Oct 2007 - Special Edition

Five Ways to Leverage Convio Open to Engage Your Constituents

by Meg Murphy, Director, Products & Solutions Marketing, Convio

Competition for constituent mindshare is increasing. To come out in front, use innovative and creative campaigns to garner attention and engage constituents. Here are five tips to maximize the results of your communication activities using Convio Open APIs, Extensions and Database Connectors:

1. Add some sizzle to your subscription pages — Consider customizing the registration/subscription process on your Web site, including the overall design and specific fields to create a unique user experience that is more aligned with your organization's brand, voice and communication style. For example, use an API to create a Flash animated registration process that automatically transfers registrations in real-time to the Convio platform.
   
   
2. Reach out and touch anywhere on the Web — Go to where your constituents are. In the past, you could expect your constituents to come to you simply by driving traffic to your Web site. Times have changed and people are spending more time on social networking sites. Use Convio Extensions to reach constituents where they are online - in places like Facebook, Plaxo, YouTube and Flickr — and integrate data directly into Convio Constituent360™ where your constituent profiles are maintained.
   
   
3. Seize the moment with microsite campaigns — Like many organizations, you have time-sensitive, targeted campaigns that would benefit from higher profile placement over other Web content. Consider developing a custom Web site and URL — ideal for driving list recruitment and actions for campaigns that require only a few pages of content. Use an API to capture the data from your microsite (e.g., subscription, donation and petition participation) and pass it directly through to Convio Constituent360. Microsites are also a great way to track source codes that can later be used to ensure your dollars are spent effectively during future campaigns.
   
   
4. Personalize your constituent experience — Encourage supporters to keep their profiles current with information that will help you better understand them by customizing the profile management interface. Using an API, you can tailor the design, fields and page flow in a way that prompts your constituents to provide the information you need to produce personalized communications in the future.
   
   
5. Leverage integrated data — Don't spend precious time or risk the errors inherent with manually entering data to transfer from one system to another. By using Convio Database Connectors to integrate Convio Constituent360 with your donor database, you can gain a holistic view of your constituents, making it much easier to create compelling, personalized communications that boost response rates.

To create unique engagement experiences, choose the best solutions across the widest range of technology options without sacrificing integration. Open tools and services can provide more choices and new integration opportunities that will allow you to share data between systems more quickly and with less effort. You'll see the difference — both in your efficiency and in your success at taking relationships to new levels.