Avoiding technical overwhelm when there are too many tools

I've spent the past few days looking at various sales CRM (customer relationship management) tools, like Salesforce, SugarCRM, and a few others.  I've also been looking at a few automated marketing tools...ones that would enable an easier way of staying in touch with nonprofits who are interested in what we do here at IT For Change.

As I went deeper into the list of possibilities, two things increased:  the cost of the tools, and the complexity.  One important thing decreased however:  my sense of certainty that I really needed these tools to do a great job.  It was a nagging feeling, and I wasn't sure what to do.  It seemed that if I had these new CRM tools and automated marketing tools that I could save time, be more efficient, communicate better with my existing clients as well as share information with potential new nonprofit partners.

But I didn't like basing decisions on "feelings"....especially as these tools can quickly run up to costs of almost $10,000 per year!

Back to basics:  write out what you are trying to accomplish

I needed to write it all down.  Having goals like "save time, be more efficient, communicate better" were too ambiguous for me to work with....so I made a spreadsheet. 

At the top I listed the various technical solutions, and then I had rows including any pricing (annual, monthly, one-time costs etc) and features.  I then color coded the features...green was for "really feel this is a necessary improvement", yellow was for "I'm not sure, maybe this is cool but not necessary".

What workflow are you looking to improve?

Additionally, since I was talking around saving time and becoming more efficient, I had to write down the workflow of what I was trying to do.  In my case, there will be significant overlap between what I am trying to accomplish and what nonprofit marketing people may be trying to accomplish at certain times.

Here's the workflow I was considering:

1. A person on a social media channel clicks on a link to content on IT For Change (or, they come to the site via Google search etc).
2. Once on the website, the person needs to be able to access the information they need easily.
3. If the person was interested in receiving information in the future, I wanted to be able to send them relevant content in a simple way.

Here's where the CRM and marketing tools could start to make my life easier.  The same may be true for your nonprofit.  If you have some type of CRM (in the nonprofit world this is a Contact Resource Management tool), you can start to use it to save time by using automation features where possible.

Listing your requirements and desired outcomes

Requirement #1:  The CRM tool must be capable of doing what is called "web to lead".  This means when a visitor fills out a form saying "Hey, send me more information in the future please", that form data is automatically populated in the CRM.

Desired Outcome:  saves me time, and eliminates the chance that any request for information gets ignored in the future.

Current Situation:  At present the way it currently works in the basic Drupal "webform" configuration is the website visitor fills out a form, Drupal alerts me that there is a new form submitted...and then....well, nothing "automated" happens after that.  It's manual labour to take the form data and put it in some sort of database.  Blah!

Requirement #2:  The CRM tool must be able to be fully integrated with some sort of email newsletter tool.  I didn't want data siloing...importing and exporting lists. 

Desired Outcome:  saves me time, eliminates duplication of data.

Current Situation:  If I want to send a newsletter or other content to groups of people, I need to use a third party mailing tool like Constant Contact or Mailchimp.  Those tools work well...but that is a completely separate database.  I don't like the idea of having my data spread all around.  It's wasting time, and increases the chance of something falling through the cracks.

Requirement #3:  I want to know if people are opening emails etc, but I don't want dodgy intrusive tracking.

Desired Outcome:  keep an ongoing dialogue with those interested in nonprofit technology, not annoy those who aren't interested, and not be a cyber stalker!

Current Situation:  I haven't been focused on creating newsletters etc in the past, but I am moving in that direction.  One thing I want to know is if people were actually opening the emails etc sent to them (easy to do in third party mail tools, but is this easy in a mailing tool that is integrated with a CRM?  Hmm!).  If they weren't opening the email, you certainly don't want to keep sending them information that could be perceived as annoying or spam.  Now, here things got a little bit sticky...because there are marketing tools out there that can let you know every single thing a visitor is doing to on your website...including what pages they clicked on, how long they spent on each page, what links they clicked etc.  You might think this is the same as Google Analytics, but it's not.  With Google Analytics your visitors are "anonymous".  Once somebody has filled out a form on your website however, there are tactics by which you can track what they do.  I decided to do this the old-fashioned way and keep out of that level of inquisitiveness.

Stepping back and seeing where you are

At this point I already had a pretty good grid built up, and once I assigned the prices and checked off whether or not potential solutions offered the desired features, I was ready to make a decision.

Well, here's the unfortunate part...there wasn't a particular solution that met my needs and my budget.  There is a suite of 2 or 3 tools that I can demo together and see if that will get the job done...but I'm not sure if it's going to be worth the hassle and time.  Fortunately I no longer have to make my decisions based on feelings.  I have a workflow written down, and I can test the proposed solution against that workflow and the desired improvements.  I also have a spreadsheet listing costs and available features.

I have gone from overwhelm to disappointment (just being honest) that I couldn't find my magic bullet.  The good news is that I can move on now...I won't be spending more hours & days looking for some arbitrary solution to an arbitrary set of problems.

The takeaway

Seeking improvements in your efficiency, your data tracking, or other routine tasks is an excellent idea.  However, in a world that is continuously adding tool upon tool, it is a very good idea to write out the workflow you are trying to improve in advance, and prepare a spreadsheet including places to track the product name, all associated costs, and a listing of features that you can color code or tag as "necessary" or "nice to have".  In cases where you are seeking solutions that are non-trivial, the above steps will save you time and a lot of going around in circles.