Online Express as Email Marketing Tool

Claire Davies · March 2017

Hello!

We are considering Online Express as an email marketing tool and wanted to see if there were any folks here who have feedback for a potential new user - both positive and negative?

We were using LO but finding the integration with RE to be really tricky. We weren't able to use much of the special interest group feature etc.

Thanks, all!

~Claire

Jason Drury · March 2017

We are in the process of converting from using Mail Chimp to using OEX marketing tool. Should it do what it promises then we should be in great shape.

So far, as a donation portal it's great except that for Canadians, it doens't accept debit cards.

Angela Bertrand 2 · March 2017

Hi Claire! We moved from NetCommunity to Online Express over a year ago and LOVE it. We don't use the email features (we use MailChimp since our emails are spread throughout our mid-size agency) but we FREQUENTLY use donation forms and event registration forms. We're able to put together a new form that is simple and user friendly in a fraction of the time it took us to build a form in NetCommunity. Because we avoided making changes and/or updates in NetCommunity, we're able to have specific forms for different campaigns and have opened up event registration to other departments to use instead of things like EventBright.

Negatives? Sometimes it's so simple it can't accomodate certain requests... but we're able to find work-arounds. Also, you need to have a secure site to embed the forms on, which is simple enough but something NetCommunity took care of for us that we had to figure out.

Lindsey Campbell 2 · March 2017

Claire Davies-Frishman:

Hello!

We are considering Online Express as an email marketing tool and wanted to see if there were any folks here who have feedback for a potential new user - both positive and negative?

We were using LO but finding the integration with RE to be really tricky. We weren't able to use much of the special interest group feature etc.

Thanks, all!

~Claire

We did a lot of research on the product considering switching from BBNC to OLX. In the end, we didn't want to give up the functionality of BBNC that allows for much more specialization. However, if you are not currently using BBNC, it would be an easier transition. I personally loved the platform and found it very user friendly.

Michele Stender · March 2017

Hey Jason, We are planning on adding support for Interac in 2018 so hopefully that will solve your donation exception!

Angie Stumpo · March 2017

Claire Davies-Frishman:

Hello!

We are considering Online Express as an email marketing tool and wanted to see if there were any folks here who have feedback for a potential new user - both positive and negative?

We were using LO but finding the integration with RE to be really tricky. We weren't able to use much of the special interest group feature etc.

Thanks, all!

~Claire

Hi Claire,

We have LO and OE. We use OE for our event registrations because LO did not have the functionality we needed. There are definitely pros and cons to both. I agree that the LO integration can be a bit challenging, and so far with events OE seems to be great. We hesitate to totally give up LO for OE though because of all of the customization in LO that is just not there in OE. We haven't used the emails so I can't attest to that. Good luck with your decision!

Angie

Lauren Short · March 2017

Claire,

We went from no tool to Online Express and love the functionality! Sounds like integration is important to you & Online Express allows you the convenience of tracking e-mail in one system as well as sends & open rates. As others are mentioning, it may have slightly less functionality than other systems, but has always met our needs. We send 2-3 e-mails a month and have been very pleased with open rates & tracking. It also integrates well with our online giving forms. Plus, the price is very reasonable!

Lawrence Rush · March 2017

Currently, we only use Online Express for events. It has great event functionality and have found that it's similar in comparison, if not more user-friendly, than Luminate. We use Luminate primarily for emails as well and are looking for alternatives too.

Paula Calhoun · March 2017

Claire Davies-Frishman:

Hello!

We are considering Online Express as an email marketing tool and wanted to see if there were any folks here who have feedback for a potential new user - both positive and negative?

We were using LO but finding the integration with RE to be really tricky. We weren't able to use much of the special interest group feature etc.

Thanks, all!

~Claire

We are looking to potentially move to Online Express as well. For those who use OE, would you mind sending me a sample of an email you have designed? I am interested in both email appeals and event announcements. My email is pcalhoun@malone.edu. Thanks!

Danielle Jackson 3 · March 2017

Paula Calhoun:

Claire Davies-Frishman:

Hello!

We are considering Online Express as an email marketing tool and wanted to see if there were any folks here who have feedback for a potential new user - both positive and negative?

We were using LO but finding the integration with RE to be really tricky. We weren't able to use much of the special interest group feature etc.

Thanks, all!

~Claire

We are looking to potentially move to Online Express as well. For those who use OE, would you mind sending me a sample of an email you have designed? I am interested in both email appeals and event announcements. My email is pcalhoun@malone.edu. Thanks!

I'd love to see some sample emails using OLX as well! My email is djackson@maret.org. Thanks!

Matt Page · March 2017

Claire Davies-Frishman:

Hello!

We are considering Online Express as an email marketing tool and wanted to see if there were any folks here who have feedback for a potential new user - both positive and negative?

We were using LO but finding the integration with RE to be really tricky. We weren't able to use much of the special interest group feature etc.

Thanks, all!

~Claire

We moved from MailChimp to OnEx at the start of the year and are still getting to grips with it. The main positive is the integration with RE, being able to pull a list based on a query, know the unsubscribes are up to date etc. Plus it's easy enough for others to use - at least the design aspects. So far no regrets about leaving MailKimp.

The main downside is, as has been said already, that sometimes it's so simple that it can't do stuff that you'd like it to. It would be good for example to be able to change the colours of the social medi atags, move unsubscribe links (or subscribe links) somewhere else, be able to adjust the adding round an item by horizontal/verical rather than the same margin and so on.

There are quite a few areas I'd like to see improve, and don't hold out much hope of those happening, but overall no real regrets so far.

Matt

Daniel Bayer · March 2017

I haven't used LO in a while but I don't remember the integration being any better or worse than the integration for OLX. There's also significantly limited functionality in OLX as compared to LO - namely, you can't customize emails or forms NEARLY as much, and you can't get into the HTML to edit. So if you find the design options in LO overwhelming or you don't really use them all that much, then OLX is probably a better option.

Online Express as Email Marketing Tool

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