What alumni asked for, delivered worldwide.
A medical school alumni association at an academic medical center wanted to engage its members, but its CRM mixed alumni and patient data. Digineer found faster ways to connect: targeted email with automatic reminders, and access to the clinical reference tool graduates had been asking for. Site usage rose 175% within two weeks of launch.
At a glance
- Client
- A medical school alumni association at an academic medical center
- Program
- Alumni engagement: targeted email and clinical content access
- Scale
- Content viewed in 39 countries and over 40 states
- Engagement
- Change management consulting, 18 months
- Capability
- Organizational Effectiveness & Change Readiness
The situation
Hard to reach members you cannot see
The association was struggling to finish projects with a CRM system that was not working efficiently. Without data on each alum’s practice area and how long they had been an alum, it was hard to communicate with members in a way that mattered to them.
The CRM held patient data alongside alumni data. Most of the doctors were also patients of the medical center, so privacy rules made it hard to separate their history as students from their records as patients. Graduates also kept asking to keep using a clinical reference tool from their training, but licensing and security rules stood in the way.
Warning signs
- Alumni and patient data in one CRM
- No data on members’ practice areas
- Projects stalling on the CRM
- Generic outreach with low turnout
- A long-requested tool no one could offer
What we did
Find a faster way to engage
Digineer ran a proof of concept on giving the association its own CRM instance. That was a longer project, so Digineer kept looking for quicker ways to raise engagement in the meantime.
A separate CRM, tested
Through a series of mini-projects, Digineer showed it was too complicated to track a medical student’s history in the same CRM instance as patient data, and started a proof of concept for a dedicated instance.
Targeted email with reminders
Digineer analyzed a bulk email system, integrated it with the association and trained the team within three months, so campaigns could go out with automatic follow-up reminders.
Clinical content for alumni
Digineer worked with the content and security teams to give alumni around the world access to the clinical reference tool they used as students.
The outcome
More alumni, more engaged
27% more at receptions
Since the email tool went in, attendance at alumni receptions increased 27%.
175% more site usage
Within two weeks of the launch, usage of the alumni association website increased 175%.
A global reach
The content was viewed in 39 countries and over 40 states.
A first for the institution
It was the first time the medical center’s core content was provided outside its walls. The site also became the hub where alumni found up-to-date COVID-19 content.
Change management
Struggling to reach your members?
Digineer finds practical ways to move engagement forward, even while the bigger system changes are still underway.
Client name withheld for confidentiality.