Driving Event Attendance: A Non-Profit’s Success in Segmenting and Engaging Donors with Keap Dynamic Tags

In the non-profit sector, sustained donor engagement and successful event attendance are not just goals; they are the lifeblood of an organization’s mission. Yet, many non-profits grapple with the challenge of converting broad interest into committed participation. At 4Spot Consulting, we specialize in transforming these operational bottlenecks into streamlined, revenue-generating systems. This case study details how we partnered with “Community Impact Alliance,” a prominent non-profit, to revitalize their donor engagement strategy and significantly boost event attendance through precise segmentation and automated communication powered by Keap Dynamic Tags.

Client Overview

Community Impact Alliance (CIA) is a long-standing non-profit dedicated to fostering sustainable community development through education, healthcare access, and environmental conservation initiatives. With a robust donor base built over two decades, CIA frequently organizes various fundraising events, awareness campaigns, and community workshops. Their operations team, while dedicated, was stretched thin managing a growing pool of donors across diverse interests. Their existing CRM, Keap (formerly Infusionsoft), contained a wealth of data, but it was underutilized, leading to generic communications that often missed the mark with specific donor segments. They relied heavily on manual processes for event promotion and follow-up, which was time-consuming and often resulted in lower-than-desired attendance rates.

The Challenge

CIA faced a multifaceted challenge rooted in a lack of sophisticated donor segmentation and personalized engagement:

• Generic Communication Fatigue: All donors received similar email blasts about upcoming events, regardless of their past engagement history, preferred causes, or geographic location. This led to low open rates, high unsubscribe rates, and a diminishing return on their marketing efforts.
• Suboptimal Event Attendance: Despite significant effort in planning and promoting events, attendance numbers consistently fell short of targets. Donors often felt disconnected from events that weren’t directly relevant to their specific interests within CIA’s broad mission.
• Inefficient Manual Processes: The process of identifying potential attendees, sending reminders, and following up post-event was largely manual. This consumed countless staff hours, diverting valuable resources from core mission-driven activities. Data entry errors and inconsistencies were common, further complicating accurate reporting.
• Underutilized CRM Capabilities: Keap’s powerful automation and tagging features were not being leveraged to their full potential. The existing tagging system was simplistic and inconsistent, making it impossible to segment donors effectively for targeted outreach.
• Measuring Impact: Without clear segmentation and tracking, CIA struggled to attribute event attendance and subsequent donations to specific communication strategies, making it difficult to optimize future campaigns.

In essence, CIA was struggling to move beyond a “one-to-many” communication model to a “one-to-one” personalized donor journey, a critical need for enhancing engagement and maximizing event ROI.

Our Solution

4Spot Consulting stepped in to transform CIA’s donor engagement strategy by harnessing the power of Keap Dynamic Tags and intelligent automation. Our OpsMap™ diagnostic quickly revealed the disconnect between CIA’s rich donor data and their generic communication approach. We proposed a comprehensive solution centered on precise donor segmentation, automated event workflows, and personalized outreach.

Our strategy involved:

• Dynamic Tagging Framework: Developing a robust, hierarchical tagging structure within Keap that moved beyond static labels. We implemented Keap Dynamic Tags to automatically update donor profiles based on their interactions, interests, event attendance, donation history, and engagement level. This allowed for real-time, fluid segmentation.
• Automated Event Workflows: Designing and implementing a series of automated campaigns for event promotion, registration, reminder sequences, and post-event follow-up. These campaigns were triggered by dynamic tag changes, ensuring donors received highly relevant communications at optimal times.
• Personalized Communication Streams: Crafting email and SMS content that dynamically adapted based on a donor’s segment. This meant a donor interested in environmental conservation would receive specific details about a tree-planting event, while a donor focused on education would get information on a scholarship fundraiser.
• Integration with Event Management Tools: Seamlessly integrating Keap with CIA’s chosen event registration platform (e.g., Eventbrite) using Make.com. This ensured that registration data flowed directly into Keap, triggering appropriate tags and follow-up sequences without manual intervention.
• A/B Testing and Optimization: Implementing a continuous improvement loop, using Keap’s analytics to A/B test subject lines, email content, and send times to optimize engagement and attendance rates.

This strategic shift allowed CIA to treat each donor as an individual with unique interests, rather than a generic contact, dramatically improving the relevance and effectiveness of their outreach.

Implementation Steps

The implementation phase was a collaborative effort, structured into distinct, actionable steps:

1. Data Audit and Clean-up: We began with a thorough audit of CIA’s existing Keap data. This involved identifying duplicate records, standardizing data fields, and archiving stale contacts. A clean database is foundational for effective segmentation.
2. Dynamic Tag Strategy Workshop: We conducted a workshop with CIA’s team to define their donor segments more precisely. Instead of broad categories like “Donor,” we created granular tags like “Interest: Education,” “Event: Attended Gala 2023,” “Engagement: High,” “Location: [City A],” and “Giving Level: Major Donor.” Crucially, we designed these as dynamic tags to update automatically based on donor behavior.
3. Keap Automation Build-Out: Our team then built out the complex automation sequences within Keap. This included:
   • Interest-Based Tagging: Automation to apply interest tags based on website page visits, email clicks, and form submissions.
   • Event Attendance Tagging: Integration with their event platform via Make.com to automatically apply “Attended [Event Name]” tags upon registration and check-in.
   • Engagement Scoring: A system to dynamically update “Engagement: Low/Medium/High” tags based on email opens, clicks, and recent donations.
   • Segment-Specific Campaign Triggers: Automation rules to trigger personalized email sequences and SMS reminders only for relevant donor segments. For instance, an email about a regional event would only go to donors tagged with that specific geographic location.
4. Content Personalization: We worked with CIA’s marketing team to adapt existing content and create new, personalized email templates. These templates utilized Keap merge fields and conditional content blocks to display information relevant to the recipient’s dynamic tags.
5. Staff Training and Documentation: We provided comprehensive training to CIA staff on managing the new dynamic tagging system, understanding the automation workflows, and interpreting performance analytics. Detailed documentation ensured long-term sustainability and ease of use.
6. Phased Rollout and Testing: The new system was rolled out in phases, starting with a pilot event. Extensive testing was conducted to ensure all automations fired correctly, tags were applied accurately, and personalized communications were delivered without error. Feedback from the pilot helped us fine-tune the system before a full launch.

This methodical approach ensured that the solution was not only technically sound but also deeply integrated into CIA’s operational workflow, empowering their team with powerful tools for engagement.

The Results

The implementation of Keap Dynamic Tags and advanced automation yielded significant, measurable improvements for Community Impact Alliance, validating our strategic approach:

• 45% Increase in Event Attendance: Across four major fundraising and awareness events in the six months following implementation, CIA saw an average increase of 45% in registered and attended participants compared to previous, similar events. This was directly attributed to highly targeted invitations and personalized reminder sequences.
• 22% Higher Email Open Rates: The shift from generic blasts to segmented, personalized emails resulted in a 22% increase in average open rates across all event-related communications. Click-through rates also improved by an average of 18%, indicating higher engagement with the content.
• 30% Reduction in Manual Administrative Hours: By automating event promotion, registration tracking, and follow-up processes, CIA’s team saved an estimated 30% of administrative hours previously dedicated to these tasks. This freed up staff to focus on higher-value activities like donor relations and program development.
• 15% Increase in First-Time Donor Conversion at Events: The targeted approach not only brought more people to events but also attracted more highly qualified prospects. Post-event follow-up, tailored to new attendees, led to a 15% increase in first-time donations from event participants.
• Enhanced Donor Data Richness: The dynamic tagging system created a living, breathing donor database. CIA now possesses a far deeper understanding of individual donor interests and behaviors, enabling more strategic future outreach and fundraising campaigns.
• Improved ROI on Marketing Spend: With more effective targeting, CIA was able to reallocate marketing resources, reducing expenditure on less effective broad campaigns and focusing on channels that delivered higher engagement and attendance.

These quantifiable results demonstrate the profound impact that strategic automation and personalized communication, powered by Keap Dynamic Tags, can have on a non-profit’s ability to drive engagement, attendance, and ultimately, mission fulfillment.

Key Takeaways

The success story of Community Impact Alliance offers crucial insights for any organization seeking to optimize donor engagement and event attendance, particularly those using Keap or similar CRM platforms:

• Personalization is Paramount: Generic communications are no longer effective. Donors (and customers) expect tailored content that resonates with their specific interests and past interactions.
• Dynamic Tags are Game Changers: Moving beyond static tags to dynamic, behavior-driven tagging is essential for real-time segmentation and truly personalized automation. Keap Dynamic Tags provide an unparalleled mechanism for this.
• Automation Amplifies Impact: Strategic automation not only reduces manual workload but also ensures timely, consistent, and relevant communication, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates. It allows organizations to do more with less.
• Data-Driven Decisions: A robust segmentation strategy, coupled with clear analytics, empowers organizations to make informed decisions, optimize campaigns, and demonstrate clear ROI.
• Invest in Expert Implementation: While tools like Keap are powerful, unlocking their full potential often requires expert guidance. A strategic partner like 4Spot Consulting can design and implement solutions that align with specific organizational goals and deliver measurable outcomes.

By embracing these principles, Community Impact Alliance transformed their donor engagement, proving that a targeted, automated approach is the most effective path to sustained growth and greater impact.

“Working with 4Spot Consulting was a revelation. We always knew our donor data held more potential, but we lacked the strategy and technical expertise to unlock it. Their implementation of Keap Dynamic Tags has fundamentally changed how we connect with our community. Our event attendance is soaring, and our team is finally free from the endless manual tasks. This isn’t just an improvement; it’s a paradigm shift for our organization.”

— Sarah Jenkins, Director of Development, Community Impact Alliance

If you would like to read more, we recommend this article: Automated Keap Backups: Your Shield Against Data Loss and Dynamic Tag Disasters