What do you want? RESULTS!
What do you need? DATA!
Staci Poole | Derek Lavalier
July 28, 2014
Concordia University, St. Paul
• “The mission of Concordia University, St.
Paul, a university of The Lutheran Church -Missouri Synod, is to prepare students for
thoughtful and informed living, for dedicated
service to God and humanity, for enlightened
care of God's creation, all within the context
of the Christian.”
• “Concordia University, St. Paul empowers you
to discover and engage your purpose for life,
career and service in a dynamic,
multicultural, urban environment where
Christ is honored, all are welcome, and
Lutheran convictions inform intellectual
inquiry and academic pursuits.”
Concordia University, St. Paul
• 3,632 students
• 1,344 traditional undergraduate students
• 827 adult undergraduate students
• 1,461 graduate students
• 18,597 degreed alumni (living)
Problem
• Good offline data wasn’t shared with iModules
• July 2012 – iModules import
• October 2012 – iModules impact group
• July 2013 – SFTP process
• High unsubscribes
• Low open rates; low reach
• Bad data
Problem: We had bad data
Problem: Bad data is affecting our reach
Solutions
•
•
•
•
Communicate with offline database on a regular, automated basis
Pay attention to how you string your emails
Minimize non-member records
Use reusable and relevant role-based content that draws off of your accurate
data
• Use email categories to lower unsubscribes
• Utilize iModules email reporting tools
• E.g. Volleyball. We’re getting too many unsubscribes
Solutions: Communicate with offline database
Solutions: Communicate with offline database
• Suggestion – Think of a time when you need accurate data the most
• We sent our monthly alumni e-newsletter on Wednesdays, so we have our file dump on
Tuesday evenings
• Suggestion – Identify a time in which you need to get updates from iModules
into your offline database
• All changes are added to our offline database on Monday so the bad offline data doesn’t
override the corrected/updated online data
Solutions
•
•
•
•
Communicate with offline database on a regular, automated basis
Pay attention to how you string your emails
Minimize non-member records
Use reusable and relevant role-based content that draws off of your accurate
data
• Use email categories to lower unsubscribes
• Utilize iModules email reporting tools
• E.g. Volleyball. We’re getting too many unsubscribes
Solutions: Email string
• Multiple emails – recognize your issues
• We have four different email types (e.g. personal, business, student & fac/staff) in our offline
database. Only one is preferred.
• Uploading CSV files with un-preferred email addresses caused issues even if the emails were
accurate
Solutions
•
•
•
•
Communicate with offline database on a regular, automated basis
Pay attention to how you string your emails
Minimize non-member records
Use reusable and relevant role-based content that draws off of your accurate
data
• Use email categories to lower unsubscribes
• Utilize iModules email reporting tools
• E.g. Volleyball. We’re getting too many unsubscribes
Solutions: Minimize non – member records
• 13,786 non member records
• Most were email only – no first or last name
• Currently ____ non – member records
• Most are ones we can now delete because we no longer have the Church Relations function
in our office.
Solutions
•
•
•
•
Communicate with offline database on a regular, automated basis
Pay attention to how you string your emails
Minimize non-member records
Use reusable and relevant role-based content that draws off of your accurate
data
• Use email categories to lower unsubscribes
• Utilize iModules email reporting tools
• E.g. Volleyball. We’re getting too many unsubscribes
Solutions: Reusable role-based content
Solutions: Reusable role-based content
Solutions
•
•
•
•
Communicate with offline database on a regular, automated basis
Pay attention to how you string your emails
Minimize non-member records
Use reusable and relevant role-based content that draws off of your accurate
data
• Use email categories to lower unsubscribes
• Utilize iModules email reporting tools
• E.g. Volleyball. We’re getting too many unsubscribes
Solutions: Use email categories
FY13
FY14
Alumni newsletter
FY13
• E-newsletter averages
• Sent to 13833
• Opens 1659
• Open rate ~12%
• Unsubscribes 13
Solutions
•
•
•
•
Communicate with offline database on a regular, automated basis
Pay attention to how you string your emails
Minimize non-member records
Use reusable and relevant role-based content that draws off of your accurate
data
• Use email categories to lower unsubscribes
• Utilize iModules email reporting tools
• E.g. Volleyball. We’re getting too many unsubscribes
Solutions: Utilize iModules reporting tools
Volleyball: Check your opens
Volleyball: Deduplicate
Volleyball: Upload CSV
Volleyball: Check it out!
Did it work?
Yes. Here’s our proof.
Alumni newsletter
FY13
• E-newsletter averages
• Sent to 13833
• Opens 1659
• Open rate ~12%
• Unsubscribes 13
FY14
• E-newsletter averages
• Sent to 14425
• Opens 2850
• Open rate ~20%
• Unsubscribes 72
• Creating new categories opened up sending to
those who previously unsubscribed
• Unsubscribes reporting shows unsubscribes, not
users who unsubscribed
• This number will go down over time
Overall Email Open Rate
What lies ahead
• Increase email reach by improving invalid emails
• Email append including …
•
•
Those with an open rate of <%10, alum
Alumni with no email
• Check valid email address for those with newly changed emails
Questions?
Derek Lavalier
[email protected]
651-641-8869
Staci Poole
[email protected]
651-641-8821