Context and challenge
A Digital Trust Builders client needed to manage contacts, prospects, paid members, supporters and blog content. Costs had to remain proportionate, while services to its audience were expected to help finance the organisation.
Paul’s responsibility was to select a platform that supported both audience development and the practical work of subscriptions and donations.
Actions
Paul first tested demand through a landing page using Ontraport, collecting contact details from 8,000 prospects. The test also exposed a problem: creating a paid subscription was cumbersome and time-consuming.
After a couple of months, he exported the database, closed the account and researched alternatives. He selected NationBuilder because it better supported the client’s subscription and donation workflows, while recognising that its user experience still required effort.
The decision was grounded in actual use: acquiring contacts mattered, but the platform also had to make the next stage of the relationship workable.
Results
The replacement platform supported the client as its database reached 100,000 contacts and annual paying membership reached 2,000. A later point recorded in the same worksheet shows 120,000 email subscribers and 4,000 annual paying members.
These figures describe the client’s development over time. They are not presented as results caused by the software alone, and the later milestone refers to the historical worksheet, not to the present day.
What this case demonstrates
Platform selection is a business decision. A tool must support the audience’s next action and the organisation’s operating model, as well as collect contact details.
Historical case study based on a worksheet last modified in August 2022. Figures describe the milestones recorded at that time. This article is one of three complementary perspectives on potentially overlapping work; their results should not be added together.