CREDO Action, the activism arm of CREDO Mobile, has increased its data quality and email deliverability rate during the past year, allowing it to raise more than $80 million for non-profits like
ACLU and Planned Parenthood. It donates a percentage of revenue to the causes.
Jordan Krueger, director of operations for CREDO Action, says the company managed to
"substantially" increase its deliverability rate since working with Return Path, which provides a platform for email campaigns.
Krueger describes deliverability as a “black
box” basically because inbox providers continually change the way they define deliverability, and because Google and Microsoft both updated their DMARC authentication policies over the summer. This means senders who
have not authenticated their domains will likely have their emails rejected by the email providers.
Working in a small team, Krueger says it’s especially valuable to see where those
“red flags are going up.”
“A lot of changes to our email program are based on the data that Return Path provides us,” says Krueger. “They help us know where the
wind is blowing.”
Krueger says that a common problem with collecting petitions is people mistype information and that Return Path has helped guide CREDO Action to focus on improving data
quality. Cleaner email lists help marketers steer clear of spam traps and avoid sending emails to email addresses that no longer exists, ingredients in declining email deliverability.
Krueger says 1% of all the money brought in
by CREDO Mobile, not just net profit, is distributed to progressive organizations via CREDO Action. This adds to a minimum of $150,000 donated every month, with donations being allocated to three
different charities CREDO Action is promoting that month. In December, however, CREDO Action raised $300,000 to support 15 different organizations.
Customers can choose which organization they
would like to support, with an additional option of rounding up their phone bill to the nearest dollar – all of which benefits the charity directly.
Via email, CREDO action has also
generated more than 16 million letters and phone calls to elected officials and decision makers, and have collected over 137 million signatures on online petitions. The company also helps promote
affiliate events and campaigns, such as protests and meetings.