She said no phone calls, and we called her
A supporter rings to say she would like post only, no phone calls and no emails about events. The person who answers updates her record in the database. But the email tool has its own subscriber list, the events team exports a separate list for challenge event promotions, and the telephone fundraising agency was given a file last quarter. She gets an email about the sponsored walk two days later, and a call the following month.
When she complains, nobody can say quickly where her preferences were recorded, when, and which list the call came from. Everybody is apologetic and slightly worried.
Why preferences split apart
Every tool a charity uses to contact people comes with its own opt-out mechanism and its own list. Nothing joins them unless someone builds the join.
- Mailchimp, Dotdigital or your email tool records unsubscribes but does not tell the CRM.
- Event registration forms ask their own questions with their own wording.
- Paper forms at events record choices that are entered weeks later.
- Lists are exported to agencies, mailing houses and volunteers, and those copies go stale.
- Preferences are stored as a single tick box rather than per channel and per purpose.
- Nobody records where or when a preference was given, so conflicting records cannot be resolved.
The problem is architectural. Each system is right about the choices it saw, and wrong about everything else.
What mismatched preferences cost
Contacting people who asked not to be contacted damages trust quickly, and supporters talk to each other. It also creates the kind of complaint that takes senior time to resolve. Your data protection responsibilities are for your own policies and adviser to interpret; what we can say is that scattered records make it much harder to show what you knew and when.
There is a quieter cost too. Out of caution, teams sometimes stop contacting whole groups because they are not sure of the preferences, which means people who would have welcomed news of your work never hear it.
How we build a single preference record
- We list every place preferences are captured or used: CRM, email tool, forms, event platforms, paper, phone, and any agency or mailing house.
- We agree the channels and purposes you record, for example post, email, phone and text, split by fundraising, events and newsletters, following your own policy.
- Each supporter gets one preference record where every change is stored with date, source and wording shown at the time.
- Your email tool, website forms and event platforms send changes into that record through their APIs or webhooks as they happen.
- The current preferences are pushed back out to every tool that sends messages, so an unsubscribe in one place applies everywhere it should.
- Any list exported for a campaign or agency is generated from the preference record at the time of export, with the export itself logged.
- Conflicts, such as a newer paper form that disagrees with an online choice, go to a person to resolve.
| Event | Where it is captured | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Unsubscribe from newsletter | Email tool | Recorded centrally, CRM updated |
| Asks for post only by phone | Supporter care call | All channels except post switched off, email tool updated |
| Ticks events box at registration | Event platform | Events emails switched on, with source recorded |
| Old export used by an agency | Export log | Shows date and version, prompts a fresh file |
The preference record is the answer to the question every system asks. It is not a replacement for your own policy on what you may send.
What supporter care feels like afterwards
When a supporter calls, the person answering can see every preference, when it was given and where. A change they make on the call reaches the email tool and the event lists without anyone copying it across. Before a campaign, the list is pulled fresh from the preference record, not from a file saved last spring.
If a complaint does come in, the history is there on one screen, which makes an honest answer possible.
Does this happen at your charity?
- Unsubscribes in the email tool never reach the CRM.
- Supporters are contacted on channels they asked you not to use.
- Agencies and mailing houses work from old exports.
- You cannot say when or where a preference was given.
- Teams avoid contacting supporters because they are unsure of the rules.