Online Express is Entirely Inadequate for Nonprofit Use

Alice Post

I've been using OLX for a grand total of 2 weeks now and am hugely dissapointed that it is billed as even remotely useful as an email client for nonprofits - or any organization really. Here is a brief, though incomplete list of the issues I've run into. None of my email demands are beyond basic functionality. 

1. Unable to merge gift amounts in an email
2. Unable to modify buttons
   1. Cannot adjust button width, height, or make words on the button go to another line. The only size adjustment is by adjusting font size. 
   2. Buttons only link to url, cannot insert a mailto: email@email.com into the button link.
3. Unable to edit HTML
4. Cannot predict image placement with Text Wrap
5. Style tab formatting does not carry over to text edit boxes. E.g. I set font to “Arial, 14px” in the “Style” tab. Then I drop a text box in that section and the text does not have formatting assigned to it.
6. Does not merge fields in test emails – I can’t check if the draft formatting matches with the merge formatting.
7. Forced margins on images that I cannot change.
8. Must manually update from click-throughs and opens back to RE (does not auto-sync)

I know there are going to be far more issues with OLX in the coming weeks. But OLX as an email client is close to worthless.

Michele Stender

Alice Post:
I've been using OLX for a grand total of 2 weeks now and am hugely dissapointed that it is billed as even remotely useful as an email client for nonprofits - or any organization really. Here is a brief, though incomplete list of the issues I've run into. None of my email demands are beyond basic functionality. 

1. Unable to merge gift amounts in an email
2. Unable to modify buttons
   1. Cannot adjust button width, height, or make words on the button go to another line. The only size adjustment is by adjusting font size. 
   2. Buttons only link to url, cannot insert a mailto: email@email.com into the button link.
3. Unable to edit HTML
4. Cannot predict image placement with Text Wrap
5. Style tab formatting does not carry over to text edit boxes. E.g. I set font to “Arial, 14px” in the “Style” tab. Then I drop a text box in that section and the text does not have formatting assigned to it.
6. Does not merge fields in test emails – I can’t check if the draft formatting matches with the merge formatting.
7. Forced margins on images that I cannot change.
8. Must manually update from click-throughs and opens back to RE (does not auto-sync)

I know there are going to be far more issues with OLX in the coming weeks. But OLX as an email client is close to worthless.

 

Hi Alice,

Thanks for the post. I totally hear your frustrations with some of the capablities that you might have expected to be included in Online Express. We are working on designing our next generation of email capabilities that are going to expand far beyond what is currently available in Online Express.


That being said, I did want to mention that we designed Online Express to be a simple yet effective tool that we know organziations are seeing really great results by using. Online Express as we know it today was never intended to be a robust email design tool. It was designed for organziations who want to design out of the box, mobile responsive emails without any tech know-how and that is what it still does today.


You should check out our recent roadmap review for some really awesome updates that will be coming in 2017!  https://community.blackbaud.com/reviews/item/19/1458



Thanks for the feedback,

Michele Stender

Associate Product Manager

 

Alice Post

Thank you for your prompt response that I have heard many times: "Changes are coming". Does that change the fact that the product you have is inadequate? Nope, not one bit.


Promises of future fixes for bare-bones functionality does not make OLX any more workable. Please leave the ticket open until you actually have an email client that does the following:


1. Allows HTML editing.

2. Merges gift fields <- this especially blows my mind that it doesn't exist from Day 1.

3. Works on the same level as any other blackbaud email client <- I used to think Blackbaud's other email clients were clunky... OLX out-clunkied their clunk.


The standard excuses of "ease of use" is clearly code for "we gave up programming basic functionality and want you to give up too." Not helpful. 

Daniel Bayer

Alice Post:

Thank you for your prompt response that I have heard many times: "Changes are coming". Does that change the fact that the product you have is inadequate? Nope, not one bit.


Promises of future fixes for bare-bones functionality does not make OLX any more workable. Please leave the ticket open until you actually have an email client that does the following:


1. Allows HTML editing.

2. Merges gift fields <- this especially blows my mind that it doesn't exist from Day 1.

3. Works on the same level as any other blackbaud email client <- I used to think Blackbaud's other email clients were clunky... OLX out-clunkied their clunk.


The standard excuses of "ease of use" is clearly code for "we gave up programming basic functionality and want you to give up too." Not helpful. 

As I keep saying to people in my office who sometimes complain about these same things: Maybe Online Express isn't the right product for you. Blackbaud does offer other products that allow you to edit the HTML and have more robust functionality (although I agree that being able to insert last gift amount is something that we should be able to do even in a basic product). Basically - don't take it out on OLX/Blackbaud. OLX is their basic/"starter" email tool. If that's not adequate for you, then go to the next level up. Depending on your organization, it may be worth the price, or it may not be. But don't punish Blackbaud/OLX for not being something it was never meant to be.

Alice Post

But don't punish Blackbaud/OLX for not being something it was never meant to be.

They shouldn't have marketed OLX as an email tool for nonprofits without first ensuring basic functionality. Not able to edit html? I can't merge donation information? That is less than basic functionality.


Nonprofits

1) Know how to make even "basic" services work for a wide variety of uses;

2) Rely on donation information in every facet of work (hence using Blackbaud database services in the first place); and

3) Feel extorted when promised basic functionality only to find an upgrade is needed for an already promised service.


From their website: 

Smart Email Marketing

With Blackbaud Online Express, creating and sending emails has never been easier. Choose from modern pre-designed, mobile friendly templates created specifically for nonprofit organizations. 

Daniel Bayer

Alice Post:
From their website: 

Smart Email Marketing

With Blackbaud Online Express, creating and sending emails has never been easier. Choose from modern pre-designed, mobile friendly templates created specifically for nonprofit organizations. 

 

What in that description promises HTML editing? Editing HTML is NOT easy, it is a highly specialized skill, one that many (if not most) nonprofit workers don't have. At a previous position we had Sphere and I had to learn HTML in order to get our emails to work properly. I had to do so on my own time because I didn't have enough time during the workday between all the gift processing, letter-writing, phone calls, query-making, and exporting (not to mention the data clean-up!). I'm glad for it, because it's a new skill that I'm happy to have and makes me more marketable, but for most orgs it is not necessary. The templates in OLX are highly workable, and we or Blackbaud have always found a way to make it work for us in the very few instances where we've had problems without having to edit any HTML.


As I said, I agree that not being able to merge last gift info IS an issue. But again, if the templates aren't working for you and you need to be able to edit HTML, then Online Express probably isn't the right product for you. And that's fine. But again, NOT the fault of the product.

Alice Post

Daniel Bayer:

Alice Post:
From their website: 

Smart Email Marketing

With Blackbaud Online Express, creating and sending emails has never been easier. Choose from modern pre-designed, mobile friendly templates created specifically for nonprofit organizations. 

 

What in that description promises HTML editing? Editing HTML is NOT easy, it is a highly specialized skill, one that many (if not most) nonprofit workers don't have. At a previous position we had Sphere and I had to learn HTML in order to get our emails to work properly. I had to do so on my own time because I didn't have enough time during the workday between all the gift processing, letter-writing, phone calls, query-making, and exporting (not to mention the data clean-up!). I'm glad for it, because it's a new skill that I'm happy to have and makes me more marketable, but for most orgs it is not necessary. The templates in OLX are highly workable, and we or Blackbaud have always found a way to make it work for us in the very few instances where we've had problems without having to edit any HTML.


As I said, I agree that not being able to merge last gift info IS an issue. But again, if the templates aren't working for you and you need to be able to edit HTML, then Online Express probably isn't the right product for you. And that's fine. But again, NOT the fault of the product.

 

HTML editing is a failsafe installed across every email client I have ever seen that allows the user to make corrections when the interface messes up. And believe me, the interface always messes up and ads junk code that needs to be deleted.


Why are there extra spaces being inserted into the text that I can't find in the editor but show up every time the email is sent? I don't know, and it wouldn't be a problem if I could view the source code.


This is not a specialized skill. 

Steph Williams

Daniel Bayer:

Alice Post:

Thank you for your prompt response that I have heard many times: "Changes are coming". Does that change the fact that the product you have is inadequate? Nope, not one bit.


Promises of future fixes for bare-bones functionality does not make OLX any more workable. Please leave the ticket open until you actually have an email client that does the following:


1. Allows HTML editing.

2. Merges gift fields <- this especially blows my mind that it doesn't exist from Day 1.

3. Works on the same level as any other blackbaud email client <- I used to think Blackbaud's other email clients were clunky... OLX out-clunkied their clunk.


The standard excuses of "ease of use" is clearly code for "we gave up programming basic functionality and want you to give up too." Not helpful. 

As I keep saying to people in my office who sometimes complain about these same things: Maybe Online Express isn't the right product for you. Blackbaud does offer other products that allow you to edit the HTML and have more robust functionality (although I agree that being able to insert last gift amount is something that we should be able to do even in a basic product). Basically - don't take it out on OLX/Blackbaud. OLX is their basic/"starter" email tool. If that's not adequate for you, then go to the next level up. Depending on your organization, it may be worth the price, or it may not be. But don't punish Blackbaud/OLX for not being something it was never meant to be.

 

Yes, all of this.


Does it have its gaps? Yes. But for us OLX is fantastic.  We don't need (nor do/did we have the staff or time to dig into) HTML coding. OLX gives us exactly what we need, without more we don't. It helps us get emails out quickly while still looking professional.  Bonus for us was a MAJOR cost savings by ditching Sphere.


I'd also like to note that I think Blackbaud does a fantastic job of updating this product.  There are often times where we go "huh, this would be nice to have" and within a few months there's an upgrades release covering just that. No, OLX is not comparable to a more robust, completely customizable service - but then again, you're not paying for that either. And some of us really appreciate its simplicity.

Jen Claudy

Alice Post:

HTML editing is a failsafe installed across every email client I have ever seen that allows the user to make corrections when the interface messes up. And believe me, the interface always messes up and ads junk code that needs to be deleted.


Why are there extra spaces being inserted into the text that I can't find in the editor but show up every time the email is sent? I don't know, and it wouldn't be a problem if I could view the source code.


This is not a specialized skill.

I do not know enough about HTML code to even think about trying to look at, much less edit it.  (And I know something about VBA code, so I'm not completely unfamiliar with the concept of computer codes.)  However, I do know how to remove those extra spaces.  This is not at all unique to the OLX editor...I fight it all the time in Word, Outlook, even the BB Idea Banks (not, thankfully, in the Community).  It's Microsoft's way of thinking for you, like other autocorrect and autoformat options...it thinks you need to add a space between paragraphs.  You can prevent this by entering a line break ([Shift] + [Enter]) instead of a carriage return ([Enter]).

Alice Post

Extra space problem update: Text-wrapped pictures add an extra line between the top of the picture and the first line of text, but only if the pictures are linked. 


When a text box with a picture is added, the wrapped text would show up in Outlook with an extra line between the top of the picture and the first line of text. It looked ugly and terrible. No matter how many shift+enter or deleting of extra non-existent lines I would try, there would always be that gap between the top of the picture and the first line of text.


The only "fix" is to not have the picture link to anything. Then, the text and image line up again. But, that's not exactly a fix.

Matt Page

Alice Post:

Extra space problem update: Text-wrapped pictures add an extra line between the top of the picture and the first line of text, but only if the pictures are linked. 


When a text box with a picture is added, the wrapped text would show up in Outlook with an extra line between the top of the picture and the first line of text. It looked ugly and terrible. No matter how many shift+enter or deleting of extra non-existent lines I would try, there would always be that gap between the top of the picture and the first line of text.


The only "fix" is to not have the picture link to anything. Then, the text and image line up again. But, that's not exactly a fix.

Some of these things are more about the email client the supporter is using, rather than anything OnEx does. I've come across the same thing with different web browsers when trying to customise web templates.


That said I agree with you about the non-html thing. Clients can opt not to use it if they don't understand it, but it would be nice to have that choice. For exmaple, having the horizontal and vertical padding options tied together is a real pain (exacerbated by the above).

Matt

Matt Page

Daniel Bayer:

Alice Post:

Thank you for your prompt response that I have heard many times: "Changes are coming". Does that change the fact that the product you have is inadequate? Nope, not one bit.


Promises of future fixes for bare-bones functionality does not make OLX any more workable. Please leave the ticket open until you actually have an email client that does the following:


1. Allows HTML editing.

2. Merges gift fields <- this especially blows my mind that it doesn't exist from Day 1.

3. Works on the same level as any other blackbaud email client <- I used to think Blackbaud's other email clients were clunky... OLX out-clunkied their clunk.


The standard excuses of "ease of use" is clearly code for "we gave up programming basic functionality and want you to give up too." Not helpful. 

As I keep saying to people in my office who sometimes complain about these same things: Maybe Online Express isn't the right product for you. Blackbaud does offer other products that allow you to edit the HTML and have more robust functionality (although I agree that being able to insert last gift amount is something that we should be able to do even in a basic product). Basically - don't take it out on OLX/Blackbaud. OLX is their basic/"starter" email tool. If that's not adequate for you, then go to the next level up. Depending on your organization, it may be worth the price, or it may not be. But don't punish Blackbaud/OLX for not being something it was never meant to be.

What is the next BB product up? Because we bought OnEx on the basis of its integration with RE. I wasn't aware of something the next rung up the ladder, just Net Community which is essentially doing a different thing.


Matt

Christine Corti

Matthew Page:

Daniel Bayer:

Alice Post:

Thank you for your prompt response that I have heard many times: "Changes are coming". Does that change the fact that the product you have is inadequate? Nope, not one bit.


Promises of future fixes for bare-bones functionality does not make OLX any more workable. Please leave the ticket open until you actually have an email client that does the following:


1. Allows HTML editing.

2. Merges gift fields <- this especially blows my mind that it doesn't exist from Day 1.

3. Works on the same level as any other blackbaud email client <- I used to think Blackbaud's other email clients were clunky... OLX out-clunkied their clunk.


The standard excuses of "ease of use" is clearly code for "we gave up programming basic functionality and want you to give up too." Not helpful. 

As I keep saying to people in my office who sometimes complain about these same things: Maybe Online Express isn't the right product for you. Blackbaud does offer other products that allow you to edit the HTML and have more robust functionality (although I agree that being able to insert last gift amount is something that we should be able to do even in a basic product). Basically - don't take it out on OLX/Blackbaud. OLX is their basic/"starter" email tool. If that's not adequate for you, then go to the next level up. Depending on your organization, it may be worth the price, or it may not be. But don't punish Blackbaud/OLX for not being something it was never meant to be.

What is the next BB product up? Because we bought OnEx on the basis of its integration with RE. I wasn't aware of something the next rung up the ladder, just Net Community which is essentially doing a different thing.


Matt

 

I'm curious what the next product up frol OnEx is also.

Daniel Bayer

This is probably best left to Blackbaud reps themselves, but since I've used most of them, here goes nothing:


BB offers a few email products. I BELIEVE at this point the next step up from Online Express (barring NetCommunity, which as Matt said is basically a different thing, although it does have email capabilities including an HTML editor) is Luminate, which is the old Convio product. Luminate is an entire online platform, but I think you can just purchase the email portion of it (but don't quote me on that). Luminate is pretty cool with all the things it can do, including a "Welcome Series" of emails for people who are giving to your organization for the first time. The email function is pretty robust and the emails themselves are beautiful. 

Matt Page

Daniel Bayer:

This is probably best left to Blackbaud reps themselves, but since I've used most of them, here goes nothing:


BB offers a few email products. I BELIEVE at this point the next step up from Online Express (barring NetCommunity, which as Matt said is basically a different thing, although it does have email capabilities including an HTML editor) is Luminate, which is the old Convio product. Luminate is an entire online platform, but I think you can just purchase the email portion of it (but don't quote me on that). Luminate is pretty cool with all the things it can do, including a "Welcome Series" of emails for people who are giving to your organization for the first time. The email function is pretty robust and the emails themselves are beautiful. 

 

Thanks Daniel, I'll have to have a look at that.


Matt