Center for Responsible Lending
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"Convio is extremely easy to use — this was a huge selling point for us — and the step-by-step processes for launching campaigns don't require any specialized technical knowledge. Importing our database into Convio was also unbelievably simple and the data integrity was maintained."
- Ellen Schloemer, research and communications director, Center for Responsible Lending |
About the Center for Responsible Lending
The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and policy organization dedicated to protecting home ownership and family wealth by working to eliminate abusive financial practices. CRL is affiliated with Self-Help, one of the nation's largest community development financial institutions. In 2002, Self-Help established CRL to advocate on a national level for policy solutions to abusive lending practices. Since then, CRL has conducted or commissioned landmark studies on a variety of predatory lending issues and their impact on borrowers. They have also supported state efforts to combat predatory lending and worked for regulatory changes to require responsible practices among lenders nationwide.
- Due to system limitations, staff dedicated an inordinate amount of time to create and send emails to thousands of subscribers
- Previous solution was not scalable; as CRL's list grew, the time required to execute mass email campaigns would increase considerably
- Deliverability became a time-consuming challenge; lone technology staff member had to manage and maintain relationship with ISP to ensure organization's emails weren't blacklisted;
- Inability to launch targeted, personalized, and integrated online campaigns
- Web site updates required the expertise of the one technically trained person on staff
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- In June 2005, selected Convio to power its online email and advocacy campaigns, as well as its Web site
- Able to create and send large numbers of emails in less than 30 minutes, as opposed to an entire day with previous system
- Convio maintains whitelist status with major ISPs, such as AOL, which results in improved delivery of fully functional email, with working hyperlinks and images
- "What You See Is What You Get" (WYSIWYG) editor and page templates allow content owners to make Web site changes without the help of a technical expert; workflow functionality ensures that updates are approved before they go live
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- Within a year, CRL grew its list by 240%, launched 29 email campaigns with an impressive average open rate of 26.6% and delivery rates of over 97%
- Viral marketing efforts are successful, with eight advocacy campaigns resulting in an 8% Tell-a-Friend recruitment rate
- Rate of sign-ups from both advocacy and email alerts has skyrocketed — about ten times as many new subscribers each month
- Web site text is easily updated in a timely manner, and site content is closely integrated with CRL's current outreach and action campaigns
- CRL now has an online platform to easily work with partner organizations in a way that maximizes the power of co-branded advocacy campaigns
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