Did you know that nearly 40% of the world’s current websites use WordPress? And for good reason! It’s free, completely customizable, and open-source, which means developers can create custom applications for various functionalities. At Redstart Creative, we use WordPress because we find it to be flexible yet secure, making it an obvious and easy recommendation for our clients.
One of the questions we often hear from our clients is how they can sync their website with their customer relationship management (CRM) system, especially in relation to donations. CRMs are essential to any successful fundraising operation, as they allow development officers to track conversations with prospects and donors, donations made, and their engagement with your organization. And one of the most popular CRM platforms out there is Salesforce. Together, with WordPress, they can be a powerful tool.
Here’s the tricky part: Salesforce and WordPress don’t speak the same language. They are two different systems with different sets of data — and tons of data isn’t very useful if there’s no real follow-through. For example, let’s say you have an event module on your website. Someone registers — and then what? Do you have one of your staff or volunteers manually transfer that data into your CRM? How do you follow up with that individual for more events or interactions, including requests for donations? There has to be a better way.
Fortunately, there are! There are numerous tools out there that make it possible to make WordPress and Salesforce speak to each other and put the data to work. One of our favorite plugins is called WP Fusion, which can sync data between WordPress and Salesforce. Here’s how it works:
Automatic Sync
If someone registers for any event on your WordPress website, that information can be sent to Salesforce directly. You can also collect information for users who subscribe to your newsletter or make a donation, all without having to do a single bit of manual data entry. Perfect for nonprofit organizations, who are often juggling many projects and hats.
Easy Setup
Once you authorize with Salesforce, log in to WP Fusion, and allow WP Fusion to access Salesforce, the biggest lift is deciding which type of tags (a keyword or term assigned to a piece of information) you want to integrate into WP Fusion.
One caveat: this might require some work on your end making sure that the tags you use in Salesforce are clean and up to date so that any information coming through from WordPress goes where you can easily find it!
Relationship Management
Being able to track what sort of actions a donor, volunteer, or prospect has taken on your website can be a huge benefit in terms of recognizing their interests and priorities. From there, you can take that knowledge and make it part of the conversation when approaching an individual and inviting them to engage more deeply with your organization.
At the end of the day, nonprofit organizations rely on data to inform their prospect research and their leads, among other things. Syncing Salesforce with your WordPress website makes it easier for your staff to shift their focus on strategic priorities instead of data entry.
If you’re looking to explore integrations to sync Salesforce with WordPress, we’d love to help! We’ve been building websites that integrate seamlessly with various CRMs for more than 13 years and would be happy to lend our expertise to your project. Get in touch with us to get started!
