C r e a t i v e w a y s t o u s e C o n n e c t

The CRM Lifehackers! Georgina Hopkins and Christy CormacUniversity of Bristol

London, UK | February 2016

The Benefits, Challenges, and best of all….

Tips to make things actually work the way you need them

to.

From invites to newsletters and everything in

between. Both simple and dynamic.

For our visit days and interviews for

applicants to the University.

Personalised content for enquirers and

applicants.

1 Fulfil requests from interest page, open day

data and phone.

Contact all of our offer holders using just

Connect.

Sent by programme and personalised by

academics.

2

3

4

5

6

Mostly: Email communications Prospectus Requests

Events & Interviews

VIP pages Offer letters

Telecampaigns

What do we use Connect for?

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Data and filters: the good bits

• Multiple data sources allow you to have several stages of

customer lifecycle in the system.

• Easy import functions allow data to be automatically

processed.

• Attributes are easy to create and manage.

• Bulk edits and suspect duplicate checks allow the

management of data integrity.

• They can be saved as templates and easily copied.

• They can be used across the system, in emails and VIP

pages, to drive an email or segment the content blocks.

• With training anyone can build a filter in Connect, no need

to be a data expert.

• It’s a quick way to identify your target segments.

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Filters and data: the scary bits

It can all be very confusing – multiple attributes, multiple data

sources, timings, groupings, ands/ors...

You can quickly end up with multiple records for the same

person.

It’s easy to get a tiny bit of a filter wrong (e.g.. and/or) and send

an inappropriate message to the wrong group of people, with

disastrous results!

The database in Connect is non-relational, so with up to seven

course choices for each applicant, it requires much ongoing

duplication in work but it can be mitigated and helps with

dupes.

“No! ….please make that not have happened!”

What? I have to do that 7 times?!

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Data and filters: what we did

• Make template filters to copy and edit for new

work.

• Establish a naming convention for filters.

• Write process documents for future users, for

every new thing you do with your CRM system.

• Set up robust duplicate checks that run every night

and process these every day.

• ALWAYS test filters when amending , especially if

they are ‘or’ based.

ConnectSchool Newsletters

Secondary school staff contact details

iPad app

Used for data collection in UK and

Internationally

Interest Page

For prospectus requests and

enquiries

Applicant Import

Overnight SITS import of UCAS

applicants and IFP

Open Day

Data transfer from live Open Day booking form

Access to Bristol

Direct applications to the scheme

Summer Schools

Applicant contact details

Our data sources:

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Custom iPad app

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Custom iPad app

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Emails

Good – So many personalisation options are open to

us with the dynamic filtering of content in Connect

emails. There is no excuse for bulk mailing!

Bad – work intensive with content gathering, filter

building and proofreading

Workaround – Keep a standard into and outro. When

schools don’t supply content, the newsletter can still

be sent.

Tip – use responsive emails. Over 53% of emails are

opened on mobile devices*

*https://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/email-marketing/2016/01/email-marketing-best-practices-for-the-new-year/).

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Events and Interviews

Good – allows many automated elements that enable

events and comms to run with little intervention after

set up.

Bad – one essential feature is missing – people cannot

let us know if they can’t attend.

Workaround – We use the E&I module for some visits

which are essential for an application to be progressed.

Although messy, we added a fake event that people

‘register’ on if they can’t attend.

Tip - We link to an in-house pdf guide from the email

invites to limit the need for people to call the enquiries

team.

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VIP page

Good – tailored content specifically for each applicant and

enquirer, acting as a signpost to further content

Bad – content means time spent maintaining relevancy

Workaround – Use timed header images, RSS feeds,

twitter, video, and short content which can easily be

updated.

Tip – Maintain a comprehensive content schedule which

can be queued in advance and updated when needed.

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Prospectus

Good – Can feed orders via multiple data sources by

tailoring filters. We have: interest pages, open day import,

iPad import.

Bad – not much, just the time taken in fulfilment.

Complicated if people want more than one prospectus.

Workaround – Use fulfilment house and run an automatic

data export onto sftp.

Tip – Add a timing element to the filter to only include

contacts who haven’t been in the export(s) within the past 6

months.

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Telecampaigns

Good – Easy to use, and the whole campaign – from set up, to lists,

call jobs, calling and reporting – can be run through Connect.

Bad – very time consuming to set up depending on the way the data

is to be split. Long loading time.

Workaround – We needed to call people all offer holders split by:

course, country, outreach activity, offer or firm offer. We scoped all of

this out, and between the team and Hobsons, build hundreds of

filters. Each call job then appears to the caller independently and

allows them access to specific data sets. Our telecampaign has been

noted as a success every year since it began.

Tip – Ensure all requirements are agreed at the outset. Going back

and amending filters is very time intensive.

Employ additional staff to copy and amend filters.

Email applicants to let them know you’ll be calling.

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Offer letters

Good – can set up letters with mail merge fields customizable

with any attribute in Connect. Academics wanted to send

letters including personal feedback to all offer holders.

Bad – have to do a version for each school and each course

choice

Workaround – We added a ‘feedback’ attribute for academics

to add in the personal feedback, putting the onus on them to

maintain the letters. We made the filters work so that the

letters would only generate if the field was not empty.

Tip – Downloading and printing all letter versions is pretty

time-intensive. Ensure the school admin staff are trained to do

this for their letters so you don’t have to!

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So now your turn… tell us your problems and workarounds to solve them using Connect or

Radius! Let’s share.

What’s your problem?

Questions?

Georgina Hopkins – georgina.hopkins@bristol.ac.ukChristy Cormac – christy.cormac@bristol.ac.uk

University of Bristolwww.bristol.ac.uk