At the IU Alumni Association, newsletters were a key way of connecting with our alumni. In any given month, an alum could receive up to 10 different newsletters from various IUAA programs within the association. The programs had no visibility to what other programs were sending. To streamline and enhance our approach, IUAA marketing stepped in to consolidate newsletters and lead a process of iterative design.
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Through several internal prototypes, we developed a unified approach with the “All for You” newsletter. The goal was to ensure that each person received only one newsletter from us. While we couldn’t fully customize the content at that stage, we could adjust headers and footers based on available data. The results were satisfactory, with open rates around 19%, which was in line with industry standards at the time. However, we were eager to improve.
We then sought feedback from alumni via the IU Research Panel and through readership surveys. We refined our designs based on their preferences rather than our assumptions. This iterative process led to the creation of the Alumni Insider newsletter. The revamped version not only included the news alumni wanted but also featured relevant advertising and corporate sponsor promotions. This approach not only enhanced engagement but also generated new revenue for the association and strengthened our relationships with corporate sponsors. Over time, open rates increased significantly, reaching as high as 60%.
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