Act CRM Software: Using Act Marketing Automation
Note: I reviewed this article and wanted to make you aware of the fact that some of the pricing structures might have changed, so reach out to me if you need an up-to-date price quote and information. Thanks. Tony: 781-728-9777.
For the last 18 years I have been riding in an event called the Pan Mass Challenge (PMC). he PMC is a two-day bike ride of 192 miles and a fundraiser for the Dana-Farber Cancer Inst. in Boston. This year, we anticipate raising $60 million and in the last 40 years it has raised over $700 million.
I created an Act Marketing Automation (AMA) campaign that was going to be sent to past donors that had not yet donated to this ride. In other words, they had not donated to the 2019 ride. In Act I have the field PMC Alumni Donor and a second field called PMC 2019. If they have donated in the past, I put Donor in the PMC Alumni Donor field and when they make a donation I put the amount in the PMC 2019 field.
Creating a Group of Contacts to Send Your Email to Via AMA
When you use AMA you need to create a group of contacts in Act using their feature called groups. I created a group with two criteria: first, the PMC alumni donor field had the word donor in it and second, the PMC 2019 field is blank. This keeps the contacts that should be receiving the email up-to-date and accurate. Once they donate, they are out of the group automatically because I created it using group membership rules. Therefore, they will not receive future emails.
Creating a Template for Your Campaign
All campaigns in Act marketing automation require a template. You must create the template in advance of sending the campaign so you can assign that particular template to the campaign.
Email Workflow
I decided that I was going to send an email five times approximately two weeks apart leading up to the event. The first email went out on June 4th and the last one would go out on July 30th with the event occurring on August 3rd and 4th.
This is what the campaign flow chart looks like:
I decided that I was going to send an email five times approximately two weeks apart leading up to the event. The first email went out on June 4th and the last one would go out on July 30th with the event occurring on August 3rd and 4th.
One of the best parts of this email is that all the work went into it up front. When I received a donation I would navigate to the contact in Act and filling in the 2019 donation amount. Because of the nature of the way I designed the group using group membership rules the only people that remained in that group were they contacts that had not donated yet. Therefore, subsequent emails only went to people that had not donated. Luckily, this campaign made it simple to request donations from my donors.
I think it was a success because I will probably raise over $7000 this year.
If you have questions about using Act Marketing Automation contact me and talk to me about my special rates for helping you implement AMA. It is my strong advice that you get help using Act Marketing Automation. If this article helps you and you have money burning a hole in your pocket waiting to get out, you can make a donation at www.tonypmc.com. Thank you