Description

CU Online was looking for a way to better communicate with our constituents. As the administrators of the Learning Management System, Canvas, we have different information that needs to get to students, faculty, and special interest groups at both the downtown and Anschutz Medical Campuses. Over the years we struggled with using list-servs and paper flyers, but nothing gave us the impact or data we needed to make our communication practice more effective. In order to deliver more timely and effective messages, we implemented a Mailchimp platform, process, and campaign.

As the lead of this process, I developed a newsletter template, created a monthly schedule for publishing, and a process for editing and review. With the foundation set, the newsletter is a team effort. Each month, members of the team write articles and submit them for review, the newsletter is put together by a single team member, and then sent out for edits to two different team members. Although Mailchimp is drag and drop, there is some HTML work that is done by various team members to refine the look and feel of each newsletter.

How does this impact the University?

We are overburdened with so much email each day. The goal of the mailchimp platform is to streamline and improve communications within the university. The CU Online newsletter impacts the university in the following ways:

- Creates a single, regular communication between CU Online and constituents
- Allows for easy opt-out/opt-in by constituents
- Provides analytics to CU Online to improve communication
- Improves relationships between CU Online and constituents

Implementation Status

We have sent six newsletters using the Mailchimp platform. Each month, we look at the Mailchimp report and compare stats from open rate, click rate, and unsubscribe to make adjustment to:

- Subject line
- Subject topics
- Subject headings

As an educator, I am working to stretch my knowledge in the areas of marketing, communication, and sales. I started a book club in our office so we could all learn how to communicate and sell our ideas and services better. We have read two books, To Sell is Human and The Psychology of Influence. We are currently reading Made to Stick. These books have helped the team make clearer communications and along with the help of Mailchimp, we are working to redefine communication at our institution.

Submitter's Information

Submitter's Name: Crystal Gasell
Submitter's Email: crystal.gasell@ucdenver.edu

gasellcusp.pdf