Case Study - The Humane Society

About The Humane Society

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and its international counterpart, Humane Society International (HSI) – leading nonprofits in the animal protection space with work in more than 50 countries – manage extensive email databases to communicate with donors and supporters.

They were facing challenges with email list hygiene, outdated records, and managing rapid international growth, resulting in deliverability issues and emails landing in spam folders.

Their email records are indispensable for securing donations, rallying volunteers, and mobilizing action takers to speak up for animals in need. Every clean, valid email address translates directly into potential support for their mission, ensuring more animals get the care and protection they deserve.

“Our goal and mission is to protect animals everywhere, and our partnership with AtData brings us closer to that mission, allowing us to reach more donors and ultimately support more animals in need.”

— Gabby Green, Email Director for the Humane Society family of organizations

The Challenge

• Large, Fragmented Databases: With millions of records accumulated over years and through different, outdated systems, maintaining data hygiene was a daunting task.
• International Growth: Rapid expansion led to a surge in data volume and complexity.
• Deliverability Issues: The US domain faced problems due to inadequate data cleaning and spam traps, severely impacting email campaigns.
• Lack of Real-Time Validation: Reliance on ad hoc tools lacked seamless, real-time validation processes integrated within their CRM.

The Solution

As Email Director for the Humane Society family of organizations, Gabby Green sought a reliable solution to ensure their emails reached the right audience. AtData was chosen for its deliverability guarantee, real-time validation, and spam trap detection.

• Initial Batch Validation: The organization’s team started by batch validating their millions of records to clean and validate their lists.
• Real-Time Validation API: Implemented seamless real-time API, enabling ongoing validation that integrated easily within existing processes.
• Hands-On Support: AtData’s flexible solution runs nightly email validation, ensuring seamless integration into existing workflows, supporting HSUS/HIS’s specific needs.
• Open Data: Utilizing Open Data, they identified active email addresses to re-engage previously unresponsive leads, boosting donation results.

Results & Benefits

By partnering with AtData, they not only improved email deliverability but also maximized donor engagement and fundraising efficiency. Validating and cleaning their email lists has preserved their sender reputation and supported their mission of helping animals worldwide.

• Increased Deliverability: By eliminating invalid emails and spam traps, they increased their sender reputation and maintain it even while adding 200,000 new emails annually.
• Higher Engagement Rates: Key marketing metrics such as open, click, and conversion rates increased after implementing AtData’s email validation.
• Data Recovery: Using AtData’s Open Data, they identified previously unengaged leads for a key retargeting initiative. These were integrated during peak fundraising times, resulting in additional revenue raised.
• Cost-Effective ROI: For a modest investment in Open Data, they achieved a return that far outweighed the initial cost, translating to an impressive over 12x return.
• Long-Term Donor Retention: 17% of the Open Data retargeted leads became monthly donors, ensuring a steady stream of ongoing future donations and further ROI.

Conclusion

AtData works with market-leading nonprofits, providing email-centric solutions to help engage donors with the right message at the right place and time. Discover solutions to transform your email list into a powerful tool for growth. Boost deliverability, re-engage your audience, and maximize ROI with proven strategies.