Transferring email lists from Constant Contact to RE NXT Online Express

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Ashley Light
Ashley Light
Seventh Anniversary Photogenic First Comment Blackbaud Certified
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussion
Hello! Have you transitioned from using Constant Contact for email to Raiser Edge NXT's Online Express? How did you go about making the transition? I want to plan out how it will work befire doing so. In our email list with Constant Contact, we have people who have requested to sign up for our emails. They are not necessarily in our Raiser's Edge database. What is the best way to go about this? Constant Contact probably only has the people's First Name, Last Name, and Email. A small percentage of these folks would be in the database. 


I am thinking about exporting the data from Constant Contact and importing it into Raiser's Edge NXT. I would create a new contituency code for these folks who would like email. That way, anyone who is already in the databse gets the code, and anyone who is strictly in Constant Contact gets the code as well. We can create different email lists by assigning the constituency codes. Then, to send emails, they create lists from the query for the "email list" they want. 
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  • Caitlin Gilmore
    Caitlin Gilmore
    Ninth Anniversary Photogenic 5 Likes First Comment

    Ashley Light:

    Hello! Have you transitioned from using Constant Contact for email to Raiser Edge NXT's Online Express? How did you go about making the transition? I want to plan out how it will work befire doing so. In our email list with Constant Contact, we have people who have requested to sign up for our emails. They are not necessarily in our Raiser's Edge database. What is the best way to go about this? Constant Contact probably only has the people's First Name, Last Name, and Email. A small percentage of these folks would be in the database. 


    I am thinking about exporting the data from Constant Contact and importing it into Raiser's Edge NXT. I would create a new contituency code for these folks who would like email. That way, anyone who is already in the databse gets the code, and anyone who is strictly in Constant Contact gets the code as well. We can create different email lists by assigning the constituency codes. Then, to send emails, they create lists from the query for the "email list" they want. 

    Hi Ashley,


    While I have not transitioned this data, I have used both Constant Contact and OLX separately. I'd recommend you make use of your Solicit Codes in RE. We have one called Newsletter Signup and that's what we use for OLX. You can add that to your import list from Constant Contact. In your import I'd also make sure that "invalid address" also gets checked so it doesn't mess with your mailing estimates if you only have First Name, Last Name, and Email. If you want to keep track of who came into RE NXT from Constant Contact then I'd use the Constituent Code.  

  • Heather MacKenzie
    Heather MacKenzie
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Likes 1000 Comments Photogenic

    Ashley Light:

    Hello! Have you transitioned from using Constant Contact for email to Raiser Edge NXT's Online Express? How did you go about making the transition? I want to plan out how it will work befire doing so. In our email list with Constant Contact, we have people who have requested to sign up for our emails. They are not necessarily in our Raiser's Edge database. What is the best way to go about this? Constant Contact probably only has the people's First Name, Last Name, and Email. A small percentage of these folks would be in the database. 


    I am thinking about exporting the data from Constant Contact and importing it into Raiser's Edge NXT. I would create a new contituency code for these folks who would like email. That way, anyone who is already in the databse gets the code, and anyone who is strictly in Constant Contact gets the code as well. We can create different email lists by assigning the constituency codes. Then, to send emails, they create lists from the query for the "email list" they want. 

    And, not neccessarily right away at the beginning, but consider how you'll handle things if this new record becomes a duplicate at some point down the road.

  • Jen Claudy
    Jen Claudy
    Tenth Anniversary 1,500 Likes 1000 Comments Name Dropper
    I realize it's been over 6 weeks since the original post and this project may be completed by now, but you might want to look at Zeidman Development's Importacular.  It will help you dedupe your data when Importing, and you can set all sorts of defaults in it to complete your records (unchecking [Send Mail?], checking [No Valid Addresses?], Constituent Codes, Solicit Codes, etc.).  And, for Constituent Records, it's FREE!  If you are Hosted, it may already appear under Plug-Ins, and if you have a Local Install, I think it's pretty easy to download and install from the Zeidman site.

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