The Role Of Localization In Marketing Your App Internationally

inc42.com
App Localization Means The Process Of Making Your App According To The Needs And Behavior Of The Local Audience

Your app cannot afford to get lost in the crowd of 2.8 Mn Android apps and 2.2 million iOS apps. Months of ideating, prototyping, coding, testing and undergoing the app store approval process would amount to nothing if your app fails to receive any downloads!

Irrespective of how great the user experience is, or the significant problem your app solves, failure to get downloads and climb the top of the app leaderboard ensures that your app will soon be forgotten.

However, localization is one proven technique most apps use to maximize their app downloads on an international level.

So What Is Localization?

App localization means the process of making your app according to the needs and behavior of the local audience.

This doesn’t just mean translating the language but several other important aspects such as the app’s name, units of currency, designs, symbols, keywords, dates and time zones among many others.

Here’s an example of the app Clash of Titans in English and Chinese. The headings and the language in the app are translated so that the local users feel comfortable using the app in their native language.

Source – KISSmetrics

Importance Of Localization

With each passing year, the web has become more multilingual. Your app is going to be accessed by people all around the world. Provide them with the option of being able to use it in their preferred native language.

According to Internet World Stats, 804 Mn internet users are Chinese, and 337 Mn internet users are Spanish.

Localization is the key to optimizing app downloads in your targeted local markets. For example, the Facebook app can be accessed in over 80 languages while the Twitter app is available in over 30 languages. 72 percent of app users are not native English speakers, which implies that not localizing your app would lead you to miss out on a huge share of the market.

• A Forbes study found that app downloads increased 120% and revenue went up 26% after releasing apps in native languages.
• A study by Statista found 48% of app users stop using apps and uninstall them if the apps are not localized properly.

Localizing an app is vital to forge a personal bond with the users to make them habitual users.

A few ways to localize your app are:

• Use localized languages
• Localize your app store optimization
• Localize videos and images
• Conduct app localization testing

This infographic from Translate by Humans shows you the techniques to market your app internationally.

How to add video ads to a game and make people ask for more

venturebeat.com

Above: War Robots is finding success with video ads.

For a long time, Pixonic saw our lack of video ads in War Robots as one of our strengths and advantages. We often received pleasant feedback from our players to support our view, along the lines of “Wow, this game is amazing, and also has no annoying ads … such a rarity these days.” We had so many of these messages that we actually regarded it as a “feature” of sorts.

However, we conducted our own market research, and the results shows that we should have considered implementing rewarded video ads after all. We knew they were successful for some games: The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land, C.A.T.S among many others.

All in all, Unity gave us a very promising revenue forecast for potential integration of rewarded video in War Robots. I’ll jump ahead a little bit and say that we actually exceeded the forecasts of our friends at Unity Ads by two-and-a-half times, and our own evaluations up to four times. The challenge was integrating a brand new monetization model in an already up-and-running IAP-driven in-game economics system.

In theory

If you’re somewhat familiar with F2P mobile games economics, you probably know that most players don’t pay — paying users make up about 4 percent at best (but they pay big).

Rewarded video ads are often presented to the player as a way to receive benefits paying players have, without spending real money. This claim is supported by a research conducted by Unity – monetization via video ads is the most preferred way of “paying” for the game for 71 percent of respondents.

Another party interested in video ads is, obviously, the game development studio. From our perspective, integrating video ads could increase the lifetime value of both non-paying users and engaged players who pay regularly, but want to have even more benefits.

So, what happens when the player presses the “Watch ad” button in the game? Basically, they contact the advertising provider with a request for a fitting video. As of now, we’re more interested in different means of paying the app developer for integrating ads. In our industry, it’s usually either “cost per impression” or “cost per click” models. Most advertisers are not very fond of paying per views, so the second model is more common and widespread. There are some exceptions though – for example, there are offline brands looking solely for reach, and projects such as Lineage 2: Revolution that has a quite aggressive marketing strategy.

The game developers are also trying to reward players for watching the ads and show the ads only if the player consents to that. Sometimes forced ads may cause irritation among players. But if the players can choose whether they want to watch the ad or not – and get a reward for that – it creates a positive experience for the player and the ads’ performance will increase.

So it turns out that the game has to reward the players for viewing the ads, compensation per conversion that the developer receives is actually relatively modest. The ad revenue here will be calculated with eCPM. The eCPM rate depends heavily on the country: for example, for such fruitful market as the United States, eCPM is usually higher than $20.

The conclusion is that the economically reasonable price of rewarding the user per impression based on potential revenue should be about $0.02-$0.03. But at the same time, if the reward is insignificant, the player won’t bother to watch an ad, so the main objective is to maintain interest on both sides.

In practice

For us, an important aspect of integrating the video ads in the game was not only the actual cost of the reward, but its type as well. Initially, we chose these rewards as means of introducing ads:

• two-times rewards per battle;
• accelerated upgrades;
• task completion;
• free supply crate (gacha).

The main measure while choosing points of integration in the game was the demand for video ads in different segments of our audience. It was crucial for us to make the video ads perform well both with engaged players and the newcomers. So it meant we had limited time to get the views we needed, as newcomers could leave the game on the next day.

By integrating the video ads to a variety of in-game mechanics we gave our players an opportunity to choose which reward will be most satisfying to them. This way we also ensured that the ads could be interesting for both newcomers and experienced players. We have to note that we had to drastically limit the two times-per-battle reward in the higher-level player segment to avoid major in-game inflation and a poor influence on the in-game economics.

We had also already known that the more videos people watch in a row, the lower the conversion drop, so we had to deal with that as well. It’s obvious that if a user watches ads on ads on ads, they’re probably farming rewards and pay zero attention to what these ads actually offer. That’s the reason most apps limit the number of ad impressions per user. Our solution was to integrate ad views into the game process: if the user hit their upper limit, they have to engage in a battle before watching another one. This way we put the player’s attention back in the game.

We are also introducing new points of ad interactions as we’re introducing new features in the game. For example, after we introduced supply crates, we added a new mechanic that allows you to open the crate faster in exchange for watching an ad.

We don’t plan to ban competitor games and we wouldn’t recommend that to other developers. Unlike most of the developers we don’t ban ads of other games. We are not afraid of showing competitors’ commercials in the game and we don’t see any drawback of that decision (i.e. there is no massive churn after implementing video ads).

The results

It’s already been several months since we introduced video ads in War Robots. The introduction of ads didn’t cause any significant changes in the tutorial funnel completion rate. Also, the majority of War Robots players (as we heard from our research) think of video ads as a great means of receiving benefits the paying players have without actually paying “real money”.

About 50 percent of our DAU on Android and about 40 percent of iOS players choose to watch the video ads. Even without fine-tuning and any major optimization, video ads also had a 6 percent increase to project revenue. We also noticed that the higher the players’ level, the more likely they are to watch ads. The share of ad-watchers on higher levels reaches as much as 70 percent.

Our paying players are watching the video ads too, even more than non-payers actually. Every day, 66 percent of our paying DAU and 44 percent of non-payers watch at least one rewarded ad, with free supply crates being our most-demanded reward.

The other points of interaction with the ads are on about the same level of popularity, but we have to keep in mind that the frequency of offers to watch ads in the game varies dramatically depending on the reward. Obviously, we can’t offer two-times per battle reward as frequently as we offer faster weapon upgrades, for example, because that could lead to inflation.

If we break down the ad-watchers by level, we’ll see that low-level players are more interested in faster upgrades, because the upgrade time is always the same and at the beginning it reduces the overall upgrade time quite noticeably. The more experienced players prefer to watch ads to open supply crates.

Key takeaways and recommendations

• If you are developing a F2P game that already has a large audience and haven’t tried monetizing via ads yet — do it. You can benefit from revenue increases, but you must first research for best practise for your game;
• Don’t be afraid to show ads to paying players as we saw no cannibalisation of IAP revenue. They are your most loyal audience that won’t mind watching a few ads in exchange for in-game rewards;
• Be cautious when choosing reward sizes. If making the reward smaller decreases the motivation to watch ads, limit the number of impression offers. Create a feature that will allow you to tune the number of rewards and limit the number of ad views per person to experiment with changing them;
• Analyze use cases for video ads in different segments of your audience: payers, non-payers, newer players, older players etc.;
• Give players the ability to choose between different rewards, since players’ needs may vary;
• Don’t forget to add new points of interaction with the ads as you’re introducing new features.

HOW AMAZON IS PRIMING ITS AD BUSINESS FOR THE NEXT YEAR

adage.com

Amazon's brutal efficiency, obsession with automation and ruthless pricing tactics have helped it disrupt or conquer market after market, starting with books in 1997. Now it's bringing those tactics to bear on the company's latest target: the ad business.

To shoulder its way into an industry overwhelmingly dominated by Facebook and Google, Amazon is making bold new moves into self-serve programmatic advertising. It plans to spend the next year aggressively expanding the infrastructure that it hopes will get more brands buying ad space on its websites and through its ad platform, according to people familiar with the matter. (They and other unnamed sources quoted in this article spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details that Amazon has not publicly disclosed.) To do so, it will work with ad-tech companies, agencies and media companies to create platforms that make buying Amazon ads as easy as filling up an online shopping cart.

"The biggest game changer is the ability to programmatically buy ads on Amazon," says Eric Heller, CEO of Marketplace Ignition, an agency owned by WPP that focuses on building Amazon sales for its clients. "That's where the fastest change is happening [in Amazon's ad business]. This is going to move tons of dollars there."

Even Google is building for Amazon's ad platform, in a sense. Google's DoubleClick supports buying search ads on Microsoft Bing and Yahoo, and it's developing the same capability for Amazon, the people familiar with the matter say.

The universe where ads appear on Amazon and through its marketplace is growing too.

Amazon, for instance, is building an ad offering through its Fire TV device, where ads run inside streaming-TV apps much as they do on Roku.

It's even exploring opportunities for ads inside Amazon Channels, the hub in Prime where studios and networks stream their programming, and the possibility of slipping ads into a free-trial period for its main Prime Video.

Borders

Despite Amazon's plans, Google and Facebook aren't likely to suffer the fate of the bookstores that Amazon helped usher out of business. They are leagues ahead of any other company in digital advertising, certainly including Amazon: The so-called duopoly's share of U.S. digital ad revenue will tick down to 55.8 percent by 2020 from 56.8 percent this year, according to eMarketer; Amazon's share will grow to 4.5 percent from 2.7 percent this year.

But Google and Facebook haven't faced an incursion like this before.

Amazon already appears likely to outpace expectations: eMarketer forecast that it would generate $3.7 billion in worldwide ad revenue this year, but Amazon's earnings report last week suggests that its ad business totaled more than $2 billion in the first quarter alone. (Amazon reports ad sales inside what it calls "other" revenue, but they are the "majority" of that segment, according to the company.)

"Advertising continues to be a bright spot both from a product standpoint and also a financial one," Brian Olsavsky, Amazon's chief financial officer, said during an earnings call to discuss the results. Olsavsky added that advertising was a "strong contributor to profitability."

And Amazon has established a grip on more than 40 percent of the e-commerce business, eMarketer says, while Google and Facebook have no significant reach there, as much as they'd love to. That grip provides Amazon's not-so-secret weapon in digital advertising.

"Amazon is putting the screws to Google," says one digital agency executive. "I have clients asking why they have any money with Google search, if they can just go spend on Amazon and get better return and know they're driving sales."

Advertisers are only now getting wind of Amazon's ad platform and the data it offers compared with Google, according to Collin Colburn, a researcher at Forrester. Amazon is "richer than any other player out there in terms of purchase and behavioral data," Colburn says.

No other major platform is so plugged into what consumers buy. Amazon doesn't need to close the loop from ad to sale by reading uncertain data about when a person saw an online ad and when that led to an actual purchase. Amazon is the loop.

Amazon agencies

Over the past year, there has also been a rush to develop Amazon ad services across Madison Avenue—agencies like 360i, VML and Possibleand holding companies WPP and Omnicom are all getting into it. Go to any ad agency and there is likely a new unit promising to hand-hold brands through Amazon's expanding ad offerings.

"We've noticed elevated levels of service from Amazon and a willingness to develop more meaningful partnerships on the level of a Facebook and Google," says one agency exec. "It has been very obvious Amazon is going to be the Third Estate. Google has AdWords, launched in 2000, then Facebook got serious about advertising in 2011, both through APIs, and now it's obvious Amazon is heading that same direction."

Agencies and media holding companies are using Amazon's ads API (application programming interface) to build ad-buying technology they can then offer their brands. They partner with marketing tech firms like Kenshoo and Marin Software, which also are building buying technology to mesh with Amazon's API.

In a classically savvy Amazon move, the company is often steering new business from brands to the agencies instead of working with the brands directly.

"They want to move completely to a programmatic model and that's a pretty ballsy position," says the agency exec. "They're pushing programmatic as the primary investment model as part of these retail relationships that Amazon has. It's a very interesting way of doing business. You won't see that from Walmart."

Amazon will run premium managed services for top brands and vendors, to be sure—those that sell hundreds of millions of dollars in products through the e-commerce platform. And it's undoubtedly beefing up its advertising team. When Amazon said last fall that it will move the headquarters of its ad operations to New York City's Hudson Yards this year, it said it would hire 2,000 people there over three years, though it would not say how many of those jobs would be devoted to advertising.

Seth Dallaire, VP of global ad sales and marketing, is the face of Amazon's ad business, the liaison to the agencies and holding companies. "He's the one driving the overall vision and the enterprise strategy around advertising," the agency exec says. "He's the first point of contact for us to build advantages into the Amazon ecosystem for our clients."

But the broader move to automation is ripped straight from the Google and Facebook playbook, which saw both companies recruit agencies and ad-tech marketing partners to plug into their platforms and build the next generation of ad-buying tools.

"Amazon is opening the API and letting other people do the work," says a shopper marketing executive at a top agency.

"We are continuing to hire and grow our managed service teams," an Amazon spokeswoman said in a statement. "We are also continuing to build and improve our products and tools, which includes self-service and our API program, to better support agencies and all of our advertisers as our business scales. We aim to serve our advertising customers in a number of ways, based on their needs and goals."

A new pixel

To make the case for its advertising, Amazon is running a test with select brands and their agencies, tagging ads with a pixel to track when they lead to sales on Amazon. It's a simple technology, but it's a first for Amazon, according to people familiar with it.

Here's how it works: Brands put the Amazon pixel on ads that run outside of Amazon properties, such as YouTube and other websites. The pixel detects computers that view an ad and can record when that leads to a sale on Amazon.

The pixel could show brands that ads running outside of Amazon's platform are not as effective as ads served on its platform, people familiar with the tests say. Brands that use Amazon's platform are able to lean on its consumer data, targeting people who have shown interest in a product or recently bought a product that's complementary. "Amazon wants to show how much better it is at everything," says an agency executive familiar with the test.

A number of Amazon rivals in internet advertising have similar media attribution and measurement programs, and Amazon provides similar traffic analytics in areas such as its web stores, the e-commerce pages brands run on its site.

"Amazon Ad Platform is a lot like the leading platforms in the marketplace with some advantages," says another agency exec. "Advertisers can leverage Amazon's specific data for targeting, there's unique access to inventory through Amazon properties, and there are unique analytics by virtue of its sales data."

The Amazon pixel to measure sales conversions could also give a data lift to the company, because it will see how brands are mixing their ad dollars on other platforms, providing a rare peek into the buying that gets done outside its walls, the people familiar with the test say.

Open arms

At the same time, Amazon plans to grow its advertising base by expanding access to the Amazon Ad Platform that connects to display and video inventory outside of its own. Long reserved for wholesale vendors that have Amazon handle sales with actual consumers, the platform later this year will start allowing ad buys from brands and sellers that retail on Amazon, people familiar with that plan say. The sellers will also gain the ability to tap into the same Amazon data that other brands use for targeting.

"They'll be opening up the ad platform to everyone that's got a product on Amazon," says an agency executive who works closely with Amazon. "It doesn't matter if they're selling it to Amazon or selling it through Amazon, which will probably drastically increase the amount of ads you're seeing."

To expand its pool of outside inventory, Amazon is undercutting Google on ad-tech fees as it recruits for Amazon Publisher Services, a division offering ad marketplace services that go head-to-head with DoubleClick for Publishers.

Google offers similar ad-bidding technology for publishers, but it takes up to 5 percent from deals. "Amazon doesn't take anything," says a top publishing programmatic executive. "But obviously they're privy to a ton of bid data and they're smartening themselves with information on inventory and audiences."

Amazon also dangles its own ad spending in front of publishers, promising to spend its marketing dollars on their sites but only if they participate in its marketplace, according to publishers.

It's a hard-nosed tactic, publishers say, but effective when Amazon is spending millions to promote Prime shows from Amazon Studios. "That's the typical conversation they have," says another programmatic publishing executive. "There are marketing budgets Amazon will only run through [its ad platform], and that carries a lot of weight for smaller publishers especially."

An Amazon spokeswoman declined to comment on specific publisher discussions but said the company manages its own marketing efforts apart from its publisher services group.

Video everywhere

And Amazon is looking for more places to serve video ads, which typically command the highest ad rates in digital. Agencies and brands are talking with Amazon about creating video ads for the platform too, though many of them say Amazon is cagey about where it would run all of them. "Amazon hasn't fully figured it out, but they know they're sitting on a rocket ship, specifically in video," the agency exec says.

Chief contenders include Fire TV, the streaming-TV device similar to Roku, and Prime, the Netflix competitor with original programming and video on demand from outside studios.

For now, Fire TV displays ads on its home screen that can be bought through Amazon Ad Platform, while apps on Fire manage their own sales through their video-tech platforms. Amazon is talking with top digital and traditional studios, including AMC and Fox, about developing an ad platform that would be competitive with Roku, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The digital video app channels would plug into the broader ad marketplace Amazon runs through Publisher Services.

Roku is expected to do $300 million in ads in the U.S. in 2018, according to eMarketer. It makes most of its ad money through the apps showing commercials amid the content, and has its own channel with ad-supported movies and shows.

Other ideas include running ads inside some channels that are available through Amazon's video-on-demand platform, which are accessed through Amazon Prime but considered separate video offerings. Amazon has also considered a teaser version of Prime, offering an ad-supported free trial, ad execs say.

"There may be opportunities over time to have more advertising in our videos but we choose to not do that now," said Olsavsky, the Amazon chief financial officer, during last week's earnings call. Amazon also re-upped a deal to stream NFL games for another two years—with commercials, of course.

"Amazon is in a privileged position because it sits at the intersection of media and retail," says a media executive. "That excites the heck out of advertisers because it presents an opportunity where we have this Third Estate that has the ability to entirely collapse the funnel and deliver on total attribution."

How Blockchain Voting Works & Why We Need It

coincentral.com

Blockchain Voting Makes Democracy More Transparent

There’s a reason why we have to go to a polling place to fill out ballots for our elections. Anonymous ballots are the easiest way to protect the integrity of the vote while also protecting voter privacy at the same time. Digital voting has been a difficult challenge because it’s tough to verify that each ballot is valid while also keeping them anonymous. Blockchain voting could change that with its cryptography.

In fact, blockchain voting is already changing some elections. Right now, military from West Virginia, USA who are serving overseas can vote in their home elections using their mobile phones. A combination of encryption and blockchain registry tallies those votes. Other countries like Brazil, Denmark, South Korea, and Switzerland are exploring blockchain voting. By far, however, Estonia is leading the way. Their citizens have unique ID cards that allow them to vote on the blockchain quickly and securely.

Digitizing the most essential part of democracy could have deep and lasting impacts on global governance. Citizens can make decisions much more quickly and public referendum is a feasible option. Representative democracy could get marginalized for direct democracy by the people. But that’s not all. Another result is rigging elections could become more difficult, nearly impossible. This article explores how blockchain voting works, and its implications for the world.

Fundamentals of Blockchain Voting

Blockchain voting is similar to analogue voting that we’re used to. The same concepts and processes apply. In order to cast a digital vote, a citizen would need to register and prove their citizenship in a given jurisdiction. We could then record that identity and citizenship on the blockchain associated with that user’s key.

Next, a citizen needs a ballot to cast a vote. In the blockchain, this would likely take the form of a special voting token that would be deposited in the user’s account. This token would also likely have a time limit in which it could be used to vote, after which it would burn itself via a smart contract or become useless.

Casting a vote on the blockchain would involve sending the voting token (the ballot) to a specific address. Voters would know which address aligns with which candidate or referendum. Sending a token to that address would represent a vote.

Technically, that sounds simple enough. The vote gets registered on the blockchain where its immutable, verifiable, and transparent. We can easily count up the votes to declare a winner to the election. In addition, we can build nice user interfaces that automate and hide the process of sending a token to a specific address. Instead, voters would see a simple online interface for them to select a candidate or proposal and click submit.

Verifying Voter Identity

If that first explanation sounded simple and you wonder why we’re not voting on the blockchain already, just hold on. It’s actually a lot more complicated than that. There are a lot of issues that need a resolution first.

One major issue is verifying voter identity. In order for blockchain voting to work, we need a system that prevents people from voting more than once or voting in an election where they’re not a citizen. That get’s tricky on the blockchain because it relies on a central authority to verify citizenship or residency documentation.

A blockchain solution would likely rely on submitting passport or driver’s license scans. Then that identity might be connected with a mobile device via a password and two-factor authentication or biometrics (like a fingerprint). The idea is to verify that the person who submitted the citizenship documents is the same person who is actively at the computer or smartphone at the time of the vote.

Maintaining Anonymity & the Secret Ballot

Once we’ve verified identity and eligibility to vote, however, we need to separate it from the ballot itself. Importantly, one of the key parts of democracy is the secret ballot. Nobody should know how you voted so they can’t influence your vote in any way.

With blockchain voting, the information that registers on the blockchain shouldn’t include identifiable information. This means that information about the sender of the voting token has to be hidden. There are different ways to accomplish this, including zero knowledge proofs, ring transactions, or various encryption methods. Each has its benefits, drawbacks, and technical challenges. True anonymity at the same time as verified identity is the big challenge of blockchain voting.

Cybersecurity experts generally agree that blockchains are unhackable (with the right network size and consensus algorithm). Logic proofs and statistics indicate that it becomes increasingly unlikely that a block can be compromised once the network confirms it. However, the anonymity needed for voting is more difficult to secure and be certain that it won’t be compromised.  

Possible Implications

Blockchain voting has huge implications if it grows in popularity and usability for the general public. It could fundamentally change how democracy functions.

1. Increased Transparency in the Voting Process

The biggest benefit of blockchain voting is increased transparency. Right now, once you cast your vote, you don’t really know what happened to it. You trust the poll workers to count it correctly. However, there’s no way to be sure that your vote counted.

On the blockchain it could be possible to track your vote and see that it ended up in the right place. Even though it wouldn’t have your information tied to it, your vote would exist on the blockchain for all of history.

2. Reduced Fraud & Election Rigging

A side effect of increased transparency is reduced fraud. It becomes harder to cheat the system or vote in the wrong jurisdiction with blockchain identity verification. Moreover, in countries where dictators rig elections, the blockchain could bring true democracy. Of course, initiating a blockchain voting system requires buy-in from the current government. However, over time blockchain could become an international voting standard, with the world community advocating for blockchain governance in all nations.

3. Everyday Voting in Real Time

If blockchain makes voting transparent, then we can follow and tally votes in real time. This means that elections can happen on a much shorter timespan. Additionally, if they are digital, they require less investment in polling infrastructure. As a result, elections could be held with a short lead time to vote on a referendum quickly.

This could completely change daily life. Imagine if you could vote on your phone on how traffic in your city would be routed today or whether to increase taxes to pay for a new park in your community. Voting could become highly targeted, even neighborhood specific. There would be little overhead to voting more often, possibly making voting a daily occurance.

4. Corporate Governance & Autonomous Organizations

Governments aren’t the only institutions that could benefit from blockchain voting. Employees or shareholders could vote for initiatives within a company as well. It’s possible to even imagine ownerless businesses where every decision is an open vote from shareholders.

5. Increased Voter Engagement

A big advantage of blockchain voting could be increased engagement. If blockchain makes digital voting possible from your smartphone or computer, voting becomes as easy as logging in and casting your ballot in just a few minutes. This would likely increase voter turnout drastically, leading to more direct democracy. Alternatively, it could lead to voting fatigue, where voters realize they liked electing representatives to worry about policy for them.

Conclusion

Blockchain voting still isn’t perfect or ready for primetime yet. However, it’s likely to be a massive change in democracy once it does reach legitimacy. Making voting easier and more transparent will create a more engaged electorate. It may also remind us of why representatives exist to think about policy full time and make wise decisions about things the general public might not be able to research fully. Easier voting could mean more frequent representative elections or ongoing referendums on our leadership. Even that would be a big change for democracy.

This article by Bennett Garner was originally published at CoinCentral.com": https://coincentral.com/how-blockchain-voting-works-why-we-need-it/

Nonprofit CRM Software: The 8 Things You Need to Know

clicktime.com

We know your organization is passionate about your cause. We also know running a nonprofit is a lot of work that can often turn chaotic. Luckily, that’s where nonprofit management or CRM software can come into play!

For managing your nonprofit’s data, engaging your donors, organizing fundraising strategies, and everything in between, your CRM can help make your life easier.Whether you’d prefer a cloud-based or onsite system, there’s sure to be a provider that’s perfect for you!

We’ll cover the basic information you’ll want to know about nonprofit management software before you begin shopping around:

1. What is CRM software?
2. Why should my nonprofit use CRM software?
3. Why is CRM software essential?
4. What’s the difference between a cloud-based and an onsite CRM?
5. What can CRMs track?
6. What are the benefits of CRM software?
7. How can I use a CRM to fundraise?
8. Where do I start my search?

1. What is CRM software?

Nonprofit management software, also known as constituent relationship management software or CRM software for short, is a system for nonprofits to track their relationships—donors and others, alike!

CRMs, the most general and expansive nonprofit software, provide organizations with one central location to store the majority of their data, so they can access information they need when they need it.

To sum up, CRM software lets nonprofits record previous donor and engagement data, implement outreach and fundraising strategies, and provide opportunities for improvement through in-depth reporting and analytics.

2. Why should my nonprofit use CRM software?

Nonprofits typically use CRMs for a multitude of benefits: for better overall organization, as well as data storage, but also for the ability to leverage their data to build and strengthen donor relationships.

CRMs ultimately let nonprofits consolidate their information making it more digestible, so nonprofits can then use their data more efficiently to fully understand the strengths and weaknesses of their relationships and strategies.

3. Why is CRM software essential?

CRM software is essential for nonprofits because it uses your previous involvement with donors to indicate the level of future involvement.

While it can’t predict the future, the software’s insights on donors’ preferences and interests can help your organization improve outreach strategies and prepare future fundraising strategies to result in more profitable success.

4. What’s the difference between a cloud-based and an onsite CRM?

Cloud-based CRM software can be accessed through any internet browser on any internet capable device. You’ll simply need your login information and then your staff members can access your software from anywhere, perfect for on-the-go nonprofits!

These systems usually allow different users to have different levels of access so your nonprofit’s president would be allowed more in-depth access than a one-time volunteer. In addition, many cloud-based CRM software solutions offer a free mobile app!

On the other hand, an onsite CRM is a software you’ll download onto one computer, typically a main desktop at your office, because you’ll only be able to access this software from this specific computer.

Large nonprofits typically use onsite CRM software because they have the staff and resources to maintain it. While this type of CRM is often less desirable because it’s only accessible from one location, it can be more secure than cloud-based programs.

5. What can CRMs track?

As previously mentioned, CRMs track all kinds of donor data, but they even track the type of constituents your organization interacts with like:

• Donors
• Staff
• Board members
• Volunteers
• Partners
• Service recipients

CRMs are meant to help you personalize your approach when connecting with donors. With the following information, you’ll have a 360 degree view of your donors:

• Donation history
• Contact information
• Philanthropic interests
• Online engagement
• Volunteer hours
• Communication history
• Custom notes

Because it gives you a personal and warmer edge, CRM software makes the difference when it comes to stewarding donors.

For example, if your donor has previously given to organizations that focus on health, you’ll most likely want to invite her to volunteer at your nonprofit’s next 5K Walk/Run event. This way, she’ll feel as though your nonprofit values her interests just as much as you value her support.

6. What are the benefits of CRM software?

CRM software offers plenty of benefits and helpful aspects for nonprofits, which is why it’s such a popular solution.

Centralize Data

Like we’ve mentioned before, your CRM stores all of your data in one, easy-to-access place! This avoids messy data, duplicate records, and any chaos and instead gives you organized data when you need it.

Conduct Social Media Approaches

Many CRM solutions offer social media outreaches that allow you to target online posts right from your software. You can include donors’ social media profiles within their data profiles in your software.

By choosing a CRM that enables social media options, you’ll be able to gain more exposure and potentially expand your donor base.Plus, your donors will be able to interact with your organization on their favorite platforms!

Check out Salsa’s Social Media Marketing Best Practices for even more ways to harness the power social media to further your cause.

Segment Your Lists

While your organization will have all your data neat and tidy thanks to your CRM, you’ll still have to do a little bit of work, like segmenting your constituent lists. This will simply help you approach different donors in the most appropriate ways.

But luckily, your CRM can house both your donor data and your segmented lists to make the process even quicker!

Plan Stellar Events

Most CRM software solutions will also offer tools that can help offer your donors the best and most convenient experiences while you simplify the event planning!

You’ll be able to track attendees’ RSVPs through your custom made forms, you can keep track of online ticket sales, and you’ll even be able to add all gained information into your donor profiles.

Check out Double the Donation’s Fundraising Event Tools for Nonprofits for more helpful software.

Project Management

You can even use your CRM to manage your staff and volunteers. You’ll be able to manage reviews, track time, and create workflows and other duties that can then be assigned to different board members, staff members, or volunteers!

Your CRM software can help with relationships outside of just donors, too!

Generate Reports

Most CRM providers will offer customizable reports, so you can focus on what you want to, in order to further what’s important: your cause.

Reports can impact your fundraising, as you’ll learn from your mistakes. With reports, you can determine where your organization fell short so you’ll know to adjust and improve your efforts for your next campaign. The same goes for donor relations, too!

Plus, all these reports are up-to-date for the most accurate, helpful information!

7. How can I use a CRM to fundraise?

There are endless amounts of opportunities your organization can use your CRM software in, especially when it comes to fundraising. To give you some ideas, we’ll cover how you can use it for matching gifts!

As you most likely know, matching gifts are corporate programs that give eligible employees the chance to double their donations. For example, if an employee with an eligible employer donates to a nonprofit and submits a matching gifts request, the employer will match the employee’s donation to the nonprofit, ultimately doubling the donation amount.

While not every employer matches the gifts on a 1:1 ratio, there is still a lot of monetary value in matching gifts!

And luckily for your nonprofit, the matching gift information for your donors can be stored in your CRM software, as well. Make sure your matching gift software is integratable with your CRM for the easiest data transfer.

Combining your matching gift tools with your nonprofit management software allows you to check donors’ matching gift eligibility right on the spot. Plus, when you create your custom donation forms, thanks to your CRM, you can include a field for matching gift submissions, too!

And you can even segment your lists to include all matching gift eligible donors on one list. This way, you can send eligible donors matching gift specific emails and information, to maximize your potential donations.

Plus, the more your donors see your organization promoting matching gifts, the more likely they are to submit their requests and help you earn as much as possible!

8. Where do I start my search?

You’ll most likely start your search for the top nonprofit CRMs online, consulting various online reviews and creating lists of providers you think might fit your nonprofit best. Look for the features your organization really needs and think about a solution that can grow as you do before you begin calling vendors.

You’ll want to follow some best practices for shopping around:

• Step 1: Research.This is where you’ll determine what you need from a provider. You’ll keep your requirements in mind as you begin to browse, checking online reviews and ultimately creating a list of vendors with features that would fit your organization.
• Step 2: Contact. Start calling or emailing vendors to get in touch. You’ll need to discuss your organization’s needs with the provider to determine if you’re a good fit.
• Step 3: Request a demo. See the provider’s demo so you can see the ins and outs of their software before you buy and see how user friendly the software really is. Here’s the perfect chance to familiarize yourself with this vendor and clear up any concerns.

Starting your search will require a bit of soul searching for your nonprofit and then a good amount of executed research in order to find the right provider!

Now that you have our guide to nonprofit management software, you should have a full understanding of how an investment in CRM software can really improve your nonprofit organization. Happy managing!

Original Post: https://www.clicktime.com/blog/nonprofit-crm-software-8-things-need-know