Tailor Alumni Communications with Enhanced Data: 5 Tips

Your alumni aren’t the same now as they were when they were students on campus. They’ve grown and changed since graduation, and your alumni communications should reflect that.

The best way to learn about who your alumni are now is through data. Data can provide insight into their latest interests, wealth indicators, and communication preferences.

Whether you’re updating your alumni outreach strategy or developing one for the first time, we’ll provide tips for how you can obtain and implement alumni data for better communications and engagement.

1. Invest in prospect research.

The prospect research process involves gaining insight into your alumni’s capacity and willingness to give. That way, you can limit your fundraising communications to those who are actually interested, allowing you to increase engagement rates.

There are two different types of data educational institutions collect during prospect research:

• Wealth data. Organizations use wealth data to determine an alum’s capacity to give. This information may include business affiliations, stock ownership, and home value.

• Philanthropic data. Some alumni may have the capacity to give, but it’s also important that they’re interested and willing to contribute. You can evaluate willingness to give using philanthropic data, such as personal information, past giving, and higher education engagement history.

Perhaps one of the largest benefits of prospect research is the ability to identify potential major donors. Since major donors can generate significant donation revenue for your organization, it’s essential to determine who may become a major donor and implement a fundraising appeal outreach cadence to target this group.

2. Append alumni data.

To effectively tailor your communications, you need to ensure you have sufficient information about your alumni. That’s where a data append comes in.

AlumniFinder defines data appends as the process of supplementing your alumni database with information from other sources. As a result, you’ll have a more robust database filled with pertinent information about your alumni. 

The data append process includes:

1. Uploading your data to a data append service provider.

2. Matching and verifying those records in the system.

3. Enhancing those records with additional data.

4. Downloading the information to your database.

Let’s say you’re running a text-to-give campaign. Tatango’s guide to higher education texting claims that 93% of people who have a college degree or higher own a cell phone, making this fundraiser extremely viable for your alumni base. With a data append, you can add missing phone numbers to your database so you can reach as many alumni as possible.

However, you may want to reach supporters on social media. In that case, you can append social media handles to your database to ensure you can engage with your supporters on those platforms.

You can also append a variety of other data, depending on your outreach efforts, including mailing addresses, email addresses, employment status, marital status, and location.

3. Create alumni segments.

The way you reach young alumni during their first five years out of college will and should be extremely different from your communications with older alumni.

Once you have a complete database, segment or group alumni based on shared characteristics. You can then personalize your communications to align with these qualities and increase response rates as a result.

While age is one defining factor you can use to create alumni segments, you may also choose to group alumni by other characteristics, such as location or interests. Segmenting by location allows you to invite alumni to events in their local area whereas grouping by interests can ensure that you’re reaching out to alumni with opportunities they’re likely to participate in.

4. Experiment with alumni communications.

Now, it’s time to put your alumni data and segments to the test. Don’t be afraid to experiment with how you tailor your alumni communications so you can find what approach works best for your organization.

For example, if you typically invite all of your email subscribers to your events, try sending an email to only past event attendees for your next event. Include a link to your events page and registration link to see if they receive more engagement than when you send event emails to your entire database.

Another way to tailor your alumni communications is to alter your fundraising asks based on people’s past donation patterns. This level of personalization and specificity may entice people to contribute.

If you segment alumni by giving history, you can identify major donors and ask them for larger donations than the rest of your supporters. For example, you may request a $1,000 donation from major donors and ask others for $50. 

Offering a suggested donation amount can push people to donate, so ensure you look at your average donation data to guide the amounts you request in your fundraising appeals.

5. Collect feedback.

Supplement your database with qualitative data by soliciting alumni feedback. Whether that’s responses to your programming or your communication efforts themselves, you can gain greater insight into what different segments of your audience prefer by contacting them directly.

Leverage updated contact information sourced through data appends to call or email supporters about their experiences with your alumni association. You may ask alumni some of the following questions:

• What is your favorite experience you’ve had as a member of the [institution’s name] alumni association?

• Would you recommend becoming an active alum to recent graduates?

• How often do you read the alumni newsletter?

• What would make our offerings more valuable to alumni like you?

• Do you have any suggestions for events or initiatives the association should pursue in the future?

After surveying your alumni, have your team sit down to analyze the responses. You may find patterns that cause you to rethink your approach or identify areas where you’re already succeeding. 

Your alumni aren’t just a source of funds. They’re living testaments to your institution’s legacy. Nourish these relationships with alumni communications that honor each alum’s individual needs and preferences. As a result, you’ll build genuine connections with past students and grow your base of support.

About the Author

Gabrielle Perham is the Director of Marketing & Sales Operations for Deep Sync and its family of brands: Compact Information Systems, HomeData, AccuData Integrated Marketing, AlumniFinder, ASL Marketing, CollegeBound Selection Service, and DeepSync Labs. She joined the organization in 2017 and possesses more than 15 years of experience in strategic marketing, branding, communications, and digital marketing. She earned a B.S. in Marketing and an M.B.A in Marketing Management from the University of Tampa.