Defining basic campaigns

1. From Marketing, select Campaigns > Define campaigns. By default, iMIS displays all Active campaigns for which you have security access privileges.
2. Choose a query filter, if desired.
3. Click a column header to sort by that column.

📘 Note

To change the default sort order when appeals are listed, edit the query named "(Default)" in CampaignManagement/DefaultSystem/Queries/CampaignAppealsList/. However, you cannot edit the query to change sort order if solicitations or source codes are displayed.

4. Select the campaign you want to view. The campaign overview displays. The tabs along the top of the campaign display information about the campaign:
   • The Summary tab displays general information about the campaign.
   • The Profile tab displays general information for editing.
   • The Source Code tab displays a listing of source codes used in the campaign and provides a link to create additional source codes.
   • The Appeals tab displays the appeals associated with the campaign.
   • The Security tab displays access levels for defined security roles.

1. From the Staff site, go to Marketing > Campaigns >Define campaigns
2. Select the campaign you want to view.
3. On the Summary tab, you can:
   • View up-to-date statistics for total revenue collected, first and last response dates, average transaction amount, and the response rate.
   • View a summary of basic information about the campaign included status, start and end date, dates of the first and last responses, and lowest and highest response amounts.
   • View a pie chart of the types of responses.
   • View responses by Source Code.
     • Click the source code tab to access information about a specific source code.

The goals and objectives for your campaign are unique to your organization. A goal is a simple statement that expresses what you want to do, such as:

• Increase the number of new donors
• Enroll new members
• Sell a new product
• Solicit advertisers for your periodicals
• Get a message out

An objective then states a measurable amount, such as:

• Increase new donor count by 5%
• Enroll 150 people
• Sell 2,000 units
• Increase ads placed by 15%
• Contact 15,000 prospects

You might set response rate goals, enrollment goals, sales goals, or budget goals. Knowing this information in advance can help you determine how best to set up your campaign.

A campaign is an organized set of appeals that you create to accomplish your marketing goal. The campaign can consist of one or many appeals and solicitations.

Tips on defining campaign hierarchy:

• Use appeals to split your campaign into major efforts.
• Define one or more solicitations for each appeal by target group, message, or delivery method.
• Assign one or more source codes to each solicitation to track responses.
• Create unique names at all levels: each campaign, each appeal within a campaign, each solicitation within an appeal, and each source code within a solicitation. The naming convention might be by department, type of campaign, year or quarter, or other meaningful methods.

In marketing campaigns, costs are tracked to calculate metrics such as Net Revenue, Cost per Thousand, Revenue per Thousand and Return on Investment. The cost of a campaign includes the overall operational costs of the campaign and the individual costs of each "package" that is sent.

Getting the right message to the right person at the right time is critical to the success of your campaign. With iMIS Marketing, you can target prospects with simple or sophisticated tools. By precisely defining target markets, you can refine campaign messages with great accuracy. And you can measure the response rate to the messages for specific groups of people.

Think about which factors should be included and which should be excluded for each targeted group. You will use these factors to define the segment of prospects that you will be targeting for each solicitation.

Plan for the cases where customers 'opt-in' and 'opt-out' of different marketing activities. After the targeted message is delivered, the prospect will or will not respond. iMIS Marketing gives you the power to define and manage processes for either case.

Some organizations use external lists to identify targets for their campaigns. External lists are brokered with individual list agreements that govern how the list can be used and for how long. Sometimes lists are given to the organization with all names and contact information attached. Other times, lists are used once and the organization only sees the contact information when the customer responds.

Plan the efforts you will use to communicate with contacts or prospects. Each effort can be a combination of brochures, email messages, promotional goods, or whatever items you deem necessary. Define the contents and drop date for each package.

In addition, plan how you will communicate among the team and among your organization. Are there specific reports that will be useful for staff? Will you need to send email messages to the team upon completion of certain tasks?

Measuring the success of your campaign will help improve your next marketing effort. Each time the cycle repeats itself, you become more efficient at honing your message and delivering the right message to the right person at the right time.  As a result, you are able to set ever higher goals for your organization.

iMIS provides you with analysis, workflow design, and communications tools to optimize the marketing cycle throughout your organization. Effective analysis allows you to target your time, energy, and budget to those pursuits, which are most likely to be profitable.

The iMIS database stores all of your important transactional, historic, and demographic data, giving you the power to prioritize the data and present it to stakeholders in a meaningful manner.

Make sure you define how you will track data to determine performance. Some suggestions:

• Run counts and statistics on your database before you start the campaign to define your starting point.
• Specify your predicted response rate.
• Determine the metric you will use to show success.
• Synchronize responses regularly. This helps you stay up-to-date with metrics.

To define a campaign:

1. Enter basic information such as name, status, and start date.
2. Designate the general type of campaign. Use the defaults or custom types designed for your organization.
3. (optional) Enter predicted information, such as end date and predicted response rate.

If there is an existing campaign in place, you can create a new campaign quickly by copying it (cloning it) and editing it. See To clone a campaign.

If you delete a campaign, appeal, solicitation, or source code, all the lower levels of the hierarchy will also be deleted, regardless of status.

1. From Marketing, select Campaigns > Define campaigns.
2. Click Add a Campaign.
3. Define the campaign:
   • Enter a Campaign Name and Campaign Code.
   • (optional) Enter a Status (Active or Inactive).
     • If the status is changed from Active to Inactive, the status of all child entities is set to Inactive.
     • If the status is changed from Inactive to Active, the status of child entities is not affected.
     • The status of a child entity cannot be changed to Active if any parent entities have an Inactive status.
     • The status of a source code cannot be changed to Active if the campaign has an Inactive status.
   • Enter a campaign Type:
     • None
     • Annual – A campaign that occurs every year
     • Designated – Funds generated by the campaign that are committed to a specific entity
   • (optional) Enter a Start Date and an End Date.
   • (optional) Enter a Predicted Response Rate (the estimated percentage of contacts that will respond to the appeal) and the Last Response Date.
   • (optional) Enter a Description.
4. Click Save.

A cloned campaign is an exact duplicate of the original campaign with the following exceptions:

• The Name and Campaign Code are different.
• The Created Date equals the copy date.
• The Created By field equals the user who copied the campaign.
• The Start Date,End Date, and Reminder Date are adjusted automatically for the copied campaign.
• The copy has the same structure as the original campaign, including all appeals, solicitations, and source codes.
• All copied source codes contain the same inserts and messages as the original campaign.
• Source lists are not copied.
• If Campaign Management is configured to assign source codes automatically, all new source codes are regenerated automatically.
• If Campaign Management is configured to assign source codes manually, all new source codes are formatted as 'Copy of (original code).' If this code already exists, the code is copied until a unique code is found: 'Copy (sequence #) of (original code).'

To create a new campaign quickly, you can clone an existing one and edit it.

1. Select Marketing > Campaigns > Define campaigns.
2. Select a campaign.
3. Click Save As.
4. Enter the new campaign Name, Campaign Code, and Type.
5. Click Save.

Default campaign security settings are set up when iMIS Marketing is set up. However, if you are authorized, you can grant specific users and/or groups access to a campaign.

1. Select Marketing > Campaigns > Define campaigns.
2. Select a campaign.
3. Click the Security tab.
4. Select an Access Mode:
   • Share (Everyone) – Grants everyone full control.
   • Private – Grants full access to those assigned to the project.
   • Advanced – Enables the Access Mode drop-down list and allows you to edit the access list. You can select one of the listed access areas or select Custom to choose from a list of defined security roles.
5. Click Save.

1. Select Marketing > Campaigns > Track campaigns.
2. Click Show / Hide Appeals and open an appeal.
3. (optional) Click the Profile tab and click the plus sign next to the Overhead Cost field.
4. Add an additional cost and click Save.

1. Select Marketing > Campaigns > Define inserts.
2. Select an insert.
3. Click the browse icon next to Total.
4. Enter a value in the Cost Code and a cost per piece in the Amount.
5. Click + for each cost code you want to add.

6. Click OK to save the values. Confirm that the Total on the Insert window now shows the sum of the values entered on the Costs pop-up.

• Operational costs should be tracked at the Appeal or Source Code. The choice of tracking overhead costs at the Appeal or Source Code level is made in Marketing > Campaigns > Settings.
• Package costs include any items that are applied to the actual insert or package: Those are tracked with the insert costs.
• Overhead Costs refer to any cost that is applied to the mailing or marketing effort as a whole. These costs tend to be difficult to break down on an item by item or cost per piece basis. You want to be able to track the costs against the appeal as a whole rather than trying to break out the costs against different source codes. This is especially true when you have multiple source codes within a marketing effort.
• Some costs apply only to a particular Source Code or part of a marketing effort, such as list rental costs or the difference between different packages sent. Even if you choose to track overhead costs at the Appeal level in your Marketing > Campaigns > Settings, you still have the option to be able track those additional costs. They are tracked as part of the package attached to the source code.

To define appeals for your campaign, you will:

1. Link specific products to the campaign. Your campaign might include physical products such as apparel, books, and documents or non-physical products such as event functions, gifts, and pledges.
   • From the Staff site, set up the products in the appropriate area before assigning them to the campaign.
     • Fundraising events: Events > Add event
     • Gifts and pledges: Fundraising > Add gift item
     • Physical products: Commerce > Add product
   • Add the products to the appeals in the campaign.
   • (optional) Set up minimum required gift amount to receive each product.
2. Assign drop dates.
   • The definition of drop date depends on the media involved:
     • Direct mail – Date the post office starts to deliver the mailing
     • Telemarketing – Date the calls begin
     • Media spots (TV, radio, webcast) – Date of airing
     • Newsletters – Date of mailing, by issue
     • Online campaigns – Date the email messages are sent
   • Drop dates for other efforts can include:
     • Mailing list generation
     • Creative concepts/artwork complete
     • Response management process set up
3. Track costs (optional). If your organization tracks operational costs at the appeal level, you will need to enter cost information when you set up the appeal.

Next step: You will define solicitations as the different messages or groups of responses.

1. Select Marketing > Campaigns > Define campaigns.
2. Select the appropriate campaign.
3. Click the Appeals tab.
4. Click Add an Appeal.
5. Define the appeal:
   • Enter a Name.
   • Select a Status (Active or Inactive).
     • If the status is changed from Active to Inactive, the status of all child entities is set to Inactive.
     • If the status is changed from Inactive to Active, the status of child entities is not affected.
     • The status of a child entity cannot be changed to Active if any parent entities have an Inactive status.
   • (optional) Enter an Overhead Cost, or click the plus icon to add multiple costs.
   • (optional) Enter a Start Date and an End Date.
   • (optional) Enter a response rate next to Predicted Response Rate (the estimated percentage of contacts that will respond to the appeal) and the Last Response Date.
   • (optional) Enter a dollar amount for a Target Revenue value.
   • (optional) Enter a Description.
6. Click Save. The system displays the status on the Summary tab. Click on the link for more details.

1. Open a campaign.
2. Click the Appeals tab and select an appeal.
3. Click the Products tab.
4. Select a Query to view:
   • All Products
   • Products By Code
5. Select the desired products. The added products display in the list of Selected Products.
6. Click Save.

📘 Note

When you delete a product after it has been assigned to an appeal, the Products tab displays only the product code of the deleted product.

You can apply a premium against an appeal code to establish rules about which premium is given for a specific gift amount. For example, a gift of $10 will provide a key chain, a gift of $ 25 will provide a mug. Appeal premiums are created and assigned to products on the Appeal Premiums window in the Advanced Accounting Console.

Do the following to apply a premium against an appeal:

1. In the Advanced Accounting Console, go to Settings > Fundraising > Set up tables > Appeals.
2. Highlight an appeal.
3. Click Premiums.

📘 Note

To display the Premiums button in the Appeals window, you must enable Allow Premiums as Products (Settings > Fundraising > Configure fundraising options).

4. Click New on the Appeal Premiums window.
5. Enter a Product Code. This is the product associated with the Appeal premium. The Premium option must be enabled on the Manage Products window for the product to appear in this list (Home > Commerce > Enter and edit products).
6. (optional) Select Automatic Premium. This controls options on the Enter and edit gifts window:
   • If enabled, the premium will automatically attach.
   • If disabled, the Show all premiums option is available and you can attach a general item from inventory.
7. Click Save.

Before you begin you must define one or more appeals before you define solicitations.

1. Select Marketing > Campaigns > Define campaigns.
2. Select a campaign and then select an appeal.
3. Click the Solicitations tab.
4. Click Add a Solicitation.
5. Define the solicitation:
   • Enter a Name.
   • Select a Status (Active or Inactive).
     • If the status is changed from Active to Inactive, the status of all child entities is set to Inactive.
     • If the status is changed from Inactive to Active, the status of child entities is not affected.
     • The status of a child entity cannot be changed to Active if any parent entities have an Inactive status.
6. (optional) Enter a Start Date and an End Date.
7. (optional) Enter a Display Predicted Response Rate (the estimated percentage of contacts that will respond to the appeal), Description, Reminder Date, and Last Response Date.
8. Click Save. The system displays the status on the Summary tab. Click on the link for more details.

• Combine multiple source codes and list sources into a single solicitation.
• Use consistent naming conventions when creating solicitations.

To define a communications effort for a campaign, you will:

1. Define source codes.
2. Create inserts.
3. Create or select target groups (source list).
4. Select a source list (who is selected to receive the message) and an insert (what will be sent) for each source code.
5. Generate output.

Source codes are the most granular level of measurement in Campaign Management. These codes are used to identify messages you send out and track the responses to these messages. Source codes are linked to reply devices such as postcards, website links, donations, and purchases.

Use sources codes to:

• Tag the marketing message for each targeted group and to track the responses.
• Use questions such as "How did you hear about us?" to identify the message or call to action that prompted the response.
• Set up codes for bounce-backs and responses that cannot be linked to a specific message.

There are three general kinds of source codes:

• Codes assigned to outgoing marketing efforts to track the incoming responses to the effort. Sometimes a contact receives more than one solicitation from your organization in a certain time frame.
• Generic codes that are assigned to ongoing passive ways in which a customer can support your organization, such as web transactions, word-of-mouth, or calls to action.
• Codes that are assigned to capture responses when the actual source code is not known.

Important prerequisites for defining source codes:

• Define one or more solicitations.
• Set up source lists.
• Create an insert for the source code.

Tips for defining a source code:

• Use consistent naming conventions when creating source codes. Your administrator can set up automatically generated source codes that follow your organization's standards.
• To ensure accurate response data, do not edit a source code after the responses are processed.

Inserts are the physical items you send to contacts and prospects, such as letters, pre-printed collateral, and envelopes. After you create an insert, you can reuse it in other campaigns.

Typically, a source code is linked to each insert item. Multiple inserts (such as letter, brochure and envelope) are combined into a single package for delivery. All responses to the solicitation are then tracked by the source code. This is a useful way to perform market testing because you can choose the most effective creative package or target a test group to receive the package.

In addition, you can track the cost of each insert to determine the return on investment and to monitor budget amounts.

Use one or more source lists to identify a targeted group for your message. Basic campaigns typically use one or more of the following types of source lists:

• Lists from previous campaigns – Stagnant lists for repeat audiences. You could use lists of all contacts who were solicited in a previous campaign or only those who responded.
• Queries – Dynamic lists that can change with criteria that you specify. You can choose from queries that are set up in your system or you can create new ones.
• External lists – Purchased prospect lists from other businesses or organizations.

Complex campaigns often use Segmentation to compile lists of contacts. See About Segmentation.

• Make sure all applicable queries are defined.
• Create all applicable segmentation jobs and definitions.
• Create multiple source lists for use with single source codes.

Run output processes to generate customized letters, email messages, faxes, labels, participant lists, and physical file formats in a specific order. Running the output process also calculates the non-responses for each appeal. The following output processes are available:

• Email merge – Send email messages to contacts.
• Campaign list export – Generate a list of contacts for an external service or for mass email output.
• RFM definition – Rank records based on Recency, Frequency, and Monetary value.
• Project process outputs – Generate projects for further relationship building.

Campaign Management gives you the power to track different types of responses to a campaign. This allows your organization to:

• Maintain a history of all customer responses to marketing efforts and every message that was sent
• Define specific tasks that execute automatically when prospects respond or do not respond to solicitations
• Generate personalized emails, faxes, and letters based on user-defined settings

Responses to solicitations are captured automatically. All tracking areas are synchronized, upon command, to consolidate responses. This tracking information includes:

• Contacts associated with the source code
• Non-responses and opt-outs
• (optional) Financial transactions associated with the campaign (orders, events, gifts, pledges, billings)

Tip for tracking responses:

• If you plan to track product orders associated with the campaign, make sure all appropriate products are set up.

To track the responses to your campaign, you will:

1. Enter orders and associate them with a source code.
2. Synchronize responses.
3. View the results file or the summary pie chart of each level of the campaign.
4. (optional) Use communications tools to generate messages automatically when a response is received.
5. (optional) Use Process Manager to kick off projects or processes associated with each type of response or target group.

You can easily create projects that correspond to your campaign and manage them in Process Mgr. Create these projects by defining, editing, or selecting the following information for the new projects:

• A query
• A project process output
• A source code

You can easily set up your campaign so that specific tasks are generated when a prospect responds or fails to respond to a solicitation. This helps you to:

• Acknowledge positive responses
• Send a cross-promotional solicitation to positive responders
• Initiate reminders to prospects who do not respond to initial solicitations
• Make sure that prospects who opt out of the campaign do not receive further solicitations

The ABBA professional society hosts a major conference each year. The goal of the Annual Conference Campaign is to recruit 20% more attendees than last year.

Overhead costs are tracked at the appeal level. For the first appeal, the first two solicitations have different creative concepts to test effectiveness. The more successful concept will be used for the brochure and conference signage. One source code is assigned to each solicitation.

The hierarchy for this appeal is simple:

Campaign = Annual Conference

Appeal = Save the Date postcard

Solicitations = Creative A to Segment 1 (source code 000134), Creative B to Segment 2 (source code 000135)

So far, ABBA has a sound plan:

• The appeals help them separate out invoices for each mailing to determine the true return on investment for each one.
• Solicitations break down the mailings into logical and broad groups of records with varying estimated response rates. It is likely there will be a higher response rate from past attendees than from people who have never attended.
• Source codes further break down the groups for customized mailings and different estimated response rates. The source codes can be seen as declining levels of expected positive responses.

Campaign definition is straightforward:

• Name = Annual Conference
• Status = Active
• Start date = today's date
• Campaign type = Event
• Predicted end date = today's date + three months

Define each appeal:

• Name = Save the date postcard
  • Status = Active
  • Start Date = today's date
  • End Date =  today's date + three weeks
  • Predicted Response Rate = 10%
• Name = Conference brochure
  • Status = Active
  • Start Date = today's date + 6 weeks
  • End Date = today's date + 3 months
  • Predicted Response Rate = 30%

Define each solicitation similarly to the first one:

• Name = Conference Save the Date Postcard Creative A
• Status = Active
• Start Date = today's date + 1 week
• End Date = today's date + 1 month
• Predicted Response Rate = 5%

This is the point at which the target groups, inserts, source codes, and packages are defined.

• Select target groups
  • ABBA will use the same lists as last year: Segment 1 and Segment 2.
• Create inserts
  • Create inserts for each mailing similarly to the first one:
    • Name = Annual Conference Template_NS_Segment1
    • Status = Active
    • Insert Type = None
• Define source codes
  • The inserts will be attached to a source code and combined as packages for each mailing. Set up source codes similarly to the first one:
    • Code = 000134
    • Description = Segment 1
    • Status = Active
    • Predicted Response Rate = 7.5%
    • Target Revenue = $7500 (from attendees who want to register immediately)
    • Source Code Type = Run Once
    • List Member Type = Contact
    • List Type = Segment Definition
    • Add Segment 1
    • Attach insert to a package: Add Conference Save the Date Postcard Creative A.
• Generate output
  • Generate output for the first appeal to produce labels for the postcards and to ensure that responses will be tracked:
    • Open the appeal and generate output.
    • Output process = Postcard labels (from list of available choices)
  • Repeat for the second appeal when appropriate.