Automating Donor Mailings with CRM Integration

  • by Michael Wolaver, Founder/Captain of Magellan Promotions

To date, modern CRM’s have done a great job of creating powerful electronic communication flows with emails and texts. The CRM’s allow users to set it and have it automatically run.

We believe the next step is to have this functionality with mailing merch. Merch is the only form of marketing that recipients are truly excited to receive. It builds positive affinity and is memorable and influential. Having merch mailings integrating into CRM campaign comm flows is a powerful combination.

To date, we have been working with the CRM Slate, where we are a Silver Partner. We have been creating custom queries with colleges that send us a mailing list on a regular basis. We have the merch mailing all set and mail it out quickly to the recipients. We have been doing this type of work on the admissions side for the past year and are excited to take this solution to fundraising campaigns.

The benefits of having merch mailings integrated with the CRM include:

 

  • Timeliness – The lists are built in real time, so the donor receives their mailing quickly.
  • Set and Runs – Once set, there is little lift on the advancement team to manage, the information is all sent automatically to our team.
  • Tracking – This action can be recorded into the CRM for the recipients, thus keeping all of their interactions in one place. 

Here is an example of how a merch mailing campaign can be created with a CRM: 

  • A college launches their public phase of the capital campaign.
  • The college wants to mail a simple appreciation mailer to donors over a certain dollar amount.
  • When a donor’s capital campaign gift is logged into the CRM, this donor is automatically added to the mailing list. 
  • On a pre-set cadence, the mailing list is sent to Magellan and fulfilled by our team.

 

College automated donor merch mailings

Obviously this is just one example, but the options are endless. This can be incorporated into new membership drives. Or a VIP donor birthday celebration campaign. Or even a campaign to get first time donations from the parents of your current students.

We know that there are many CRM’s out there that colleges use for donors beyond Slate. We are happy to talk through options and ways this can be incorporated into other platforms.

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Variable Data Best Practices

  • At the quoting stage of your project, please let us know how many fields of variable data your piece will have as this can affect pricing.
  • Data should be provided to us as an Excel spreadsheet with only the applicable data included.
  • Verbiage for variable data fields on artwork file should match up exactly with data fields on spreadsheet.
  • Spacing on artwork must allow for longest data entries. We recommend that your designer tests this in advance to confirm that the fields in the design can fit your longest pieces of data.

Postage Permits

We are happy to mail using a client’s USPS non-profit number. Here are a few best practices for this to go smoothly. Let our team know up front on the project so we can make sure to get the information we need right away. 

While our mail house does prefer to use their permit number for the mailing, we can use the client’s permit, If using their permit number, ensure there is enough postage to cover the mailing.

The information we need to in order to use a client’s nonprofit number includes the following:

  • CRID (customer registration ID)
  • Non-Profit Authorization Number (with USPS, not their nonprofit number for the university)
  • Non-profit indicia
  • Return address that is on file with USPS for the non-profit authorization number
  • Permit number

Formatting the Mailing List

Our account team will advise on specific requirements for your project’s mailing list.  We generally recommend these best practices to format the mailing list:
  • Send your data in a spreadsheet, saving it in the comma-separated values (CSV) format
  • International addresses must be separated from domestic addresses
  • Domestic addresses should at least contain data fields for “first name”, “last name”, “address 1”, “address 2”, “city”, “state” and “ZIP code”