Book Image

Using CiviCRM - Second Edition

By : Hommel, Murray, P Shaughnessy
Book Image

Using CiviCRM - Second Edition

By: Hommel, Murray, P Shaughnessy

Overview of this book

CiviCRM provides a powerful toolbox of resources to help organizations manage relationships with constituents. It is free, open source, web-based, and geared specifically to meet the constituent relationship management needs of the not-for-profit sector. Beginning with broader questions about how your organization is structured, which existing workflows are critical to your operations, and the overarching purpose of a centralized CRM, the book proceeds step by step through configuring CiviCRM, understanding the choices when setting up the system, importing data, and exploring the breadth of tools available throughout the system. You will see how to best use this software to handle event registrations, accept and track contributions, manage paid and free memberships and subscriptions, segment contacts, send bulk e-mails with open and click-through tracking, manage outreach campaigns, and set up case management workflows that match your organization’s roles and rules. With specific emphasis on helping implementers ask the right questions, consider key principals when setting up the system, and understand usage through case studies and examples, the book comprehensively reviews the functionality of CiviCRM and the opportunities it provides. With this book, you can help your organization better achieve its mission as a charity, industry association, professional society, political advocacy group, community group, government agency, or other similar organization and position yourself to become a power user who efficiently and effectively navigates the system.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
15
Index

Encouraging subscriptions using profiles


A basic but highly successful method of growing an organization's e-mail lists is to provide prominent, easy-to-use options for newsletter signups on the organization's website. This can vary, depending on the site design and layout—smack bang in the middle of the front page is probably too strong a location for any information architecture. Usually, the home page or all pages have a simple signup form in a sidebar or header region, or a button that directs the user to a full-page signup form where additional details are collected.

Other effective places to request website visitors subscribe to a newsletter are when they are buying a paid membership and on "thank you" pages just after they have done something that indicates some level of commitment to the organization. Depending on your site information architecture and, more importantly, your organization's process for engaging website users, it may be a good idea to have options for newsletter signups...