Feedback from Tony Lee at SOS Children's Villages (Thanks Tony!!):


In the RFM reports, total the columns to see the total for each recency category.

Provide the option to use days or months for recency categories. Days can be confusing in larger ranges (e.g. 2-4 years).

Home page of segment-o-maticuse white boxes on all fields that you can fill instead of gray to avoid missing options.

Include recurring pay-cash and pledge pay-cash in gift type options this is big for us and important to analyze our committed giving programs.

Glitch: we included recurring gift type but it didnt work (the resulting report only categorized by cash gift type, did not include recurring gift type)

In addition to totaling columns, have a totals tab that totals by recency and giving regardless of frequency.

RFM back in time allow user to input the date you are running the report on, i.e. past date to see what your database looked like on that date

Export the report to Excel

Make the Letters customizable. For example, we use S, T, and M for frequency, not ABC.

When Creating Packages, allow user to define order of Assign, for example Prefix then choose RFM order (we do FRM)

Auto update number solicited in packages and appeal based on assignment

Also allow user to input defaults for new packages, such as Date from and To, Category, Notes, Attributes, etc.

Also allow user to input Prefix for package description (we insert the short appeal code)

Some responses on these (very good!) requests inline below:

• In the RFM reports, total the columns to see the total for each recency category. 
Good idea, we may implement this one.
• Provide the option to use days or months for recency categories. Days can be confusing in larger ranges (e.g. 2-4 years). 
We are adding a feature to treat the "bounds" as either days or months.
• Home page of segment-o-matic—use white boxes on all fields that you can fill instead of gray to avoid missing options. 
The text boxes are read-only and can only be set using the dialog button next to them. The standard for that is that they would be grayed out.
• Include recurring pay-cash and pledge pay-cash in gift type options… this is big for us and important to analyze our committed giving programs. 
We will add this, but it will give a warning if a user selects both pledges and pledge pay-cash gifts (same with RG's) because we wouldn't want to double count the pledge and the pledge payments.
• Glitch: we included recurring gift type but it didn’t work (the resulting report only categorized by “cash” gift type, did not include “recurring” gift type) 
We tested but could not duplicate. Is anyone else having issues with RG's?
• In addition to totaling columns, have a totals tab that totals by recency and giving regardless of frequency. 
I think we can get this in.
• RFM back in time – allow user to input the date you are running the report on, i.e. past date to see what your database looked like on that date 
Anyone else have a request for this? It's a bit more complex than it sounds, because also need to change our date boundaries to match the "end date".
• Export the report to Excel 
Though the report is an HTML file, you can open/edit it just fine in Excel (because it is table-based).
• Make the “Letters” customizable. For example, we use S, T, and M for frequency, not ABC. 
This is possible, but a little more difficult than it sounds. Anyone else have this request near the top of their list?
• When Creating Packages, allow user to define order of Assign, for example Prefix then choose RFM order (we do FRM) 
This one seems reasonable for a future update. Anyone else do this?
• Auto update number solicited in packages and appeal based on assignment 
This is already an option when not using segment as the package code. We'll extend it to that functionality as well.
• Also allow user to input defaults for new packages, such as Date from and To, Category, Notes, Attributes, etc. 
Not a bad idea.
• Also allow user to input Prefix for package description (we insert the short appeal code) 
 Anyone else do this?

Thanks Tony! What ideas/thoughts does everyone else have?

 

One of the things I noticed is the appeal choice box. I would like to see a search box like you see in RE rather than a drop down box. The drop down does not put them in ABC order either. Would be easier to search it seems.

Good point Tony. We've got the list sorted now (for the forthcoming update) and we'll keep our ears open for requests for an appeal search dialog screen.

Hello all,

We have two more suggestions:
1. Allow for terminated and/or held recurring gifts to not be counted during segmentation
2. Allow user to define who receives credit for soft credits (donor, recipient, both)

Thanks,
Tony
Development Services Manager
SOS Children's Villages-USA