Is your organisation suffering under the burden of administration?

Are you up working until the early hours when everyone else has finished for the day?

Sometimes, it can feel like you’re spending more time composing emails and sharing information than actually delivering services to your customers. This is a common problem, especially for small businesses or community groups.

So, what if it was possible to get someone else to do some of your administration for you at zero cost? How good would that be?!

The Problem

That’s exactly what Northampton Churches Together needed when a long-standing volunteer decided that they could no longer afford the time to put together their monthly newsletter. Despite looking for a suitable replacement to take on the role, no one came forward. Since the main function of the organisation was to share information and coordinate communication, they needed an affordable solution that required minimum support, and very few technical skills.

They also needed to find a way to keep their website up to date, which was a constant headache. Articles on the site were often out of date, and past events were having to be manually removed; they simply did not have the time or skills to keep on top of all the admin.

The Solution

We suggested, that instead of seeking someone to spend several days a month putting together a printed newsletter using desktop publishing, they look at an automated email newsletter solution based on their current website. They already had a WordPress-based site where they attached a PDF copy of their newsletter, so they had a suitable platform to build on.

Instead of people emailing information about news and events to the editor, they would be directed to the website where they could enter all the information into pre-designed forms. Details gathered would then be used to automatically create news and events on the site. Each time an item is submitted the moderator would be notified so they could review and approve them. Once approved, it would automatically appear on the website and would be included in a weekly email. Visitors to the website can also subscribe to receive updates via email.

Within just a few weeks, the requirement for managing the sharing of news and events was reduced to just a few minutes for each submitted article. Furthermore, email subscribers were now being professionally managed by using a low-cost email marketing system. To further promote the use of the new system, details of how to submit new items were included in each automated newsletter.

How can this benefit my business?

Whatever type of organisation you’re a part of, there is always a benefit to gathering information from customers. A common requirement is the need to gather feedback about customer experiences, success stories, or case studies. Why not have your customers write these themselves and auto-generate draft articles ready for publishing on your website? Or, if you’re a business that has an application process, you can offer customer the option of starting that on your website.

To learn more about how we can help reduce your administrative burden, why not drop us a message today?

Nick Amis

Nick Amis is CEO and founder of Entapris, and provides support for businesses and entrepreneurs in developing and implementing their digital strategy. He graduated from Newcastle University with a degree in computer science.