We are already working on the next phase of enhancements to customize the web page structure framework. This structure is currently hard-coded and fixed, but you will soon have the ability to customize the various side bars. With the new enhancements, each area will be customizable to contain an unlimited number of "gadgets" such as banner ads, stories, articles, etc. The cool thing is that we'll be able to put these in e-mails too! Remember that web banner ads can be specific to donor interests. So, imagine sending a newsletter containing ads, stories, featured article links, etc., directed to the recipient's interests! Later, we will further enhance the banner ad and article selectors to pick items based on age, demographics, loyal contributor date, leadership levels, etc. For example, ADT leaders over 50 could receive ads about your planned giving program or an upcoming gala event.

Excited so far? Wait, there's more!

Let's take it a step further. As some of you may know, the new profile report first generates a web page and then prints it to PDF format. We will reuse the editor we've just implemented in the profile notes to build the main body of thank you letters and then use the same printing engine as the profile report to generate complete thank you letters ready to print–in full color–without exporting and merging with MSWord! Oh, and while we're at it, we could add a side bar right on the thank you letter with donor-specific ads, stories, etc. Since we can do this on the web and in e-mails, we can do it for thank you letters as well. The same strategy can also be used to generate receipts and statements. Full color thank you letters, receipts, and statements will be prepared as PDFs that can be e-mailed to donors, sent to be mass printed off-site or printed on your own color printers.

Marketing folks call this approach "TransPromo" (Google it!) meaning transaction promotion (i.e., adding promotional material to transaction-related documents such as statements). They also use the terms TransInfo (information) and TransEd (education). The basic idea is to up-sell, cross-sell, and inform customers using standard communication media such as statements. The CRM part of this strategy is to be "recipient specific." Statements produced with Andar would be customized specifically for each donor based on their age, demographics, interests, etc. Many large financial institutions accomplish this using very expensive specialized printer technologies. Soon, you will be able to do this too, without investing millions.

The Andar patch scheduled for the end of next week will contain the side bar customization engine with interest-based banner ads and a few other gadgets, and we can expect the thank you letter "TransPromo" enhancements before the end of 2009.

Looking forward to seeing many of you there.

Lao-Tzu