RISD Museum Increases Email Engagement and Event Attendance with Omatic’s Constant Contact Connector
“Omatic has been such a gamechanger for us in terms of timesaving.” – AH, Database Manager, RISD Museum

Organization Background
The RISD Museum in Providence, Rhode Island, hosts educational events and cultural experiences for local students, educators, children, and artists. We spoke with AH, database administrator for the museum, to hear about their experience using Omatic Cloud.
Challenge
As the database manager for RISD Museum, one of AH’s responsibilities is making sure that data in Blackbaud Altru, the museum’s CRM and event ticketing system, is clean and reliable. They are also responsible for sharing data for marketing and fundraising campaigns. As a member of a small team, they needed to find an efficient way to move data between Altru and other systems, leading them to try the Altru and Constant Contact Connector in Omatic Cloud.
- Time-Consuming Process for Generating Mailing Lists: Colleagues at the museum rely on AH to provide targeted email lists for any external communication they want to send. Before implementing Omatic Cloud, compiling more complicated mailing lists for initiatives like the K12 educators’ newsletter would take weeks of preparation, data pulling, and record cleanup. This lengthy process made it difficult to try new campaigns—if AH did not have the time to compile an accurate email recipient list, the communication would not happen.
- Disconnected Systems and Data Integrity Issues: The time involved with generating mailing lists was a symptom of a larger problem at the RISD Museum. There were many sources of data at the museum including legacy email lists, member lists, external spreadsheets, and a running list of email addresses for local educators, that all needed to get into Altru. At the same time, each data source had different record clean up needs, and it was difficult to keep data fresh as it moved to its destination.
Solution
AH needed a more efficient method for moving data across the organization to facilitate data-driven decisions around outreach and engagement, starting with email marketing. When they spoke with Blackbaud about their struggles getting data from Constant Contact into Altru, their representative recommended Omatic Cloud.
- Seamless Integration Across Altru and Constant Contact: Omatic’s Constant Contact connector is designed to move email marketing data—including clicks, opens, forwards, unsubscribes, and conversions—to constituent records in Altru, or any CRM. This smooth flow of data allows marketing and fundraising staff to see exactly which communications a particular supporter has received, and discern which campaigns are resonating. The automatic uploading schedule means the email marketing data in Altru is fresh and reliable, without the time-consuming record cleanup.
- Up-to-Date Email Lists: The easy flow of data between Altru and Constant Contact has been a major help for AH as well as the marketing team. Complicated email lists for communications around programs, events, and services at the museum used to take weeks to pull from Altru, sort, and add to Constant Contact. Now, these lists are populated with real-time data.
“Making email lists has never been easier. We used to have to extract that data from Altru, which would require weeks of advance notice. Now, we have a query and a formula that pulls exactly what we need right into Constant Contact.” – AH
Results
After implementing Omatic Cloud, RISD Musem had greater visibility into their supporter base leading to:
- Enhanced Email Segmentation and Communication: Instead of generating a new list with constituents based on different criteria for each new campaign, the RISD Museum team can build a formula that pulls the list from Altru automatically. In the past, the museum staff didn’t have high confidence that the email lists they were using were accurate or current. Because of Omatic Cloud’s automation tools, they can be sure that they are working with fresh data, so the right people are getting the right communications.
“We’ve been able to target different groups and segment communications better, which has been really helpful.”
- Increased Supporter Engagement: The emphasis on personalization in communications and segmented email lists has paid off for the museum. Staff can create targeted messaging for communications, based on the behavior and interests of recipients. This segmentation is working; communications are getting more engagement from supporters. This success has also led to more creativity for the team, and experimentation with new campaigns.
“With the Constant Contact Connector, we have better email lists than we’ve ever had. I never have to worry about that data.”
- More Flexibility and More Campaign Opportunities: The confidence in Altru data and the ease of creating new email lists has led to more variety in email marketing campaigns. The museum has seen improved attendance at a robust schedule of programs including “Ways of Looking,” a series of artists talks, “Think and Drink,” an event pairing beverages and presentations, K12 education initiatives, and other events that serve the community. Now that email lists can be pulled in minutes instead of weeks, the team can target the right audience for each communication—and hone their messaging instead of blasting all constituents with all updates.
“Now that we’re not worried about the time it takes to pull lists, it makes it easier to say yes to more projects.”