7 Tips to Improve Your Email and CRM Integration

Today we’ll be looking at Salesforce and the integration with your preferred mass email provider. I have seen countless organizations use both these tools effectively. Combining these two elements can dramatically improve your campaigns.
 
Effective integration to align both these elements starts with these 7 tips:
 
1. Strategy
The most important part of any effective campaign is strategy. Think about what you want to achieve: a strong online presence? Higher donor satisfaction and retention? This will set the foundation for your strategy goals.
 
2. Communication
Next you need to communicate your strategy goals to the people that you work with. Involve everyone - just because they might not be directly involved in your work does not mean they don't have ideas and information that you could use to execute your strategy in the best way possible.
What I have typically seen in various organizations is different people executing different elements of each campaign with their own strategies in mind. Create cohesion in your organization by working towards the same strategy goals - this can only come from effective communication.
 
3. Goal Setting
Have a number and a deadline - be clear and specific. The more specific you are, the more likely you are to achieve your goals. For example, we want to increase monthly donors by 20%, or we want to attract 100 new email subscribers.
 
4. Meaningful Content
Really understand what your audience wants to see from you, and create meaningful content that exceeds their expectations. Timely communication is one thing, but meaningful content is king in this day and age of information overload.
 
5. Visually Appealing Content
People will spend more time with content that they find visually appealing. So take the time to build email communication that is both meaningful and relevant to your audience, but also easy on the eye. Consider the last email newsletter you opened. What made you open it? What did you like about the layout and design? Can you apply these design elements to your own work?
 
6. Tracking Results
Now that you’re working towards meeting your goals, you need to track your progress. What are your emails doing once you send them? Is your audience opening them? Are they unsubscribing? Are they forwarding your content? You need to know exactly what happens to your email once you send it. Then you can use that information to improve your content to reach your goals faster.
 
7. Segment
Creating meaningful content starts from understanding your audience. One simple way to do this is to segment your database. You can do this through your Salesforce CRM standard and custom fields. For example, if I’m planning on running a Salesforce training in New York and Philadelphia in May, I need to be able to segment my database geographically in order to invite relevant people to each event. It means you have to create more content to reach the different segments, but communicating with the right people in the right way can lead to great wins!
 
Are you excited about integrating Salesforce and email marketing at your nonprofit? Contact Longshore Consulting today for a consultation so you can start, jumpstart, or refine your efforts. Either way, make sure you subscribe to get the very latest information and exclusive fun tips in your inbox.

​Want more fun? Check out the slide version of this post below!

Photos by Missy; Channel Islands National Park

7 Ways to Improve Your Email and CRM Integration from Missy Longshore