Higher Ed: 5 Benefits of Upgrading Your Email Technology

While higher education institutions might not think of themselves as marketers, that’s what’s happening when colleges and universities are contacting potential and current students, as well as alumni, faculty, and staff. Email marketing is a necessary component of any organization, but that doesn’t mean it has to be unintuitive or a time-sink. By upgrading your email marketing software, your teams won’t have to waste time administrating and planning email campaigns, and can focus on the most high-value activities. Here are five benefits of upgrading your email marketing platform and partnering with a provider like Emma.

1. Make the most of real-time data.

New innovations in email marketing technology make it possible for emails to be living, breathing messages, rather than static blocks of information. With real-time data integrations, your emails can become more targeted using the data you’ve spent time gathering.

Make every communication with your audience more impactful by including relevant tools and information for them. For example, adding an up-to-date weather tracker accompanying an alumni event reminder, or a live countdown timer so students don’t miss important deadlines. These examples, as well as geo-targeted maps and live social feeds, are among the many real-time data features that modern email tech like Emma can provide.

2. Know what’s working with advanced analytics. 

Determining what resonates with your audience, and how to build on it, has always been a challenge for those in charge of sending out impactful communications. Fortunately, this process continues to become easier as intuitive analytics tools are incorporated into platform dashboards. Measuring the performance of emails, and cross-referencing them with additional data points like device types, open times, and subject matter can provide you with the necessary framework to refine your existing communication strategies.

Pro-tip: Look for tech that reports on precise click locations. Measuring click rates is great, but what exactly are your email recipients clicking on, and why? With click-tracking tools, such as the one offered by Emma, you can get a better grasp on which copy, designs, and content are most effective at driving interaction.

3. Enhance personalization with zero-party data. 

As marketers, we want to know what precisely causes people to act, to apply, to enroll, or to donate. But traditional information sources, like third-party data, don’t come directly from the source and thus force you to make possibly inaccurate assumptions about your audience. Zero-party data, on the other hand, comes directly from the source. By deploying interactive experiences, like surveys and polls, you can probe your contacts for the key data you need to market effectively. Which programs are most attractive to a prospective student? What inhibitions do they have? What initiatives make alumni more likely to donate? These are questions you can easily answer with a solid data acquisition solution like Emma.

4. Get in sync with the brands you love. 

Chances are, you use other tools to assist with your communication efforts. When these tools don’t work in tandem with your email marketing platform, managing your data can become a challenge. An email marketing platform that supports integration will increase efficiencies for you, and provide more seamless experiences for your contacts. Emma lets you integrate a wide variety of technologies, ranging from tools like SurveyMonkey, fundraising platforms like GiveCampus, or CRMs like Hubspot to make administration of your tools easier than ever.

5. Protect your school’s reputation with centralized controls. 

Whether it’s protecting against misuse of logos and messaging, or establishing a consistent school identity, modern email marketing software can provide you with the tools necessary to safeguard your school’s reputation and brand identity.

By using template style locking and centralized asset management, you can ensure your school’s branding and tone both remain consistent with your institution. Additionally, robust permissions management across subaccounts ensures that no campaigns go live without the proper approval.

Wrap Up

Many brands offer modern email marketing technology. but that list narrows considerably when it comes to industry-specific expertise. We have experience partnering with large and small universities and colleges, so if you’re looking for a solution designed for higher education, Emma is your best option.