Online Express versus NetCommunity Spark

Amanda Johnson · October 2014

Were any of you who are currently using Online Express previously using NetCommunity Spark? I'd like to hear your feedback on making the switch.

How do the following things compare?

Setting up donation pages/forms

Processing donations - one-time, recurring, event purchases, etc.

Integration with Raiser's Edge

Designing email messages (as a layman, no HTML experience)

Managing unsubscribes and bouncebacks

How was the transition process?

Thanks for your input!

Lisa Ormiston 2 · October 2014

Amanda, let me know if you are still wondering about the switch. We just recently switched from Spark to Online Express (as in the last business day) so I'm still in the process of constructing donation pages, processing donations, constructing event registration, emails, etc. but just from the transition process, I can tell this will be a much simpler way to do things. Building event registrations and donation pages as well as emails was much more complicated in Spark than I thought it ever should have been.

If you're still interested, I'll give you an update in a week or two when we're more underway with Express

Amanda Johnson · October 2014

Thanks, Lisa. I hope OE works out well for you guys. We decided not to continue looking into it once we learned that we couldn't import lists for email messages. Too constraining for us, as we have some lists that we don't keep in RE.

Nate Laning 2 · October 2014

I'm a bit unusual in that I love working with HTML in the Spark email editor (probably because the WYSIWYG editor leaves so much to be desired). Is it true that Express doesn't offer this type of access?

My organization is curious about making the switch, but there are certain things we may miss a little too much.

Lisa, I'd appreciate hearing what your transition to Express was like. Thanks!

Matthew Garbarino · October 2014

Nate Laning:
I'm a bit unusual in that I love working with HTML in the Spark email editor (probably because the WYSIWYG editor leaves so much to be desired). Is it true that Express doesn't offer this type of access?

My organization is curious about making the switch, but there are certain things we may miss a little too much.

Lisa, I'd appreciate hearing what your transition to Express was like. Thanks!

Hi Nate. Great conversation - just wanted to chime in. It is true that BBOX does not allow access to the underlying HTML for email content. The vast majority of users don't have the background and skill-set necessary to create mobile-friendly markup that will render properly across multiple email clients. Our goal was to give the tool the flexibility to create effective emails without feeling constrained, and we have seen customers create some great looking emails!

Nate Laning 2 · October 2014

Nate Laning:
I'm a bit unusual in that I love working with HTML in the Spark email editor (probably because the WYSIWYG editor leaves so much to be desired). Is it true that Express doesn't offer this type of access?

My organization is curious about making the switch, but there are certain things we may miss a little too much.

Lisa, I'd appreciate hearing what your transition to Express was like. Thanks!

Thanks, Matt. That's a bummer. I really wish there was some type of hybrid between BBOX and BBNC. I love the fact that BBOX would allow us to embed registration and donation forms on our own site, but that HTML access is key for us to make responsive emails, which is what we're working towards. Another question for you, if you don't mind -- how do the donation confirmation emails and eReceipting works in BBOX?

Matthew Garbarino · October 2014

Nate Laning:
I'm a bit unusual in that I love working with HTML in the Spark email editor (probably because the WYSIWYG editor leaves so much to be desired). Is it true that Express doesn't offer this type of access?

My organization is curious about making the switch, but there are certain things we may miss a little too much.

Lisa, I'd appreciate hearing what your transition to Express was like. Thanks!

Hi Nate, I hear you. One thing to keep in mind, the emails created through BBOX are responsive automatically! Two column emails collapse into one, images size smartly, etc. We test our email system across over 20 different email client and browser configurations, including mobile devices. We also have all sorts of smart little markup best practices, for example when you add a donation button to an email, it's based on markup rather than an image - this way email clients that don't show images by default will still see the all-important call to action!

Today, the confirmation emails are very simple, primarily text with merge fields. We are looking into adding flexibility improvements here in the future. Today eReceipting is handled through RE, but we are actively looking into adding Canadian eReceipting directly into Online Express.

Nate Laning 2 · October 2014

Nate Laning:
I'm a bit unusual in that I love working with HTML in the Spark email editor (probably because the WYSIWYG editor leaves so much to be desired). Is it true that Express doesn't offer this type of access?

My organization is curious about making the switch, but there are certain things we may miss a little too much.

Lisa, I'd appreciate hearing what your transition to Express was like. Thanks!

Responsive automatically? Well that's a plus! I was not aware of that functionality. Thanks for the good news, Matt.

Amanda Johnson · October 2014

Can the confirmation emails be customized with messaging specific to each donation page? Or is it one blanket statement with merge fields?

Matthew Garbarino · October 2014

Amanda Johnson:
Can the confirmation emails be customized with messaging specific to each donation page? Or is it one blanket statement with merge fields?

Each form you create has its own thank you email and confirmation text.

Nate Laning 2 · October 2014

Nate Laning:
I'm a bit unusual in that I love working with HTML in the Spark email editor (probably because the WYSIWYG editor leaves so much to be desired). Is it true that Express doesn't offer this type of access?

My organization is curious about making the switch, but there are certain things we may miss a little too much.

Lisa, I'd appreciate hearing what your transition to Express was like. Thanks!

Along the lines of emails in BBOX, is there a feature that allows the emails to be scheduled for sending at a given time? A co-worker asked me this question yesterday, because he uses that feature a lot. Thanks.

Matthew Garbarino · October 2014

Nate Laning:
I'm a bit unusual in that I love working with HTML in the Spark email editor (probably because the WYSIWYG editor leaves so much to be desired). Is it true that Express doesn't offer this type of access?

My organization is curious about making the switch, but there are certain things we may miss a little too much.

Lisa, I'd appreciate hearing what your transition to Express was like. Thanks!

Scheduled emails are not yet part of the product, but it is something we are actually actively working on right now. I don't have an estimated date, but we are shooting for the first half of 2015.

Jennifer Chase 2 · October 2014

Nate Laning:
I'm a bit unusual in that I love working with HTML in the Spark email editor (probably because the WYSIWYG editor leaves so much to be desired). Is it true that Express doesn't offer this type of access?

My organization is curious about making the switch, but there are certain things we may miss a little too much.

Lisa, I'd appreciate hearing what your transition to Express was like. Thanks!

Just jumping on to ask two questions:

1. Are scheduled emails part of OLX yet? I work part-time, so I can't always hit send when an email needs to go out.

2. What do you mean by "confirmation emails are very simple, primarily text...."? Is there any HTML at all (ie: an image, coloured links, etc)?

Thanks!

Matthew Garbarino · October 2014

Nate Laning:
I'm a bit unusual in that I love working with HTML in the Spark email editor (probably because the WYSIWYG editor leaves so much to be desired). Is it true that Express doesn't offer this type of access?

My organization is curious about making the switch, but there are certain things we may miss a little too much.

Lisa, I'd appreciate hearing what your transition to Express was like. Thanks!

1) Yes! We added the ability to schedule email earlier this year.

2) The confirmation emails do have some rich-text editing like font colors and stuff like that, but there isn't access to the HTML or the ability to add images. There is a workaround to add images, and we are working on adding more flexibility to this area in the future.

Online Express versus NetCommunity Spark

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