Everything You Need to Know About RENXT and Constant Contact

What is the Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT and Constant Contact Integration all about?

This integration is a strategic collaboration that brings Constant Contact's powerful digital marketing platform directly into Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®. It’s designed to revolutionize how organizations like yours connect with supporters, streamline operations, and drive even greater engagement and fundraising success. Essentially, it combines Blackbaud's leading fundraising capabilities with Constant Contact's intuitive, AI-driven digital marketing tools.

What benefits can my organization expect from this integration?

You can expect a host of advantages designed to help you achieve more with less effort! Here are some key benefits:

• Seamless Data Synchronization: Your supporters (or "constituents" as they're known in Raiser's Edge NXT) automatically sync with Constant Contact, ensuring your marketing lists are always current and accurate.

• Enhanced Supporter Engagement: By leveraging the complete picture of your donors from Blackbaud, you can create more effective audience segments for highly targeted campaigns. This means sending the right message to the right people!

• AI-Powered Personalization: Deliver tailored messages that truly resonate, which can significantly boost engagement. Plus, AI tools combined with easy access to donor data simplify campaign creation, leading to faster development.

• Optimized Operations: Say goodbye to manual data transfers! This integration saves you time and resources, allowing you to focus more on your core mission.

• Boost Online Giving: Use donor insights to segment your audience and send relevant marketing messages that inspire donations.

• Track Your Success: Monitor how well your marketing efforts are contributing to your fundraising goals with detailed reporting.

Who can set up this integration? (And when can I expect to see it?)

To connect the two platforms, you'll need the Marketplace admin role within your Blackbaud environment. If you're not an admin with this specific permission, you won't see the option to connect the app.

The integration is being rolled out gradually to customers, so if you don't see it available in your account just yet, there's no need to worry. Stay tuned for its wider release in a future update.

How do I connect my Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT account with Constant Contact?

Connecting is quite straightforward! You can initiate the process from either Raiser's Edge NXT or the Blackbaud Marketplace:

From Raiser's Edge NXT:

1. Navigate to Communications, then select Overview.

2. Under Related links, choose Connect Constant Contact to sign up or connect.

From Blackbaud Marketplace:

1. Select Browse in the Marketplace.

2. Find and select Constant Contact in the list of applications.

3. Choose Get Started to sign up or begin the connection.

Once you start the process, here's a general flow:

1. You'll likely be prompted with a pop-up dialog in your Blackbaud account. Click Connect and then Continue to start the setup.

2. If you're new to Constant Contact, you can click Start for free and fill out the fields, then click Get started. If you're an existing user, you'll log in.

3. Click Authorize.

4. Within Constant Contact, click Import contacts.

5. Manage which fields you'd like to import, ensuring Blackbaud fields correspond to Constant Contact fields, then click Continue.

   • Heads up: If a contact's email exists in both platforms, the Blackbaud contact's information will overwrite what's in Constant Contact during each import.

6. Select the Blackbaud list you wish to import into Constant Contact.

7. Select the Constant Contact list where you want to import these contacts.

8. Click Continue.

9. Confirm that you have permission to send marketing emails to your Blackbaud contacts, then click Confirm.

10. You'll then be taken to your Blackbaud integration dashboard to see the import status. Reconnecting the integration is also now supported if you need to!

You can view this Knowledge Base article for more detailed instructions.

How does data sync between Raiser's Edge NXT and Constant Contact? What about duplicates or changes?

This is a key part of the integration! Here’s how it works:

• Constituents are Key: The integration primarily syncs your Raiser's Edge NXT constituents. If you have an upgraded Constant Contact account, syncing non-constituents is possible, but typically, only constituents are synced.

• Primary Email is Your Identifier: The integration uses the primary email address from a Raiser's Edge NXT constituent record as the unique identifier to match with a Constant Contact contact record. Currently, Constant Contact can only send emails to the address marked as "primary" in Raiser's Edge NXT.

• Sync Frequency:

  • Updates to gift summaries, planned communications, and communications history appear in real-time.

  • Updates to the specific list you've chosen to sync (including consent information) occur daily (overnight).

• Handling Duplicates and Conflicts:

  • Constant Contact has its own de-duplication process.

  • If a contact exists in both Constant Contact and Raiser's Edge NXT with the same primary email, the Raiser's Edge NXT record is considered the source of truth and will update the Constant Contact record.

  • If the email doesn't match an existing Constant Contact contact, a new contact is created in Constant Contact.

  • If a constituent's primary email address changes in Raiser's Edge NXT, that update will sync to Constant Contact in the next daily job. The old email will remain in Constant Contact as a separate contact, but it won't be linked to that constituent as primary anymore.

• What Doesn’t Sync (Currently):

  • Constant Contact does not delete contacts from its platform if a constituent record is deleted (either directly or as part of a merge) or if an email address is changed from primary to secondary in Raiser's Edge NXT.

  • The integration does not currently recognize or act on "inactive" or "deceased" states for constituent records in Raiser's Edge NXT.

  • New users who sign up directly through Constant Contact will not automatically create a new constituent record in Raiser's Edge NXT. You would need to export from Constant Contact and import into Raiser's Edge NXT; the integration would then connect those records without creating duplicates in Constant Contact.

What kind of donor and marketing data actually flows between the platforms?

Currently, the primary data flowing back to Raiser's Edge NXT from Constant Contact is related to consent management:

• The "Requests No Email" checkbox in Raiser's Edge NXT is updated, acting as a global opt-out.

• Consent for both email and SMS is bi-directionally synced between Raiser's Edge NXT and Constant Contact, meaning if consent changes in one platform, it reflects in the other.

What if I have multiple Constant Contact accounts or business units?

The standard setup involves a one-to-one relationship between one Raiser's Edge NXT environment and one Constant Contact account.

However, for more complex organizational structures:

• Connecting Multiple CTCT Accounts: While not directly accessible by customers without support, it is possible to connect additional Constant Contact accounts to a single Raiser's Edge NXT environment with Constant Contact guidance. This typically requires a Parent/Child hierarchy for the Constant Contact accounts, and data returning to Raiser's Edge NXT would be aggregated.

• Multi-Account/Multi-Chapter: This capability is supported but not fully optimized for the integration yet, often requiring detailed documentation and engagement with a Constant Contact Engineer.

• Multiple Business Units within One Raiser's Edge NXT: If your organization, like a hospital system foundation, has multiple business units with different branding and marketing plans under one Raiser's Edge NXT instance, Constant Contact offers a product structure perfectly suited for this scenario. The Customer Success team can help with onboarding and provide access to tools that support such a structure.

• Merging Accounts: You cannot merge multiple Constant Contact accounts into a single one just for the integration, as this would cause you to lose access to valuable multi-account tools like Central Send or Campaign Approval.

Is there a free trial for Constant Contact that works with this integration?

Yes! If you don't already have an existing Constant Contact account, you can sign up for a free trial to get started. With the free trial, you can:

• Send up to 100 emails per month.

• Sync a Constituent list of any size from Raiser's Edge NXT.

• Try out features like email automations, A/B subject line testing, and surveys.

• Use up to three users per account.

• Explore AI-powered suggestions (limited to 100 uses).

What's not included in the free trial? SMS, planned campaigns, unlimited image storage, and non-constituent data syncing. There's no set expiration date for your trial, but inactive accounts might be removed after a year.

Where can I find help or provide feedback?

• For connection issues or questions: Visit Constant Contact’s Help Center for help and support. Also, review the Connect your Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT account with Constant Contact article.

• To suggest ideas or provide feedback on the integration: Visit Constant Contact's Product Ideas portal.

• For help with Blackbaud’s platform, specifically: Visit the Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT Help page.

Is my data secure and where is it hosted?

Yes, the data moving between Raiser's Edge NXT and Constant Contact is encrypted. All Constant Contact data is hosted in the United States, which includes data for international customers as well.

How can the integration enhance efficiency through automation?

Once the integration is configured, the Automation Path Builder can be utilized to optimize supporter communication. It enables the creation of automated email and SMS journeys, activated by specific actions or dates. This functionality not only frees up staff time but also tailors outreach efforts, enhancing constituent engagement through various communications, from welcome series to donation requests and special occasion messages.

How can the integration facilitate contact segmentation?

Contact segmentation divides your audience into smaller, targeted groups based on shared characteristics or behaviors. This allows social impact organizations to send more personalized messages, increasing engagement, improving fundraising, and optimizing operations by delivering relevant content to specific audiences.

How do Blackbaud and Constant Contact integrate for reporting and analytics?

Constant Contact's reporting and analytics provide valuable insights into your outreach efforts. You can track key metrics such as sends, opens, click-through rates, bounces, unsubscribes, and spam reports. This data helps you understand constituent behavior, optimize subject lines, identify engaging content, and improve overall campaign performance. The integration with Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT further enhances these insights by allowing for deeper audience segmentation and more effective fundraising strategies.