Blackbaud increased meetings booked by 68% with Piper the AI SDR Agent
An ambitious pipeline goal called for new capacity
Twice the pipeline without twice the resources
At the end of 2025, Blackbaud set an ambitious goal for the year ahead: double its pipeline. For Troy O’Bryan, SVP of Global Growth & AI GTM Architect, the challenge was finding a new way to grow without adding budget or headcount. The answer needed to expand what the team could accomplish with the resources it already had.
Nonprofit buyers needed answers on their own schedule
Blackbaud’s nonprofit customers spend their days with donors, constituents, and the communities they serve. Many turn to researching software after the working day ends. The opportunity was to give those buyers an immediate conversation whenever they were ready, including when Blackbaud’s sales team was offline.
Webinar interest needed timely follow-up
Some Blackbaud webinars attract thousands of participants. Following up with that volume of interested buyers could take days, even as the team worked through the queue. Blackbaud wanted to keep the momentum of the webinar going with relevant outreach while the questions and ideas were still fresh.
We couldn’t ask the team to work twice as hard. We had to ask a different question: how do we get twice the output without twice the input?
Hiring Grant to engage buyers across the website and email
Blackbaud hired Piper the AI SDR Agent and named him Grant. The team started by upgrading its website chat experience, then expanded into webinar follow-up and email outreach triggered by website activity. Each use case gave Grant a clear job: start a relevant conversation and help interested buyers take the next step.
Be there when nonprofit buyers are ready
Grant engages website visitors, answers questions, qualifies their needs, and books meetings around the clock. That availability revealed an important buying pattern: 60% of the meetings Grant booked came after 5 p.m. Blackbaud could now engage those buyers at the time that suited them, without extending its sellers’ schedules.
Turn webinar engagement into an immediate conversation
Grant follows up within minutes of a webinar with relevant context, helping a buyer move straight from the session into a conversation. The SDR team receives meetings from that engagement, extending the reach of its follow-up and giving reps more opportunities to work.
Use website signals to start relevant email outreach
Blackbaud also uses Piper Email to act on signs of interest from prospect accounts. When buyers engage with its website and content, Grant can reach out proactively by email. That connects the signals a buyer leaves on the website with a timely invitation to continue the conversation.
Give sales the context to pick up where Grant left off
When a buyer is ready to speak with a seller, Grant passes along the conversation context. Reps can see what the buyer has asked and discussed, then build on that discovery in their first conversation. The experience gives sellers more time for the relationship and the next step.
Our nonprofit customers are busy with donors and constituents during the day. Grant is there when they’re ready to explore, answering questions and booking meetings even after our team has gone home.
A sales playbook and partnership built for continuous improvement
Onboard the agent like a member of the team
Blackbaud trained Grant on its buyers, products, and sales process, with a focus on discovery, qualification, and the right next action. The team shifted from planning fixed conversation paths to giving the AI SDR Agent the knowledge and guidance to handle the questions buyers actually asked.
Make sales part of the feedback loop
Sellers reviewed Grant’s conversations and shared feedback on the quality of the meetings and opportunities. Blackbaud also compared Grant’s meeting-to-opportunity performance with its SDR team’s results to assess quality. Weekly coaching sessions gave the team a regular way to refine responses and improve performance, just as it would with a human rep.
Work with customer success to bring new ideas into production
Blackbaud’s Qualified Success Architect helped the team explore new use cases and work through how to implement them. Troy described a practical partnership: the team could bring an idea, ask whether it was possible, and get guidance on how to set it up. That collaboration continues as Blackbaud looks to extend Grant’s role in the buyer journey.
Our Qualified Success Architect has been a great partner. We can bring an idea and ask, “Could we do this?” and get a clear answer on how to make it happen.
More conversations and meetings translated into more pipeline
Compared with its previous website chat experience, Blackbaud reported:
- 118% more website conversations.
- 68% more meetings booked.
- 20% more pipeline generated from those interactions.
The results showed the value of engaging buyers at the moment they were ready, including after hours. Blackbaud shared the performance with its board as an example of AI delivering measurable value in its sales process.
Early results from the triggered email program added another encouraging signal:
- 64% open rate
- 6.5% click rate
- 8% reply rate.
The team had expanded from website engagement into another channel where Grant could turn buyer interest into a conversation.
Grant gives our sales team the full context of the buyer’s conversation, so they can pick up where he left off instead of starting discovery again.
Making AI part of the operating model
Troy’s vision is for Piper to play a larger role across inbound, while sellers focus on building relationships, negotiating, and closing business. At the time of the session, Blackbaud was exploring presentations and demos as potential next steps, especially for buyers who want to evaluate solutions after hours.
For Blackbaud, the starting point was a specific website use case. The opportunity now is to keep extending a proven approach across the buyer journey, with clear goals, ongoing coaching, and sales involved throughout.
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