⧉The three programs together

According to this split, which covers almost everything:

• A person you deal with → Aurora Hive Sales. Customer, prospect, candidate, supplier.
• Something that should be publicly visible → Aurora Hive Sites. Text, image, event, post.
• A text on a finished page that you quickly correct → Aurora Hive Live.

The borderline cases:

• An enquiry via the contact form arises in Aurora Hive Sites and belongs in Aurora Hive Sales as a contact — as soon as something comes of it.
• A newsletter can be either: the simple issue to people who have consented in Aurora Hive Sites, the multi-stage campaign in Aurora Hive Sales.
• An event belongs in Aurora Hive Sites if visitors should see it; in Aurora Hive Sales if it belongs to a contact.

When in doubt: public → Aurora Hive Sites. Personal → Aurora Hive Sales.

No, and that is a deliberate decision.

What that means:

• A contact in Aurora Hive Sales is not automatically known in Aurora Hive Sites.
• A form enquiry in Aurora Hive Sites does not become a contact in Aurora Hive Sales by itself.
• Newsletter sign-ups from the website land there, not in the CRM.

Why: two systems quietly exchanging data lead to a state in which nobody knows any more which detail is correct — and to data flows that nobody ordered.

What you do instead: transfer deliberately. An enquiry that leads somewhere, you create as a contact. That takes a minute and is the moment in which you decide anyway whether it is worthwhile.

What is connected: Aurora Hive Live and Sites work on the same content.

By hand, at the moment you reply.

The process that has proven itself:

1. Read the enquiry.
2. Reply — on the same working day.
3. Create the contact in Aurora Hive Sales, with the source “Website form” and the date.
4. Note: what it was about, in two sentences.
5. Follow-up, if nothing conclusive has happened.

Point 3 is the one that gets skipped, and then the enquiry cannot be found four months later.

Not every enquiry has to become a contact. Advertising, applications for nothing in particular, obvious junk stay where they are. But anything that could lead somewhere belongs in your records.

And do not forget the source — it is the detail you will need later.

It depends on what you want to do:

Newsletter in Aurora Hive Sites, if:

• One list, one issue, to everyone who has consented.
• Content from the website — posts, events, appeals.
• Quarterly or less often.

Campaign in Aurora Hive Sales, if:

• You want to approach people in stages and follow up automatically.
• You want to select by category.
• You want to see the replies on the contact.
• Deliverability and bounces matter.

In short: newsletter for breadth, campaign for outreach.

What you should not do: both in parallel to the same people. Anyone who gets a newsletter and a sales campaign thinks you are uncoordinated — and unsubscribes from both.

Across both programs, with clear handover points:

1. Someone finds the website (Aurora Hive Sites).
2. They fill in the form. The entry lands there, the notification with you.
3. You reply — on the same working day.
4. You create the contact in Aurora Hive Sales, with the source.
5. Note and follow-up.
6. Conversation, quote, job — all as notes on the contact.
7. After completion: category to existing customer, follow-up in six months.

Point 7 is the one that makes the difference between a job and a customer relationship.

And the way back: a satisfied customer is a reference text, a post, perhaps a testimonial — and that then goes back onto the website.

Yes — each program has its own account management, and for good reason: the roles mean different things.

What that means in practice:

• Anyone who only maintains the website does not need an account for Aurora Hive Sales.
• Anyone who only phones and takes notes does not need an account for Aurora Hive Sites.
• Aurora Hive Live is separate again and specific to each website.

What you should get into the habit of:

• A list of who has which account. In the password manager, not in your head.
• Check all three when someone leaves. The forgotten account is almost always the one nobody thinks of.

And as for costs: not everyone needs everything. An account that is never used costs money and is a security risk.

No, as long as you know which entry is there for what.

Typical case: someone has signed up for the newsletter (Aurora Hive Sites) and is also a customer (Aurora Hive Sales). Those are two entries for two purposes, and each has its own legal basis.

What you should watch out for:

• With an objection, deal with both. Anyone who objects to advertising must also be removed from the newsletter. That does not happen by itself.
• With a deletion request, check both. A contact deleted in Aurora Hive Sales remains in the newsletter list.
• With an information request, search both. The information must be complete.

That is the price of separation, and the reason why there should be a list of everywhere data is stored.

Through links and habits, not through technology.

What is worthwhile:

• Link the website in your email signature.
• In campaigns, refer to a suitable page — not the home page, but the service page in question.
• On the website, design the contact routes so that a contact can result from them.
• Use blog posts as an occasion for outreach: “We have written something about this.”

And the other way round: whatever you often explain in conversations belongs on the website. If you have answered the same question twenty times, it is an FAQ entry — and next time you send the link.

That is the real connection: not a data flow, but a cycle between what you say and what is written there.

Rarely. Most people need one or two.

Typical combinations:

• Aurora Hive Sites only: a business that needs a website and knows its customers personally.
• Aurora Hive Sites + Aurora Hive Live: the same, plus someone who wants to change opening hours themselves. The most common combination.
• Aurora Hive Sales only: a business with an existing website that wants to approach people systematically.
• All three: when both are needed and someone maintains the website themselves.

What is not a reason to take all three: “so that everything comes from one source”. A program you do not use costs money and attention.

The test: for each program, you should be able to say in one sentence what it does for you. If you cannot think of one for a program, you do not need it.

Three things that may only exist once and must cover everything:

1. One record of processing activities that contains all processing — website forms, newsletter, CRM, job applications.
2. A list of everywhere data is stored. It is the basis of every information request and every deletion.
3. A deletion policy with the different periods for each type of data.

In addition, for each system:

• Data processing agreement with the operator.
• Privacy notice that matches what is actually running.

What is most often missing in practice: the list from point 2. Without it, an information request within one month is hardly manageable, and an objection gets implemented in one system and forgotten in the other.

Half an hour, written down once.

According to where it is visible:

• Wrong on the public website → Aurora Hive Sites (or Aurora Hive Live, if it is a released text).
• An email did not arrive → Aurora Hive Sales, Deliverability and Mailboxes.
• A form enquiry is missing → Aurora Hive Sites, form entries.
• A contact is missing → Aurora Hive Sales, usually a filter.
• The pen does not appear → access to Aurora Hive Live or release.

That leaves the question that comes before all others: is it published? In Aurora Hive Sites, saving and publishing are two steps — that explains a large share of all “not working” reports.

When you report something: state which program and which address. That saves the first query.

Via a file — there is no direct route, and that is intentional.

Typical cases:

• Newsletter sign-ups from Aurora Hive Sites into Aurora Hive Sales: export, check, import there. Important: the consent applies to the original purpose. Anyone who signed up for a newsletter has not consented to a sales campaign.
• Contacts from Aurora Hive Sales for a website mailing list: the same the other way round, with the same restriction.
• Members or donors: stay where they are. They belong to the website.

The most important sentence on this: the legal basis does not move with the data. What you collected for one purpose you may not simply use for another.

Check this before every transfer — not afterwards.