Understanding Your Data
Good marketing and reporting hinges on good data. But how is that data captured and where? And how do I access it simply for reports? Let’s explore in this guide...
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What data Raisely captures
Raisely promotes easy access to as much data as possible on the platform. This enables charities to generate a wide range of reports and use that data to improve their campaigns and their impact.
Data is captured in two ways through Raisely – within forms, and in the background. Form data is what is captured via signup/donation/lead forms and can be viewed through Settings within your campaign. This would include basics such as name, email, address, etc. or custom fields you create. It is all accessible within Reporting.
Background data is not visible on the front end, and include things like user unique identifiers (UUID), interaction data such as emails, or field types. These are also accessible through reports. To view the full list of data captured within Raisely, see
Cheat Sheet: Data Fields. Fields are collected within categories, with each data field containing a Field ID, a unique name given to that data captured.
Custom Fields & Hidden Fields
Many charities need to capture specific data relevant to their specific campaign. Whether that be a field your fundraisers or donors complete, or a hidden field helping you segment and understand your audience, the possibilities are endless.
CUSTOM FIELDS
Raisely enables you to create unlimited custom fields that can be used across your different user form interactions, such as Sign Up Forms or Donation Forms. These then provide you with the flexibility to capture data you can use within Reports, Messages, or even dynamically on site pages.
HIDDEN FIELDS
When adding custom fields to forms you have the option for the field to be visible OR hidden. Hidden fields mean that the user will not see the field when completing the form, but based on certain criteria that field will have data you want to be captured. Hidden fields can also be used to hide a field unless a condition is met.
For example, if you need to capture dietary requirements then you could use hidden fields that display only when a user checks another field asking if they have any dietary requirements.
PURL’s, UTM's, & Content
These days it is more common for someone to land on your site via an email or social media link than it is them entering your site URL directly. Therefore, being able to capture specific data from where they have come from can help you understand your audience and in turn provide them a great user experience. And all this data can be added to a simple button link. Let’s explore...
PURL’s
Personalised URL’s are site addresses that carry extra ‘personalised’ information that can be then used to pre-fill form fields or specific content blocks on your site. By adding a simple query snippet to your URL, you can add custom data or bring across existing data from your existing CRM.
mycampaign.raisely.com/ ?firstName={{firstname}}&email={{email}}
UTM’s & Content Collection
UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) codes are snippets of text added to the end of a URL to help you track where website traffic comes from if users click a link to this URL. Typically this will be an email link and social media links used for particular campaigns. Its value is in helping attribute the success of that campaign to specific pieces of content, since you can know which campaign and from what source your donors/fundraisers relate too.
A classic URL with UTMs looks like:
https://raisely.com?utm_campaign=Appeal2022&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialmedia&
utm_content=headerlink
UTM’s can capture: campaign, source, medium (eg. social media), the content link was on (eg. header link), and terms (used for pay-per-click ads).
Raisely automatically captures all UTM these variables, so you can generate reports, setup webhooks, or view directly in Raisely's Supporter Management space. It attributes any activity to the last UTM combination seen on the page, for up to 30 days.
Raisely also collects some unique content so you can take your analytics deeper. These include: page path, person's user agent (browser & operating system), and referrer (URL of how they arrived at your page).
As mentioned, all this data can be accessed in Reports, webhooks, History Panel in person records, and persons user profile (UTMs only).
Uploading Extra Data
Sometimes you may want to move data you have from other sources into Raisely to create a fuller report. With the help of the database Import, you can upload some of the data you need. To do so, simply:
- 1
- Create a CSV file of the data you are wanting to import. Here is an example spreadsheet containing the fields which you can import.
- 2
- From the sidebar select People, then select Import from the top menu
- 3
- Follow the Importing steps including file upload, field matching, and tags.
- 4
- Select Import and you are done
Connecting Google Analytics
Google can capture a wealth of information from your users' interactions on your site. Connecting your Raisely site with Google Analytics can allow you to take this data and add it as a data source to go alongside your Raisely reporting. Helpful campaign data can include Form abandons, user demographics, popular pages or content, and so much more.
To connect your Raisely campaign with Google Analytics, follow this helpful guide:
Google Analytics
Examples of helpful data to capture
It is worth spending time before you launch your campaign to think through data you wish you had at the end of your campaign. Here are some common examples of custom fields you can add to improve your data reporting.
- Gender - enables support for gender diversity
- Date of Birth - provides age profiles and enables birthday messages
- Special Interests - Helps you understand fundraising experiences you can offer/encourage
- Fundraising/Donation Experience - Helps you understand at what stage they are in their ‘giving journey’, allowing you to offer different levels of support
- What causes are they passionate about - Helps you to place relevant projects and stories in the donor's journey
- Degrees of separation - Helps you understand how close to the cause your donors are
- Communication preferences - Guides you to offer more customised comms journeys that the donor appreciates
- How did you hear about us - helps you understand the relational nature of referrals
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