How the American Red Cross Gained 1,000,000 Donor Email Addresses with AtData

Synopsis

The American National Red Cross uses the AtData email appending service to boost digital sign-ups, by far the organization’s most effective method of scheduling blood & platelet donations.

The newly appended addresses contributed to tripling digital sign-ups while significantly reducing operating expenses for its Biomedical services unit.

Background

The American National Red Cross is a world-renowned humanitarian organization and the largest supplier of blood and blood products in the world. The organization relies on blood and platelet donations to drive revenues, and needs to collect more than 15,000 units of blood every day to meet demand.

The decision to invest in email database services was driven by The Red Cross placing a very high value on donation appointments scheduled digitally but it lacked the donor email addresses necessary to shift more registrations online.

Challenge: High Scheduling Costs & Poor Donor Turnout

Reaching donors via telephone to schedule appointments, the organization’s primary method of sourcing, was proving to be an increasingly expensive and ineffective venture. Potential donors reached via telephone frequently failed to attend scheduled appointments.

• The Red Cross knew that donation appointments scheduled digitally cost 75% less to set than those made through its tele-registration system and that donors who schedule online are 2X more likely to donate multiple times per year.
• However, the Red Cross was missing email addresses for millions of donors. Without these addresses, the organization lacked an effective way to schedule more appointments digitally. This was beginning to put its business model and ability to meet demand in jeopardy.

AtData Solution: Email Appending

The American Red Cross has added nearly 1,000,000 donor email addresses to its database with the AtData email appending service.

The new supply of guaranteed deliverable donor email addresses provided by AtData contributed to the Red Cross tripling digital sign-ups in its first year of usage. This helped the organization reduce donor attrition, when donations came close to being flat for the first time in many years.

It also facilitated a cost savings associated with lower call center expenses and wasted rental space at hospitals. These improvements played a key role in driving a 7.1% or $132,900 reduction in operating expenses for the organization’s Biomedical services unit.