Luminate Online Review

Overall experience is good with Luminate. Although we have to test many times to ensure the template looks good in the email structure, the system itself is great for scheduling, uploading lists, analytics, and more.

Pros

The analytics in Luminate Online (LO) are the best feature. You are able to get analytics in real-time by refreshing the page. The stats are up to date always and provide accurate numbers.

Cons

The email builder itself is not that user-friendly. I always have a tough time with transferring over templates. Luminate adds/deletes spaces, changes fonts and font sizes consistently.

We purchased the platform nine months ago

Pros

This product integrates with Raiser's Edge, which streamlines data entry. They have a great program called Go!, which takes you through three different email campaigns and provides specific direction and feedback to grow your email lists. It is not difficult to set up new action forms. Emails are not difficult to send (especially if you are working off a template designed for you in the Go! Program). Blackbaud has been quick to respond to concerns and problems that arose from the integration with Raisers Edge.

Cons

Navigating to some of the reports is less intuitive than I would like. But, like anything, once you understand the structure, it is okay.

Luminate Online: Sophisticated, Imperfect

Pros

Overall, I really like Blackbaud. I'm an expert user/administrator of several of their products. And to be perfectly frank, Blackbaud is THE industry standard software. You can go with another vendor, but Blackbaud WILL end up buying that product out. Luminate in all of its iterations is a perfect example of this. It used to be Convio, its own, standalone non-profit software company. It is now a product in the Blackbaud family. I use Luminate in conjunction with Raiser's Edge via a Blackbaud-provided integration plugin. One thing I really like about this is that my two database software components communicate with one another. I also really like that you can use formulas--from simple to complex--to generate targeted ask strings for constituents in emails and donation forms. And that is the best thing about Luminate Online. It is powerful and customizable. It is capable of nuance and automation. It has API access for developers. These things are vital in the world of internet marketing, communications, and donation processing. I am also thrilled with its capability to automate recurring giving, providing recurring donors with logins to self-manage some of their giving information. Recurring giving in Raiser's Edge is a relatively manual process still. For orgs with large recurring donor groups, this product can help save a lot of time and energy by automating many of the aspects of managing these donors.

Cons

My biggest beef with Luminate Online is that it is ill-equipped to deal with non-individual, organizational records, such as businesses. There really is no functionality for org-type records, let alone the ability to manage and communicate with contacts. I would really like to see this part of the product fleshed out more in a similar way to the Raiser's Edge. I also really dislike the event management piece of Luminate Online. It lacks basic functionality, such as the ticket buyer being able to provide guest names (!). It's almost unbelievable that any 21st century software product that provides event management functions would be incapable of collecting the most rudimentary, necessary information for an event. Both of these issues are points in the software that make it clear this product was acquired by Blackbaud and not designed from the ground up by Blackbaud. Small snags in integration and imperfections in the product become sore points after a while, and the only way to overcome them is to have some serious web-developing firepower at your command. Many of Luminate Online's issues CAN be overcome by having a consultant or in-house web-developer customize the product for you. However, small non-profits rarely can afford this.

Not intuitive

We use it for transactional and reminder emails for registered programs, and marketing emails.

Pros

Honestly, I cannot think of any pros at this time.

Cons

Nothing about Luminate Online is intuitive. It does not integrate well with other Blackbaud products. We have had to purchase other third-party software to send information between Altru and Luminate.

Great product with a lot of potential

Pros

The flexibility and the integration are the best parts.

Cons

Blackbaud has acquired a lot of products over the years and even though integration is happening, your needs may be slower at integration than others.