Eight Ways To Keep Your Donor Database Clean

Numbers, statistics, and data — The equation for non-profits has changed drastically over the years. And while all this seems overwhelming, it is essential for an NGO to structure its equation to garner the right growth momentum.

This is where a well-managed CRM system comes in the picture. CRM is a customer relationship management software that helps organizations to maintain their user-base/customer data in one place.

From a decade or so, startups and multinationals have started organizing their data, and that has rendered great value for them. It is worthy to note that 91% of businesses with over 11 employees now use CRM. Hence, now is the time for non-profits to leverage this tried and tested way and get unmatched results.

So if you are an NGO’s stakeholder, we would suggest you grab a cup of coffee and dive into the article!

First and foremost, it is very important for you to understand the importance of segment your database well. The following pointers would help you in understanding why proper segmenting matters.

  1. Detailed Analysis: Once you segment your data, it makes it easier for you to analyze it and draw conclusions. You can efficiently run campaigns based on the patterns and behavior of your donors. This is also known as data-driven marketing.
  2. Retargeting: Once you know about various aspects of a donor’s preferences, it gets easier for you to retarget them with ads and content that appeals to them the most.
  3. Higher Retention: With data and a well-segmented CRM, you can easily find out communication channels that work the best for each segment of donors and build a long term relationship with them. This not only helps you in retaining your donors but also inducing them to contribute more.
  4. Campaign Building: With data-driven marketing, it gets easier for you to build email and social media campaigns for your business.

Now when you have realized the importance of data segmenting and CRM, here is how you can clean your database to leverage it in the best interest of your organization.

Data Cleaning Hacks

Hack Number 1: Follow A Proper Format

Do you remember how you used to use a single-color marker to highlight important points in your school books? That would keep your books clean and tidy. This is exactly what we want you to do. Use a single format to upload data over your CRM.

Make a checklist entering names, occupation, address, donation, cause contributed for, etc. .of your donors and distribute it amongst various stakeholders who maintain the database.

The following list might help you set up the basis of your CRM format:

  1. Enter the full name of your donors.
  2. Use only numbers to enter the age of the donor.
  3. Do not make edits directly in the CRM.
  4. Leave important notes, along with the donor’s profile.
  5. Upload the complete address of a donor.
  6. Do not use any abbreviations for street names.

This way, you can make your own list to standardize your data over CRM.

Hack Number 2: Segment Out The Unengaged Donors

Make a separate list of donors who have not donated for six months to two years. This will help your non-profit to save the cost of communicating with such profiles. Also, make sure to delete such profiles every year from your database to keep it fresh and updated.

This will save your time, resources, and bring down the bounce rate of your campaign.

Hack Number 3: Delete Duplicate Data

If you have the same donor registered under two campaigns, then merge his details and leave a note along with his profile over the CRM. This will leave you with more data space and less headache about duplication of efforts in reaching out to the same donor twice.

Hack Number 4: Do A Verification Call/Mail

Make it a habit to verify your donor’s data by calling or emailing everyone in your database. This will help you in keeping the data updated for your next campaign. Do this process at yearly intervals for maximum benefits.

Hack Number 5: Create Families

If there are two or more people who have donated for your cause and are interconnected (family), then find a way in your CRM to link such profiles. This will help you in keeping your database clean + meaningful. Also, you can save the cost of communication by emailing or connecting with only one member of a family at a time.

Hack Number 6: Create Smooth Integrations

Try connecting your CRM tools with your lead generation tools to auto-sink the data. This will save you time by helping you avoid the data entry task.

Hack Number 7: Train Your Staff

Once in every six months, run your staff via the whole data collection and recording process. This will help them to maintain the data in a standardized way. For this, you can also prepare a PPT and run through it once in a while to train the new staff members.

Hack Number 8: Create A Query Management System

There may be times when your team might not be able to segment the data of the donors due to some issues, queries, or concerns. For such times, you can curate a query management system/repository where team members can raise a ticket regarding a donor’s profile, and once that is resolved by the concerned person, the data is entered into the CRM.

That is about data segmenting and cleaning.

If you are a non-profit planning to thrive and grow, then it is very important for you to take small steps to make your organization more organized and efficient. At Billion Lives, we believe that technology can be leveraged by every business to automate the redundant processes.

So what are you waiting for? Don’t let good things take more time. Work for your cause by backing it with growth hacks and technology.

Oh, that was a long read, right?

Hope you did not run out of coffee!

Looking for a software that helps you manage donor data well?
Learn more about BillionLives.
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