In pursuit of the student member

In pursuit of the student member

Sizzler 2014 – 10 for 10

July 28, 2014

Jim Karl, Executive Vice President

Purdue Alumni Association

Purdue Alumni Association – Quick Hit

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• Founded 1875 as “The General Alumni Association”

• 400,000 living alumni

• Independent 501 3c membership-dues based organization• President & CEO Kirk Cerny• 29-member Board of Directors

• Strategic Initiatives• Membership• Relationships• Be a Pillar of Strength for Purdue University

• Approximately 59,500 members• 12,000 Annual• 7,700 Gateway (first-year grads, one-year complimentary)• 35,700 Life• 4,100 Student members

PASE — Purdue Alumni Student Experience

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• Established in 2005• Mission: Promote Purdue pride and tradition on campus, cultivate relationships

between students and alumni, and enhance the college experience• Premise: On-campus student engagement facilitates post-grad engagement

• Largest student group on campus

• Membership-based organization• Annual and multi-year membership options• Primary target audience is incoming freshman and other underclassman• Traditionally offered an immediate incentive join: T-shirt, mug, fleece, etc.• Key tangible benefit of membership is textbook discount at local business• Offer events and programming throughout academic year

• Service orientated: Nearly Naked Mile• Alumni Networking: Invite to Club Leaders reception• General programming simply for fun and/or student networking

• Recruitment traditionally occurs during a one-day campus visit in early summer (STAR) or during first couple weeks of new academic year.

2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/130

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

0% 0% 0%

43%

38%

33%

18% 18%

Total Memberships Percent Pre-Arrival Sales

Student Membership: The Issue

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• Total PASE membership growth rate flattening; numbers declining• Key underlying factor was inability to grow pre-arrival sales

• Steep drop-off is overall numbers and percentage of total

Student Membership: The Response

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• Reinvent how we communicate and market PASE membership• The core ‘product’ was fundamentally unchanged

• Recognized the need to exploit and integrate three elements• Data: Obtain as much foundational data as possible about our audience• Data Handling: Manage, analyze, and utilize the data in an aggressive manner

using with the appropriate system >>> iModules• Marketing Plan: Redefine our message and how we deliver it, both in-person and

online

Foundational Data

iModules CRM

Targeted Marketing

Student Membership: Specific Actions Taken

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• DATA• Obtained incoming student and parent/guardian contact and enrollment info (Year 1)

• DATA MANAGEMENT• Worked with iModules to load all incoming students as ‘nonmembers’ (Year 1)• Completely redefined Membership Form (Year 2)

• Ease of use, improved flow• Expanded potential for appeal and promo code use

• Extensive use of query and email capability to segment audience for all phases of the campaign (Year 2)

• MARKETING PLAN REDEFINITION• Hire, train, and incent students to sell PASE membership value/benefits at STAR (Year 1)• Send targeted (separate) informational emails to students & parents prior to STAR (Year 1)• Execute incentive/contest-based online membership campaign prior to STAR (Year 2)

• Five-week campaign including email and social media — primarily Facebook• Four groups of targeted/segmented emails sent over the five weeks• Enable parent to easily purchase for student (Gift / Donation Form)

Questions: Who is decision maker? Is our message reaching the audience?

2005/06

2006/07

2007/08

2008/09

2009/10

2010/11

2011/12

2012/13

2013/14

2014/15

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

5000

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

0% 0% 0%

43%

38%

33%

18% 18%

33% 33%

Total Memberships Percent Pre-Arrival Sales

Student Membership: Results

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2013/14 (Year 1)• Pre-sales increased from

600 to 1400 (18% >33%)

• Total increased by ~ 1000

• 80% Four YR members

2014/15 (Year 2)• Pre-sales remained high at

1485 … and growing daily

• Online sales at 600

• Growth expectation: 10%+

• ~70% Four YR members• Loss of benefit of

F2F Sales pitch

• Decision maker learning

Student Membership: Year 2 Learning

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SEND # Campaign Name Send Date Emails Sent Open Rate Clicks/Open Unique Clicks/ Open

1 Parent/Gaurdian - Eng/Tech 8-May 2139 66% 0.47 0.251 Parent/Gaurdian - AG/Science 8-May 1198 64% 0.38 0.251 Parent/Gaurdian - Other 8-May 2083 63% 0.38 0.231 Student - Eng/Tech 8-May 2524 64% 0.23 0.171 Student - AG/Science 8-May 1512 60% 0.22 0.151 Student - Other 8-May 2633 62% 0.21 0.142 Parent/Gaurdian - Eng/Tech 21-May 757 36% 0.48 0.242 Parent/Gaurdian - AG/Science 21-May 431 34% 0.53 0.262 Parent/Gaurdian - Other 21-May 755 32% 0.42 0.202 Student - Eng/Tech 21-May 940 26% 0.21 0.162 Student - AG/Science 21-May 624 37% 0.24 0.142 Student - Other 21-May 1038 41% 0.21 0.113 Parent/Gaurdian 29-May 3168 81% 0.20 0.123 Student 29-May 3844 77% 0.11 0.064 Parent/Gaurdian 4-Jun 1859 38% 0.72 0.244 Student 10-Jun 6273 60% 0.20 0.10

• We can get students and parents/guardians to open an email!• Send #2 was ONLY to those who didn’t open send #1

• Their degree of action after opening is significantly different (2X more for parents)• Applying a “course of study” emphasis didn’t seem to matter

Summary

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• Progress was only achieved when we were able to integrate critical elements• Data• iModules CRM: data, email and membership management• Appropriately targeted and timed marketing effort

• Still plenty to learn about these early stages of the ‘alumni continuum’• Who is primary influencer to join as student?• How do we effectively engage all these new members!

• iModules extended team very helpful• Non-standard needs (large nonmember load)• Professional Services (membership form rework)• Experiential knowledge from varied clients• Accept criticism