UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME
Email Communication Workflows, Rebuilt
In just six months, I transformed 10 outdated email marketing campaigns into highly personalized, automated email communication workflows that markedly increased leads and conversions among key audience segments in the enrollment pipeline for the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame.
The Challenge
During the COVID-19 pandemic, graduate degree programs across the country experienced dramatic downturns in prospective student interest, applications and enrollment.
Salaries were stable, remote work became the “new normal” and the need for social distancing made traditional student recruitment efforts more difficult than ever.
A digital-first approach to student recruitment was necessary; however, the business school’s existing email marketing efforts were outdated, inconsistent in voice, look and feel, and key messaging, and poorly optimized for performance measurement.
The Goals
My task was to revamp the college’s 10 distinct programs’ email marketing campaigns with the following goals in mind:
Collaborate with each individual program’s recruiter, marketing portfolio manager, and academic director(s) to streamline the review and approval process.
Show — don’t tell — prospective students the value of a Notre Dame graduate business education by activating and qualifying the brand narrative, pillars and key messaging framework of the ‘Grow the Good in Business’ brand.
Segment, personalize and automate the email marketing experience per program, based on key audience behaviors and engagement throughout the funnel.
Achieve cohesion in look-and-feel, key messaging and performance measurement across all program workflows, while staying true to each program’s key points of differentiation, target audience, and unique value proposition.
Accomplish it all within a tight time frame, completing each workflow prior to the beginning of recruitment cycles for the 2021 academic year.
The Approach
Aligning Strategy to Positively Impact Organizational Goals
Agile Project Management Conducted in Sprints Using Wrike
Collaborative Content Production and Curation to Increase Visibility
Compliance with Industry Best Practices in Higher Education Email Marketing
Technical Back-End Implementation in Slate CRM
Segmentation & Personalization Informed by Each Program’s Key Audience Needs
Messaging Automation Driven by Audience Behavior
Establishing Standards for Performance Measurement, Content Updates & Population Management
Impact & Results
30%
Year-Over Year Increase in
All-Program Enrollment
60.4%
Increase in New Visitors to the College’s Website from Email Messaging
10-13%
Increases in Key Audience Conversions
(Year-Over-Year)
My team and I were awarded the 2021 Mendoza Dean’s Excellence Award for our work , which markedly increased prospect interest and enrollment despite challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.
