Gotta Text 'Em All! SMS!
If you tend to think of text messaging as solely the province of inscrutable emojis, inside jokes with friends (and no, "That's what she said!" is not an inside joke, it just means you're a fan of The Office), and telling your friends you're on your way when you haven't left yet, it's time to update your perception. Texting is no longer just for LOLs and ROTFLs and whatever other hip slang teenagers are using nowadays. Text messages are an integral part of our everyday communication, and many of your supporters may prefer to hear from you via text. The data backs this up: some studies report open rates of 98% for text messages, vs. 20% for emails, on average.
This is why we recently introduced SMS messaging via automation, and now we're taking things up a level to reach a wider audience. That's right, this release includes the ability to send bulk messages via SMS!
Just select an existing SMS template to get started. You'll even be able to see a preview of your message.
Then, you can create your recipient list on the fly by using filters or select an existing Individual query to define your audience.
You'll be able to schedule your message in advance, or send it right away.
This will make it easy to send out a quick appeal for support, or mobilize volunteers for an upcoming event.
All sent SMS messages can be reviewed from the Sent SMS messages screen, and sent messages—and replies—will be visible in the Activity Feed on Contact records.
Want to learn more about mass texting? Of course you do! Luckily, you can check out this article to get the full scoop.
Get Smart (Tags)
Would you believe that we found a way to make tags even better? (Will ANYONE even get this "Get Smart" reference?) We know, tags are already handy for tracking communication preferences and donor segments. But what if tags could be a little smarter?
Hmm...smarter, you say?
Well, what a coincidence! Enter Smart Tags.
Now, you'll be able to define rules on tags to have them automatically applied to or removed from Contact records, or set them to expire after a certain length of time, all without the need to create an automated workflow.
Smart Tags also come in two delicious flavors: Expiring and Threshold-based.
Expiring Tags can be set to expire on a set calendar date, or after they have been on a Contact record for a specific number of days. The expiration date will always be visible when viewing tags on a Contact record.
Threshold-based Tags will be automatically added to (or removed from, we're equal opportunity here) Contact records when they match a specific giving threshold. You can select a giving statistic and define the threshold when configuring your tag.
You can dive right in and start exploring Smart Tags, but if you'd like to learn more, this article has you covered.
Where in the World Are...Your Users?
This is a special one, going out to all the Admins out there.
If you've ever wanted to see login details and locations for your users, this is the release for you. And if you haven't ever wanted to see them, well then this is STILL the release for you, because data security (and user security) is always important.
On the Team Members tab, you'll be able to see the date and location of the most recent login for each user, and even download the login history for all users over the last 90 days.
Users will need to log out in order to log in, so you may not see login statistics for all users right away.
But wait... (here it comes, we love this part) THERE'S MORE!
With this change, now users logging in from unfamiliar locations will receive an email alerting them to a potentially suspicious login, with a reminder to update their password, just in case.
Developer's Corner
Last week, we sent out information on API changes for this release to everyone signed up for our Developer Digest emails.
This month's update includes two updated endpoints and an announcement of the end of support for TLS versions 1.0 and 1.1.
If you are a developer, or if you just like to stay in the know on all the high-tech goings-on around here, just reply to this email and let us know, or use the support messenger to contact us.
...And the Rest
As with every release, this month's update also includes a number of other fixes, tweaks, minor modifications, and assorted nudges. Among this month's assorted fixes:
- Syncing gift data to Quickbooks Desktop is hard enough, given that Quickbooks requires a super-duper special .IIF file type. We're doing our part to make things easier: now, from the Organization Settings in Virtuous, you can customize the mapping of your data for the Account, Class, and Item fields in the .IIF file export.
- Look but don't touch is good advice when sitting by a campfire or visiting the Louvre, and now it also applies to Event Invitations on Contact records (yes, that was a big leap). With this release, you'll be able to click and simply view an Event Invitation from the Events tab on a Contact record, without having to edit it.
- Hey, no one likes having to scroll forever to find and select export fields when exporting a query. If you find yourself getting seasick from scrolling too much, you'll be thrilled to learn that you can now use a search bar to find just the right export fields, no scrolling (or maybe minimum scrolling, look, we don't know how big your monitor is) required.
- Projects are no longer just for outgoing grants. No sirree! Now shy, introverted...whoops, no wait...incoming grants can be linked to a Project as well. Just search for an existing Project when creating a new grant.
- We squashed a few bugs that were preventing some users from accessing the full DonorSearch profile on Contacts with wealth data, and added some clearer error messaging for cases where wealth data can't be found. We like to stay on prospect researchers' good side 😁.
- We've refreshed the edit view on events, grants, and volunteer opportunities to use the same slide-out form used everywhere else. Because consistency.
- Who doesn't love page numbers? Well, we've added page numbers to the bottom of the Data Health screen, so you can click and zoom around to view different pages with a few less clicks than before. It's the little things, really...
- Integration special! Clients using RaiseDonors for online giving will now see the RaiseDonors logo on any gifts that originated in RaiseDonors. So the more you see it, the better your online giving program is performing! Logo-based visual metrics, you heard it here first!
And that's the list! As always, if you have any questions about these or other features, feel free to contact our team using the support widget in Virtuous, or drop us a line at support@virtuous.org.