Diversus Health

Diversus Health launched a major rebranding effort in 2019, seeking to clarify its service offerings and define its position in the market. The mental health nonprofit implemented Sales Cloud and Marketing Cloud, initially to monitor and track the public response to aspects of the new Diversus Health brand.

The impact of Salesforce solutions on its marketing and communications has far exceeded expectations. Having a Salesforce platform in place positioned the nonprofit to rapidly shift to majority telehealth services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and clients were able to request appointments via forms on the website. The team has become more data-driven, utilizing performance indicators to target specific audiences via the right channels, yielding a greater return on marketing investment. By using Salesforce at all stages of the client journey, the team can tailor communications to specific client needs, place them at the forefront of each decision, and ultimately provide a better experience.

The nonprofit now known as Diversus Health is one of the largest mental health service providers in Colorado. Previously called AspenPointe, in December 2019 it began a rebranding process. Plans to develop a new name, logo, color scheme, and website were driven by the need to convey its mission and offerings clearly to stakeholders and clients across three geographic regions.

Diversus Health evaluated what it needed from its marketing and communication infrastructure. Beyond tracking public reaction to elements of the new brand, the Marketing and Communication team wanted to use analytics to track how effective different media channels were at reaching specific market segments.

All client data needed to be secured and protected, in compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and other regulations. The team also wanted to provide clients with digital options and personalized, well-timed communications, for an easier, more welcoming experience.

“If someone’s reaching out, they might be in a state of anxiousness or feel depressed,” explained Elario Rickey, Vice President of Marketing and Communication Strategy. “They don’t want to be on hold for a significant amount of time, then repeat information they already provided in a previous discussion. They want to be seen and heard.”

Even general email communications that lack customization — for example, a depressed person receiving an email about addiction treatment — could discourage someone from getting the help they need.

Diversus Health chose Salesforce for its expertise in working with nonprofits and for its extensive ecosystem of solutions. Sales Cloud serves as the core constituent relationship management (CRM) tool. Pardot (now Marketing Cloud Account Engagement) was added to automate marketing tasks, personalize messaging, and determine the return on investment (ROI) of marketing campaigns. With help from Prolocity, a Salesforce Premium Partner for Nonprofits, the system was up and running in just 90 days.

A few months into the rebranding project, the spread of COVID-19 became a global pandemic. Continuing the rebrand amid the disruption — including lockdowns and the transition to remote work — wasn’t easy. Yet Rickey said the timing proved to be an opportunity to think differently about their approach to branding and identity. The pandemic made so much change unavoidable, and it motivated the nonprofit’s staff to think deeply about how they might approach tasks and goals differently.

Having the Salesforce platform in place helped Diversus Health rapidly shift to majority telehealth services. When a client requests help through an online form, their information becomes available, via an integrated call center application, to staff members who can schedule their first appointment. Automated messages walk clients through the steps to join online sessions and prompt them to schedule follow-up appointments. Implementation of the Opero Fax app has streamlined the processing of referrals from external physicians and hospitals.

Salesforce tools are empowering marketing team members to use both their time and their budgets more efficiently. Their decisions are based on insights gained by tracking and comparing the performance of specific marketing channels and campaigns.

In an 18-month period, over 6,000 leads that reached the Diversus Health website because of marketing campaigns requested appointments. As every interaction between an individual and the organization is tracked, Rickey can estimate that the revenue generated because of those new clients is approximately seven times the total amount that was invested in marketing initiatives and over 20 times the amount invested in advertising costs specifically.

To take the effectiveness of its marketing and communication programs further, Diversus Health is implementing Marketing Cloud Intelligence, formerly called Datorama. Having unified reporting across advertising, email, social, and website activity — all on one marketing dashboard — will save team members time they’ve previously spent jumping back and forth between platforms. It will also allow the team to fine-tune its marketing efforts on a more granular level, communicating the right message to the right market segment, through the right channel, at the right time.

“By being as efficient as possible with the resources we have available, we’re able to positively impact more people’s lives,” Rickey said, “especially in the current climate, in which the demand for mental and behavioral health services is as high as it’s ever been.”

Diversus Health is one of the largest mental and behavioral health care providers in Colorado and served nearly 16,000 individuals in 2021. The nonprofit organization offers traditional counseling (outpatient therapy), psychiatric care, crisis mental health care, and addiction services.