Luminate Online vs Online Express

Nancy Young · October 2017

We currently have Online Express and my marketing person is not too happy with the email portion of it. I am looking for any and all kinds of feedback on something that you really like working with in regards to email. I would like to find out which blackbaud product most of you like for email. Thank you in advance for all of your help.

Brian Mucha · October 2017

Nancy Young:

We currently have Online Express and my marketing person is not too happy with the email portion of it. I am looking for any and all kinds of feedback on something that you really like working with in regards to email. I would like to find out which blackbaud product most of you like for email. Thank you in advance for all of your help.

What are the pain points with Online Express?

Nancy Young · October 2017

The email function
of it. My marketing manager says it is not user friendly and
would like me to find something different. I would like to
stick with a blackbaud product and was curious about Luminate
Online.

Nancy Young
|
Database Coordinator

Direct:
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Fax:
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10909 Memorial
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Email:nyoung@childrenshomenetwork.org

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Alicia Searfoss · October 2017

We've used Luminate Online since 2006. It does everything we need it too. Were there any features you were specifically needing?

Nancy Young · October 2017

Not really, just
looking for something that is more user friendly as far as email
go. Every time my Marketing Manager creates a template, she
has had problems after she closes it and goes back into it.
It seems to change formats on her. She has a specific case
number to use whenever she creates a new template. She has
had to use it the last three times she has created a new
email. You can imagine how frustrating this
is.

Nancy Young
|
Database Coordinator

Direct:
813-864-1534 |
Cell:
813-860-9347 |
Main:
813-855-4435 |
Fax:
813-855-8640

10909 Memorial
Highway, Tampa, Florida, 33615

Email:nyoung@childrenshomenetwork.org

************************************************************************
This email transmission may contain confidential or legally
privileged information that is intended only for the individual or
entity named in the e-mail address. If you are not the intended
recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying,
distribution, or reliance upon the contents of this e-mail is
strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail transmission
in error, please reply to the sender, so that arrangements can be
made for proper delivery, and then please delete the message from
your inbox.

Alicia Searfoss · October 2017

The challenge you may have at first with Luminate Online might be learning in the beginning, but if Blackbaud still has their "Go" program, they could get you started on the right foot. You certainly won't hit those types of issues you're dealing with Online Express - at least we don't.

Nancy Young · October 2017

Thanks so much
Alicia for the insight. Our contract is up next year so I am
looking now to see what I can switch to.

Nancy Young
|
Database Coordinator

Direct:
813-864-1534 |
Cell:
813-860-9347 |
Main:
813-855-4435 |
Fax:
813-855-8640

10909 Memorial
Highway, Tampa, Florida, 33615

Email:nyoung@childrenshomenetwork.org

************************************************************************
This email transmission may contain confidential or legally
privileged information that is intended only for the individual or
entity named in the e-mail address. If you are not the intended
recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying,
distribution, or reliance upon the contents of this e-mail is
strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail transmission
in error, please reply to the sender, so that arrangements can be
made for proper delivery, and then please delete the message from
your inbox.

Alicia Searfoss · October 2017

Good
luck!

Brian Mucha · October 2017

@PhilipNawrocki is our expert, and I bet he chimes in at some point, but here's my opinion.

Luminate isn't terrible. I there are definitely better interfaces out there for email than LO, such as mailChimp and the like. Presumably this will be modernized as Luminate Beta expands. Still, the functionality does the job, and any shortcomings are offset by the advantages of having it integrated with the rest of your Luminate constituent management. We combine LO with Litmus.com which really expands on the tracking and reporting abilities, generates previews across a bazillion email clients, and now has a pretty amazing authoring UI. We often build our emails there and copy into LO for final tweaks and sending.

LO has a stationary system, which is sort of a wrapper or theme for your email. That would usually contain the header, footer and such that are consistent across a group or series of messages. You then author the body of the email either by directly editing the source, or using a standard WYSISYG editor. Once you are happy with the email message, you start a separate delivery configuration and off it goes.

EDIT:

There's a ton you can do with personalization, especially custom or conditional content based on pretty much any peice of data on a constituent record. The WYSISYG gets a bit clunky for anything complicated, but that's just WYSISYGs isnt't it? I believe that BB also has a bunch of kits you can use to build your mobile friendly stationaries.

We're also big fans of the email interests system, which are sort of client facing segmentation groups. You can add users to interests as a response to many actions, and the users can later change those preferences themselves. This is especially nice on the opt-out screen, which offers the ability to unsubscribe from just the email's interest (Solicitaions, for instance) rather than just the global opt-out where you lose the person completely.

MORE EDITS:

There are a few webinars here: https://community.blackbaud.com/reviews/item/4/1927

Also this - Blackbaud University: Learn the Basics of Email!

Reading through the help docs could be enlightening too: https://www.blackbaud.com/files/support/helpfiles/luminate-online/help/luminateonline.html#../Subsystems/Email/Content/Concepts/Admin_Email_to_Admin_Communication_Center_v2_.html?TocPath=Email|_____0

Philip Nawrocki · October 2017

Brian hit all the high notes. One of the most frustrating things about OLX and e-mail is that once a person unsubscribes they are gone from your housefile. (The nuclear option as conveyed at BBCon) They will not receive another e-mail from you unless they re-subscribe. At BBCon there is talk of fixing this, but it won't be soon. The idea is to go to a more 'interest' model like Luminate Online.

Luminate does give you soooo much more.

If you are already building the e-mails in OLX, then crossing to Luminate Online won't be too tough. The Luminate Online community has tons of helpful threads as well.

The ability to create interest groups and allow users to choose what they want to receive is a huge bonus to Luminate Online. Additionally, there are many different S-Tags that can help you get constituent data. OLX only has a few merge tags.

Let us know if you have any other questions!

Thanks,

Phil

Luminate Online vs Online Express

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