Setting Up and Using Households

Households in Spektrix are a collective term for one or more customers who interact with your organization. They are a way to group Customer Records for the purposes of analysis and mailings. Households can have one or more customers and can share a mailing address and aggregate their purchases. 

In this article, we’ll guide you through:

• What are Households?
• Differences Between Relationships, Soft Credits and Households
• Considerations for setting up Households
• Viewing Households
• Joining, Updating and Leaving Households
• Reporting and Segmentation of Households

VIDEO: If you're new to Households, take a look at our Customers & Relationships concept video.

What are Households?

Households in Spektrix are a collective term for one or more customers who interact with your organization. This could be a single customer or a group of customers.

For example, you may want to link two spouses’ Customer Records into a single Household. They’ll each have their own Customer Record but they may share their Contact Address. As a Household, they can aggregate their purchase history, while keeping the credit separate for each purchase.

This can be useful for mailing and marketing purposes. For example:

• Mailing Gala invitations
• Sending season brochures
• Outputting addressee names such as a family name
• Aggregating all purchases made under the same household
• Analyzing statistics and demographics by location

Households in Spektrix enable you to:

• Assign a Household ID to the Household, which can contain a single or group of Customer Records.

  TIP: Only Individual Customer Records can be part of a Household. It isn’t possible to include Organization Customer Records in a Household.
  
  Each Individual can only be in one Household.

• Select a Primary Householder to the Household. The Primary Householder is the main contact for the Household. When outputting Contact Address and other information for the Household, the Primary Householder’s details will be used.
  
  
• Create streamlined, personalized mailing lists. All customers in a Household share a mailing address. This ensures you send only one mailing per household address.
  
  
• View the full purchase history on any Household member’s Customer Record. Orders from different Household members will appear in each other's Customer Record, while the Order Owner, Facilitator and Soft Credit information can be maintained.
  
  
• Report and Segment on the Household. For more information, take a look at Reporting and Segmentation of Households.

Differences Between Relationships, Soft Credits and Households

You can also use Relationships and Soft Credits to connect Customer Records together. However, each feature behaves differently. We’ll take a look at how Households differ from Relationships and Soft Credits.

Relationships

In Spektrix you can assign a Relationship between two Customers. Depending on the Relationship Type, a Customer can buy on behalf of another Customer. For example, a parent buying tickets for a child or an employee buying tickets on behalf of their organization. Customers making a purchase on behalf of another Customer is known as a Facilitated Order.

While Relationships let Customers buy on behalf of another, each Customer has their own Delivery and Billing Addresses. Households let Customers share a Contact Address, often for mailing and marketing purposes. 

Facilitated Orders give ownership of the Order to another Customer. Household Orders, while they may appear on a Household member’s Customer Record, won’t be credited for the income by any Household member that is not the Owner, Facilitator or a Soft Credit.

You don’t need to set up relationships between Household members unless you’d like to facilitate an Order or soft credit an Order to the different Household members.

Customers can have multiple Relationships with other Customers, who may not have overlapping Relationships. For example, an Individual who has a Relationship with his spouse and employer, where the spouse and employer don’t have a Relationship.

In Households, all Household members will appear in the same Household with each other.

Soft Credits

Soft Credits let you assign credit for an Order to appear on one or more Customer Records. The Soft Credits must have Relationships with the Order Owner.

While a Household Order can appear on multiple Household members’ Customer Records, they are not credited for the Order. A Household Order will only belong to the original Order Owner.

However, Soft Crediting the Household Order to all Household members will give credit to each Customer Record. When segmenting on Soft Credits, each Household member will be credited for the Order without double counting the income. For example, a $100 Donation can be soft credited to two other Customers; this will appear in Accounting Reports as $100 and not $300.

Example of the Differences Between Relationships, Soft Credits and Households

Here is an example of the differences between Relationships, Soft Credits and Households.

• Relationships

  We’ll take a look at the Customer Record of Bernice Lozano.

  Bernice Lozano has Relationships with her child Lucy Lozano and her spouse Opal Lozano.

  

  • The parent-child Relationship enables Bernice to make Facilitated Orders on behalf of Lucy
    
    
  • The parent-child Relationship doesn’t let Lucy, the child, make Facilitated Orders on behalf of Bernice
    
    
  • The spousal Relationship doesn’t enable Bernice or Opal to make Facilitated Orders on behalf of each other
    
    
  • Their Relationships can allow Bernice, Opal or Lucy to soft credit each other on any Orders they make

• Households

  Bernice is in the same Household as both Lucy and Opal, with Opal as the Primary Householder and the Household Addressee Name as “Opal and Bernice Lozano.”

  

• Orders

  The Orders in Bernice Lozano’s Customer Record includes several Orders:

  

  In the Order history, you’ll be able to view which Orders are Households, Facilitated or Soft Credited based on the text found to the right of the Order.

  • Soft Credit to: The Order has been Soft Credited to other Customers.
    
    
  • Household order/Made by: The Order is made by and owned by another Household member.
    
    
  • On behalf of: Who the Order was made on behalf of. This person is the Order Owner.
    
    
  • Facilitated by: Who facilitated the Order. This is the Order Facilitator.

  REMINDER: An Order without text will indicate that the Order was placed and owned by the Customer whose record it appears in.

• Orders - Descriptions

  Here is a description of each Order in Bernice’s Customer Record:

  

  1. Order 25-PI-065V: This Order is Facilitated and owned by Bernice.
     
     
  2. Order 25-PC-065T: This Order is Facilitated and owned by Bernice and Soft Credited to Opal and Lucy.
     
     
  3. Order 24-5D-065Q: This Order is Facilitated by Lucy. It appears on Bernice’s Customer Record as a Household Order.
     
     
  4. Order 24-2E-065G: This Order is Facilitated by Bernice on behalf of Lucy, who is the Order Owner.
     
     
  5. Order 24-2E-065F: This Order is Facilitated by Opal on behalf of Lucy, who is the Order Owner. It appears on Bernice’s Customer Record as a Household Order. 

Considerations for setting up Households

The Households feature is enabled in your system by default and ready for use. We recommend that you communicate across departments and decide on a set of consistent practices before you start using it.

REMINDER: Each Customer Record can only be part of one Household.

We’ve provided some questions to help guide your decision-making:

• Who will you join together in a Household? Partners or spouses and other family members are the most common examples.
  
  
• Segmentation and Reporting: Do you have any other customers whom you’d like to connect in this way for aggregated mailings or reporting?
  
  
• How will you determine who is the Primary Householder? This would typically be whoever in the Household has had the most historical activity with your organization.
  
  
• Household Address Name: How will you determine what the Household Addressee Name should be? For example, you may want to use it as a mailing title, for both single-person households and multi-person Households.

You can choose whether you’d like to consider each Household member individually or as a unit when Reporting and Segmenting on purchases.

For example, you might have two Customer Records in the same Household who each attended a performance once. Depending on the circumstances, you may want to either consider them as two separate first-time bookers or a Household which has collectively booked twice.

Viewing Households

You can view Households on the Customer Record in both the Sales Interface and the Opportunities Interface.

TIP: In this article, we’ll reference the Sales Interface, but the functionality will look the same in both places.

You can access the Customer Record from the Sales Interface or the Opportunities Interface. To access the Sales Interface, you’ll need the Sales User or Sales Administrator role. To access the Opportunities Interface, you’ll need the Opportunities User or Opportunities Administrator role. If you don’t have these roles, ask the Settings Administrator in your organization to add these User Roles to your User Account.

On the Details tab in a Customer Record you’ll see the Household panel on the right. By default, each Individual is in their own Household.

Here’s an example of a single Individual Household:

When a Customer Record is added to a different Household with one or more Customers, they become part of a multi-person Household. You’ll see all Household members in the Household panel:

The Household panel includes:

• Customer Name and Individual icon: These indicate each Household member, appearing in alphabetical order. You can view other Household members’ Customer Records by clicking on their underlined Name.
  
  
• Addressee name: This is the shared name of the Household, commonly used as a mailing address title. This can be edited.
  
  
• Primary button: In a multi-person household, the selected button indicates the designated Primary Householder. You can only have one Primary Householder per Household. You can change the Primary Householder at any time by selecting the radio button for a different Customer Record.

  REMINDER: Every Household has a Primary Householder. In a single-person Household, the Customer is, by default, the Primary Householder.

The Address of the Household is the Address of the Primary Householder.

REMINDER: Other Household members’ Customer Records don’t need an Address listed in their Customer Record, unless they are required to have one for billing and delivery of their own purchases.

A Household member who is not a Primary Householder can have a different address, but any mailings or analysis of their Household will segment or report on the Primary Householder’s address.

Joining, Updating and Leaving Households

You can manage a Customer’s Household from the Customer Record.

We’ll guide you through:

• Joining Customers in a Household
• Changing the Primary Householder
• Changing the Addressee Name
• Removing Customers from a Household

Joining Customers in a Household

To join Customers in a Household, follow these steps:

TIP: This applies to Individuals who are currently in a single-person Household and not a multi-person Household. To switch an Individual from one multi-person Household to another multi-person Household, you’ll need to first remove the Customer from the Household .

1. Search for the Customer Record for any Household member.
   
   
2. From the Details tab, click the Actions button. From the dropdown, click on Join a Different Household:

   

   
   
   
3. From the Join Household with… screen, search for the Customer Record for the other Household member:

   

   
   
   
4. Click on their Customer Record and they’ll join the same Household.
   

   

   
   
   

We recommend checking that the Primary Householder and Addressee Name are correct. If you’d like to make changes, you can follow the steps in:

• Changing the Primary Householder
• Changing the Addressee Name

Anytime Customers join a Household, this is recorded in the Customer Audit:

If joining a multi-person Household, the Narrative will say that they’ve joined a Household with the Primary Householder’s Name displayed.

TIP: Repeat these steps if you’d like to add more Household members.

Changing the Primary Householder

TIP: Selecting a Primary Householder is only required for multi-person Households.

Select a new Primary Householder by selecting the radio button next to their Customer Record:

The changes will take effect immediately and will be applied across all Household members’ Customer Records.

REMINDER: The Address of the Primary Householder will be the Address of the entire Household. When you select a new Primary Householder, the Household takes the Address of the newly selected Customer Record.

Make sure the Primary Householder has an Address in their Customer Record.

Changing the Addressee Name

TIP: You can change the Addressee Name for single-person or multi-person Households.

You can change the Addressee Name by clicking on the pencil icon name to the Household’s current Addressee Name:

In the Edit Addressee Name pop-up, enter a Name:

Click Save to save the new Addressee Name. Click Cancel to discard any changes.

The changes will take effect immediately and will be applied across all Household members’ Customer Records.

Removing Customers from a Household

If you’d like to remove a Customer from a multi-person Household, follow these steps:

1. Search for the Customer Record for the Household member you’d like to remove from the Household.
   
   
2. From the Details tab, click the Actions button. From the dropdown, click on Leave Household:

   

   WARNING: If you’re attempting to remove a Primary Householder, you’ll see this warning. You’ll be advised to select a new Primary Householder first before removing them from the Household.
   
   Once you’ve selected a new Primary Householder, return to the Actions dropdown and select Leave Household.
   
   

3. In the Confirmation pop-up, you’ll be asked if you’d like to update the Addressee Name:

   

   
   
   
4. Click Save to remove the Customer Record from the Household and update the Household’s Addressee Name. Click Cancel to keep the Customer Record in the Household.
   
   
5. You’ll now see the Customer Record in a single-person Household. You can make changes to the Addressee Name or join a different Household.

   

   
   
   

Anytime a Customer leaves a Household, this is recorded in the Customer Audit:

If leaving a multi-person Household, the Narrative will say that they’ve been removed from a Household with the Primary Householder’s Name displayed.

TIP: Repeat these steps if you’d like to remove more Household members from the Household.

Other Household Information

You can view other Household Information in other areas of the system:

• Customer Search
• Household Orders

Customer Search

You can view if a Customer shares a Household with other Customers from the Customer Search in both the Sales Interface and Opportunities Interface.

If a Customer is in a Household with just one other person, then you’ll see the other Household member listed here and will be able to access the Customer Records directly from the search page by clicking on the underlined name:

If a Customer is part of a Household with three or more Customers, you’ll see the text In a household with others:

Customers in a single-person Household won’t have any extra text in their search result.

Household Orders

If a Customer is part of a multi-person Household, you’ll be able to see Orders made by all Household members in their Customer Record in the Sales Interface and the Opportunities Interface:

Orders made by another Household member will be labeled Household Order and will say Made by and include the Name of the Household member. You can click on their Name to go to their Customer Record.

REMINDER: Household Orders, Facilitated Orders and Soft Credited Orders are different types of Orders that can link different Customer Records together. You may see Household Orders that are also Facilitated and/or Soft Credited Orders.

For an example on these different Orders, see Example of the Differences Between Relationships, Soft Credits and Households.

Reporting and Segmentation of Households

You will need to choose how you want to report or segment on your Customers within Households:

• Treat each Customer as an individual entity and include every Household member separately. This is useful for integrated emails, where you may want each Household member to receive an email sent to their own Email Address.
  
  
• Combine Customers into Households under the Primary Householder and include a single entry in the list for each Household. This is useful for postal mailings, where you may only want to send one mailing item per Household Address.
  
  

Households in Customer Lists and Auto Tags

When building Customer Lists, you can segment on Households using the Customer Segment. However, you can also use Booking or Purchasing segments to segment based on Household Orders.

Customer Segment

In the Customer segment under the Customers wrapper, select and check the Primary Householder metric to segment only on Customers who are the Primary Householder within a Household:

This will include Primary Householders in both single-person and multi-person Households.

REMINDER: Only the Primary Householder will be output in the Customer List or Auto Tag applied when using this metric.

Booking and Purchasing Segment

Segment on Household Orders in Booking and Purchasing Segments using the Statistics Page. From the When data is grouped by dropdown, select Household:

This will aggregate all data from a Household across all Household members. Only the Primary Householder will be included in the Customer List or Auto Tag applied, using this segment, regardless of which Household Members is the Order Owner or Facilitator.

Customer List Output

When creating a Customer List, you can output Household data.

Output metrics relating specifically to Households are:

• Household Addressee Name: The Addressee Name of the Household
• Household ID: An ID for the Household
• Primary Householder ID: The Customer ID for the Primary Householder

If you’re segmenting on Household members separately, these metrics can output for each Household member.

REMINDER: If you segment on the Primary Householder metric or group Household data in Booking or Purchasing segments, only the Primary Householder and their information will be displayed. You won’t be able to segment on Household data and output all Household members.

Households in Reports

Reports in Spektrix will output data on a per Customer basis. However, you may want to take a look at Household data. 

Customer & Household Analysis Report

The Customer & Household Analysis Report is the only Standard Report that takes a look at both Customer and Household behavior and demographics.

• Here is an example of the Customer & Household Analysis Report:

  

  

  

Custom Reports

To aggregate data per Household rather than per Customer, we recommend building Custom Reports.

Use the following output columns in grouped mode:

• Household ID
• Primary Householder ID
• Household Addressee Name

A Custom Report using these Household metrics will look like the following:

TIP: If you’d like to look at Household data separately, you can include Customer ID and Name. This will separate Household Orders by the different Order Owners.

Further Reading

You now have the information you need to set up and use Households in your system. For information on other Customer interactions in Spektrix, read the following Support Centre articles:

• Customers and Relationships
• Soft Crediting Orders
• Facilitated Orders in Spektrix