How Canadian Red Cross Improved Donor Journeys & Insights with HubSpot’s Connected Platform

CRC’s primary goal was to improve its donor experience by building a connected technology ecosystem.

They needed to improve data consistency and alignment across their tech stack, ensuring a seamless flow of accurate information to encourage data-driven decisions. By implementing an optimized HubSpot platform, the Philanthropy team aimed to focus on high-value activities, such as strategic planning and creative campaign development.

Prior to onboarding with HubSpot, CRC found themselves working with a patchwork of different systems that ultimately created an inconsistent experience for their donors. 

They needed an integrated fundraising platform to improve visibility across donor journeys to make reporting and strategic decision-making more effective.

Fragmented Data Across Multiple Systems

CRC used a mix of tools across various departments, creating data silos and a fragmented understanding of donor activities. Without proper integrations, CRC lacked a unified view of donors, limiting their ability to personalize outreach and effectively track donor journeys.

Brock Potter, Senior Manager of Email Marketing, explained that the monthly task of manually importing and exporting data to keep data across each platform consistent had become a routine burden, taking up 10 hours each month.

Manual Time-Consuming Processes

The lack of automation meant CRC relied on cumbersome manual processes to execute campaigns, such as performing A/B tests manually. The previous ESP's underdeveloped capabilities forced CRC to export data, split it manually, and re-import it for every campaign tested. Brock described this as "a huge time waster," highlighting the inefficiencies that overwhelmed the team and increased their workload.

These cumbersome processes extended beyond testing, affecting various aspects of campaign management and reporting. The reliance on these manual workarounds not only created inefficiencies but also overwhelmed the team, increasing their workload and wasting valuable time.

Donor Insights and Experience

The disjointed systems negatively affected donor experience, preventing CRC from gaining a holistic view of their supporters. Without this insight, personalizing communications and strengthening relationships became increasingly difficult.

Jessica emphasized, “The way people want to give is changing. The way people want to be communicated to is changing.” 

To meet these shifting expectations, CRC needed a solution that could offer a unified, holistic view of its donors and enable a more personalized approach.

To streamline their operations and enhance donor engagement, we partnered with CRC to implement HubSpot's Marketing Hub and Sales Hub, and integrate the platform with Fundraise Up, their donation platform, and Blackbaud, their existing CRM for managing donor data

"We felt like we were getting the best-in-class, modern, user-friendly experience on the online fundraising platform side, as well as in email marketing—the all-in-one marketing software that HubSpot is, you know,” said Jessica.

HubSpot provided a unified, modern platform that integrated CRC’s tools and streamlined their donor engagement efforts.

Strategic Workshop to Define the CRM Strategy

We began the partnership with a strategic workshop designed to assess CRC’s existing systems and identify key areas for improvement. This collaborative session allowed us to map out their donor journey, pinpoint friction points, and outline a tailored HubSpot implementation strategy.

Implementing HubSpot

Following the workshop, we implemented HubSpot Marketing Hub and Sales Hub, along with custom integrations between HubSpot, Fundraise Up, and Blackbaud. These integrations provided a single source of truth, giving CRC a unified view of all donor activity.

Improving Lifecycle Conversion Rates

To optimize the donor journey, we worked closely with CRC to revamp their lead nurturing process. By streamlining subscriber workflows and automating engagement tasks, CRC saw an improvement in conversion rates from subscribers to donors. A new marketing contact status workflow also helped clean up CRC’s database by identifying and managing bounced or unengaged contacts.

With the HubSpot implementation, content forms using progressive fields were built, collecting more detailed information about potential donors; while content download workflows managed the delivery of assets and supported donors throughout their journey.

Donor Experience Optimization

By integrating with Blackbaud, CRC could better segment key donor groups, while the Fundraise Up integration offered instant insights into donation activity. These integrations also allowed for automated workflows, like celebratory emails triggered by donation milestones, which really enhanced the donor experience.

Brock shared, “HubSpot easily does A/B test data splits within emails, and automating thank-you emails based on donation activity has been a game-changer.”