Denison University: Email Marketing Delivers ROI for College Fund Raising

To further develop the relationship Denison University has with its alumni and to effectively solicit funds through a soft touch email marketing campaign.
Denison University, a premier liberal arts institution in Granville, Ohio, has worked with BrightWave Marketing (www.BrightWaveMarketing.com), an Atlanta based Email Marketing and Customer Relationship Services firm, for several years to create and manage all aspects of their Email Marketing efforts.

Background
Denison University utilizes a multi faceted direct marketing program to communicate with their alumni and other key constituents. Email marketing has become a more important part of their development strategy in recent years due to the cost effectiveness, tracking capabilities and growing use of email and internet to contribute to the school’s Annual Fund.

Actions
For the 2006 year end campaign, Denison and BrightWave Marketing collaborated to create an email campaign that links to a flash presentation that creates an emotional appeal to alumni and at the end of the piece provides an opportunity to contribute to the Annual Fund. Previously, Denison and BrightWave utilized a similar approach that was successful for the college’s first full scale email campaign in 2004. 3 different emails were sent that were personalized and customized to each segmented audiences below:
- Audience of Alumni who had not given during the current fiscal year
- Audience of Alumni who had given during the current fiscal year
- Follow Up Campaign to the Alumni who had not contributed in the current fiscal year and did not click on the link to the flash presentation

Results
Denison University received a return of over 1300% on their investment for the email campaign. Open rates reached almost as high as 50% while Click through percentages were as high as 29%. Over half of the recipients who opened the email, clicked on a link in the email demonstrating a high level of interest in these email messages from their alma mater. These metrics are well above education industry averages. Collectively, the Email campaigns drove over 5% of all Annual Fund contributions during this time period. Simms Jenkins, Principal of BrightWave Marketing commented “Being an alumnus of a great school like Denison makes me very proud. However, from a professional viewpoint, I am even more pleased with the success BrightWave Marketing and Denison University have achieved by understanding our audience and delivering an email that has relevance and value to them. The amount of money generated from this campaign is icing on the cake and once again, proves email to be a critical tool in communicating with any kind of organization’s key stakeholders.”