We have been recommending VerticalResponse for a while now, because they give 10,000 emails every month for free and they integrate so well into Salesforce. Now they have made it very easy to post your emails to your Twitter and Facebook feeds as well. Here they provide a video on how to use this new feature. We’ll have to give it a try with our February newsletter – let us know what you think.
Before we begin, a list of my New Year’s Resolutions…
Resolution #1: You pay for a gym membership, use it.
Resolution #2: Learn to make artisan bread.
Resolution #3: Perfect Salesforce to Outlook synchronization.
So maybe #3 isn’t a “real” resolution, but it is a common request from our clients, and I wanted to take the opportunity to work through what the Outlook Connector is, and isn’t, in the world of Salesforce. We’ll take this in four parts: Overview, Install, Configuration and Use. We’ll tackle the first two (Overview and Install) in this post, and the last two (Configuration and Use) in a follow-up post shortly. Without further fanfare, I present…
Outlook Connector, Overview
First, what it is: A desktop integration with your Outlook e-mail client that allows you to synchronize your contacts, tasks and events; associate your emails with a Salesforce contact; create cases (if you use these…); map custom Salesforce fields to Outlook fields in your address book; and (according to SF), “much more”! (I always cringe when I hear that…) All of this happens sometimes seamlessly, sometimes clumsily, but usually somewhere in between.
What it’s not: A seamless integration between your Outlook email client and your Salesforce database that will make them feel like one application. Someday in the future, this may exist, and it’s certainly getting closer, but its not here yet. Besides, from a consulting perspective, these aren’t necessarily things you want seamlessly integrated in the first place. Outlook is an email client. Does it have “contacts”? Sure it does, but its primary job is to send and receive emails, organize and maintain a calendar, and annoy you with meeting reminders for events cancelled three months ago. Salesforce is a database. Can it send email? Sure it can, but its primary job is to organize, report and maintain information about your organization’s constituents, donors, donations, outreach efforts, and periodically frustrate your attempts to use the same password for everything in your life. (Note: Using the same password for everything? Bad idea.)
The point is, just because Outlook has “contacts”, doesn’t mean it should be your primary repository for contact information. Just because Salesforce can email, doesn’t mean it should be your primary email client. Just because my car’s speedometer goes to 160 mph, well… you can see where this is going. This is not to mention the fact that categorizing your latest Amazon purchase, Zappos return, or email exchange with your Aunt Dorothy in your database probably isn’t the effect you’re going for (What? You’re NOT using your work email for these things? Good! Your IT administrator is smiling proudly behind you… Speaking of, you’re not going to try and install this without asking her/him first, are you? Wait, that wasn’t a question, let me try again: You’re not going to try and install this without asking her/him first. That’s better.)
Outlook Connector, Install
Now that we’ve gotten the introductions out of the way, you’ve considered the pros and cons, done a little research, and have decided “Yes, I want the Outlook Connector”, we’re ready for the install. This is actually the easiest part of the whole process, with just a few caveats. First, requirements: Windows 2000, XP, Vista or (theoretically) Windows 7 will all work. Additionally you’ll need Outlook XP, 2003 or 2007. Outlook Express and Windows 98 users will be out of luck. To find the Connector, login to your existing Salesforce database. (1) Click ‘Setup’ in the top right, under Personal Setup, click on the ‘+’ sign next to (2)’Desktop Integration’. Finally, click on (3) ‘Connect for Microsoft Outlook’.
You’ll want to select the option best for you. Once again, make sure to consult with your local IT professional or system administrator before deciding to move forward with this process (installing the Connector may violate local IT policy for your organization, don’t say I didn’t warn you!) You can launch it directly from (1) within Salesforce if your browser allows, (2) download the setup.exe executable file, or (3) download the zipped windows installer. For the purposes of this post, we’ll select option #2. It’s slightly larger than 11mb, so bandwidth shouldn’t be an issue. (For all you 19 year old Salesforce users out there, it’s the equivalent of about 2-3 Lady Gaga songs)
Next, we’ll want to backup our Outlook mail files. All of our local Outlook mail can be backed up into a .pst file, and restored later in an emergency (or just for fun!). You can do this by opening Outlook, selecting ‘File’, then ‘Import and Export’, then select ‘Export to a file’, select ‘Personal Folder File (.pst) as your file type, select your main mailbox folder and make sure to include all subfolders. Save it to a place you’ll remember, and click okay! It may take a minute or two, depending on your machine and the size of your inbox.
Okay, we’re all backed up (seriously, you did do the backup, right?), time to double click on the setup.exe file we downloaded, and let’em rip! While you can install the Connector with Outlook open, it’s probably best to shut it down. Either way, you’ll need to do a reboot upon completion.
Once you reboot, you’ll see you have a new toolbar at the top of your Outlook window. (If you can’t see it, check and see if it’s enabled. Go to View -> Toolbars, and make sure the ‘Salesforce’ related ones are checked. Remember, your toolbars are movable, so yours may be in a different place than mine.)
Well then, that wasn’t so hard, was it? We’ve successfully navigated parts 1 AND 2, and have succeeded in adding additional clutter to our Outlook screen. Come back soon for parts 3 and 4 to learn how to turn that clutter into a smooth running integration between Outlook and Salesforce and be ready to add “Application Integrator” to your resume!
Screen cast snapshot
Our Web and Database teams recently completed a system for publishing and updating online store products from Salesforce to Plone for one of our customers (Faith Trust Institute). We included a short (3 ½ minute) video demonstrating the high points to help train staff on how to use the new system. See the video to generate ideas on how you might use such a publishing system, and contact us to brainstorm possibilities for your site.
Happy New Year! Hope that 2010 is off to a good start for everybody.
Before all the decorations are packed away and the last of the eggnog has been drunk, here are December’s most viewed posts from the NPowering: Nonprofit Technology blog:
P.S. Remember to check us out on Facebook.
Oh dear, somebody gave the database folks access to the blog site…
Recently, I’ve had an opportunity to teach our Salesforce Foundation course here at NPower Seattle. We cover a lot of basics on the platform, including basic contacts, accounts, opportunities, and, time permitting, campaigns. During the course of these Foundation’s courses, I’ll often touch upon a subject that causes one of two reactions: “mild interest” (low murmur) or “total revelation” (blank stares). Either one of those reactions will usually drive me to the white-board for a further explanation. One of the pieces that always causes a white-board session is the notion of hierarchy in accounts and campaigns. It’s usually pretty easy to explain the parent account for the account object, our own NPower structure is a good example:
There’s more than three NPower’s out there (12 total), but you get the idea. You have one account record for NPower Seattle, one for NPower NY, and one for NPower Pennsylvania. You also have one for NPower National. The parent account for each of your (non-national) NPower’s is NPower National.
A school district is another great example of this. Seattle Public Schools might be your parent account for Garfield High School, etc. Or, UW Bothell campus might have a parent account of University of Washington. I’m sure you can think of some of your own examples as well…
So how does this relate to the campaign? Campaigns also have the possibility of a hierarchy. A campaign can have a parent campaign, which can also have a parent campaign, etc. (this can go on up to 6 levels deep.) Since we all know campaigns are about measuring the effectiveness of your outreach efforts (we all know this, right?), now we can measure the effectiveness of a group of outreach efforts, or a type of outreach effort, or even an entire funding drive, no matter how we’re reaching out!!!
Just like our account hierarchy above, we build a campaign hierarchy. However, instead of just connecting campaigns together, we can take data and “roll it up” the hierarchy. Let’s take a simple example. We have a new donor drive where we reach out to folks in our database who have never given to our organization. We want to reach out to them in two ways, one via direct mail, the other via email. To do this, we create THREE new campaigns: New Donor Drive Email, New Donor Drive Direct Mail, and then connect them both to the New Donor Drive parent campaign.
Now, we’re setup to measure not only the email and the direct mail effectiveness, but ALSO the overall New Donor Drive initiative!
So now, let’s suppose we’ve completed our Email Blast and our Direct Mail campaign, and let’s look at the results:
Direct Mail:
And now finally, the results as they are displayed in our parent campaign:
So, as you can see, the opportunity statistics (as well as any other Sent/Responded stats you have) are auto-magically “rolled up” to the parent account, so you can measure the effectiveness of not only your individual efforts (each email blast, etc.), but ALSO the combined effect of ALL of your efforts! If we had multiple email campaigns as part of this effort, we could add another layer into the hierarchy to measure the effectiveness of JUST the email campaigns, like so:
Try it out in your own organization if you’re not already using this feature, you’ll be amazed at the information in your database you didn’t even know you had. Some quick things to remember: You’ll need to be a ‘Marketing User’ (the checkbox on the user record) to use Campaigns. You’ll also need to add the Hierarchy fields to the page layout of any campaign you’re using as a parent (if they’re not already visible), as well as the ‘Parent Campaign’ field on any child campaigns. Check out the ‘Help & Training’ link and search for ‘Campaign Hierarchies’ for more information on how to do this.
(P.S. Salesforce User? Nonprofit? Live in or near Seattle? Looking for some free coffee? Try the Seattle Salesforce Nonprofit Users Group. We meet once a month at NPower Seattle’s offices. Our next meeting is Wednesday, December 16th @ 8am.)
This article is also available via the Seattle Salesforce Nonprofit Users Group site.
Before putting the close on October, we thought it would be fun to revisit the top five NPowering: Nonprofit Technology blog posts (based on page views) from last month:
What makes for a good end-of-year ask to boost your contributed revenue?
Here are links to some resources for improving the message and strategy of your end-of-year appeal:
– Fundraising superstar Susan Howlett advises keeping in touch in big and little ways to “touch” donors 7 times. If you’ve been following this advice, then your end-of-year ask is not coming out of the blue. Hear from Susan directly in the webinar recording available here.
2) Nonprofit Marketing Guide trainings and blog. Kivi Leroux Miller has great advice to offer nonprofits about communications and fundraising.
3) Barbara Talisman’s blog post on using social media to tap into the unprecedented access to supporters.
If you’re a past donor to NPower Seattle, look for our end-of-year ask, which will hopefully follow at least some of my own advice!
Have I missed anything that you think is important for end-of-year fundraising? Your comments and suggestions are welcome.
I’ll be joining a panel discussion at the Puget Sound Grantwriter’s Association conference in Seattle on 10/16 to share suggestions for some smart investments that may help your nonprofit raise capital or provide you with resources that go beyond a large check. In other words, how to engage corporations in assisting nonprofits in ways that are useful and that reflect the new reality of tightened corporate giving budgets.
Here are some suggestions I have heading in, thanks to some help from my friends here at NPower Seattle. I’ll be sharing these thoughts at the PSGA conference, and I’ll write again with new ideas gained from that discussion.
Doing More with Less Suggestions
Account for all the costs in grant requests to limit the budget-breaking “hidden costs” to your organization. (This may seem counterintuitive in a “Doing More with Less” list because it drives the overall project budget UP, but it’s better in the long run to ask for what you need to cover your costs.)
For example:
For technology projects, get cost estimates from a recognized IT provider to add credibility to your request.
Be creative about identifying matching and in-kind contributions. Include things like:
Be convincing about the need for infrastructure upgrades and support.
TechSoup – self-serve information and discounted technology products
Microsoft - free software and training resources
Through a partnership with TechSoup, Microsoft and NPower, agencies who are NPower customers may be able to get their Microsoft software at zero cost as part of the Microsoft Direct Donation Program. Please check with NPower for more details.
The Microsoft NGO Connection site at www.microsoft.com/ngo offers free curriculum and training materials for nonprofits to use for internal staff training or for public training with clients.
Salesforce – free licenses and a growing nonprofit community
Licenses for the first 10 users are provided free to nonprofits, thanks to the Salesforce.com Foundation. Some organizations have been granted additional licenses at no charge, and additional licenses are available from the Foundation at a deep discount.
Google – free applications, ad words and video hosting
Misc. cost-saving or no-cash ideas
Your thoughts? What have I missed?
~Peg Giffels
Following up on an earlier post, two new agency profiles are posted on the NPower Seattle website:
These, along with the rest of the library, are available at: http://www.npowerseattle.org/about-us/tech-impact.
My co-worker Peg has been helping us document the community impact of our services. She is off to a good start with three profiles completed:
We will be highlighting each one for a time the NPower Seattle homepage, but the full library (which will be growing) is available at: http://www.npowerseattle.org/about-us/tech-impact/. Or if you will be attending the NDOA Spring Conference next week, please drop by our table to say “hello” and pick up a printed copy of the reports.
