs to have awareness of the recipients. Whether we represent a given recipient in the system as a constituent or in a different way to indicate that they are something like a non-constituent contact is something we're looking at.


Typically when this topic comes up, when we dig deep to get to the actual problem that needs solving, it's usually something along the lines of not wanting to be forced to store and treat non-constituents as constituents. And we think we can smartly solve this with our RE team in a way that's both more flexible and more intuitive than forcing you to store recipient lists elsewhere. It will probably include a smart list importer that includes the ability to indicate that some or all of the recipients in your import file aren't actually constituents. That way, you'd be always be able to store the communications history with any of your contacts, regardless of whether they're an actual/potential constituent.


At the moment, this is likely to be a 2017 deliverable for us.

 

Gina Kerley

We would love to be able to add email addresses without list (manually)  in certain circumstances in Online Express.  


Gina Kerley

VP Advancement 

St. Junipero Serra Catholic School 



Kathleen Eastman:

We have been reviewing OXL and were also disappointed to see that it did not allow for importing external lists for e-blasts. We send communications to several different constituencies and some groups are not in RE and don't need to be. When some purchases are based on # of records in a database, having extra unecessary constituents only for emailing purposes is a huge reason why allowing for importing of external lists is something Blackbaud needs to seriously reconsider.

Steve MacLaughlin:

Kath Backhouse:

Are there any plans to be able to use external sources for email lists eg Excel?

No, not at this time. We are going to continue to expand the different constituents and records that you can email to from The Raiser's Edge.


All of our discovery work has shown that allowing external lists doesn't allow nonprofits to optimize their engagement and fundraising results as well as emailing to records that are in The Raiser's Edge.

 

 

 

 

Kendra Clarke

Jen Claudy:

Just added this Idea to the OLX Idea Bank.

I tried to find this on the Idea bank, but does anyone have an update on this? Thanks!