Internet Marketing

Convio's Email Marketing Guide Helps Colleges and Universities Build Strong Relationships with Alumni, Donors and Friends

Downloadable Guide Includes Tips on List-Building, Learning About Alumni Interests, Getting Email Delivered and Read
Plus Advice on Spam From Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 5, 2004-- Convio, Inc. -- the leading provider of software and services to help higher education institutions and other nonprofits use the Internet for building constituent relationships and driving support -- today announced availability of its free, updated guide to help colleges and universities understand and apply email marketing best practices so they can easily launch new email marketing programs or accelerate existing programs.
"Everything Alumni Relations and Development Professionals Need to Know about Email Marketing: Using Email Communications to Build and Manage Alumni and Donor Relations" is the latest in Convio's ongoing series of free publications to help higher education institutions optimize use of the Internet for alumni relations, communications and development objectives. More than ever, schools need effective online tools and techniques for connecting with alumni and other constituents on a timely basis and successfully delivering the right message to prompt action such as registering for a regional event or making an online donation in the annual fund campaign. This guide was created specifically for alumni relations and development professionals as a primer on strategies that every alumni relations and development professional should know in order to conduct effective email communications.

The guide is a rich informational resource for the full spectrum of higher education institutions -- from schools that do not yet have email marketing programs but want to get started, to schools that already are conducting email marketing and want to take it to the next level. To download the free guide, please visit www.convio.com/higheredguide. "Everything Alumni Relations and Development Professionals Need to Know about Email Marketing" as well as Convio's other free downloadable guides (available at www.convio.com/resources), provide a wealth of information on the latest online best practices, strategies and tactics in today's increasingly wired world.

"As a pioneer in bringing the power of the Internet to higher education institutions and other nonprofits, Convio proactively shares what we've learned with the charitable sector, and this is especially true about email marketing, which is at the heart of any effective online program," said Gene Austin, CEO of Convio. "Schools are eager to leverage email communications but face three challenges: acquiring email addresses of alumni, avoiding increasingly strict spam filters, and competing for mind share when alumni check their email. This guide outlines innovative strategies that schools can adopt to make sure that emails get delivered, opened and read."

"Everything Alumni Relations and Development Professionals Need to Know about Email Marketing" will help higher education professionals learn how to:

-- Build strong email lists;

-- Utilize "tell-a-friend" or viral marketing tactics to get alumni to encourage classmates and peers to join the school's online community, attend an event, or subscribe to a newsletter;

-- Target alumni and constituents by interests, geography and other important criteria;

-- Personalize content and messaging so emails are highly relevant to recipients;

-- Produce and maximize the effectiveness of eNewsletters; and

-- Use today's advanced online analytical tools to measure effectiveness, e.g., email open and click-through rates, conversion of email recipients to donors, advocates and/or event participants, etc.

The guide also includes an exclusive new section on spam written by Senny Boone, Executive Director of the Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation. Creating email messages that get delivered to intended recipients, opened and read -- key to any online strategy -- has become tougher than ever due to spam filtering technology, which often mistakenly blocks legitimate email. And even when emails do get through spam filters, alumni and constituents with overloaded email inboxes often do their own filtering and decide which messages to read or delete, unopened. Boone provides insight on how the new CAN-SPAM act -- which attempts to separate spammers from legitimate email marketers -- affects universities' email marketing activities and also offers a checklist on what today's schools have to do to run effective email campaigns while complying with the law.

"With everyone moving online now, the Internet is an increasingly important part of the direct marketing mix for higher education institutions and nonprofits, so there's a huge need for information on how to use email effectively and what the CAN-SPAM act means for organizations," said Boone. "We're delighted that Convio publishes guides to help universities and nonprofits succeed online and we especially appreciate being included in the updated email marketing guide because the prevalence of spam today requires some new approaches."

Additionally, the guide includes an article detailing how email appending services can help universities quickly connect with constituents via email, written by Dave Best, director of marketing at HEP Data Services, Inc. -- a Convio Solutions Partner. Read more about the Convio/HEP partnership at http://www.convio.com/site/News2?id=2601328&page=NewsArticle&news_iv_ctrl=1164. (Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and paste it into your Internet browser's URL address field. You may also need to remove an extra space in the URL if one exists.)

About Convio, Inc.

Convio is the leading provider of software and services that help higher education institutions and other nonprofit organizations use the Internet to build strong constituent relationships to drive support and participation. Convio has online solutions for fundraising and membership, advocacy, special events, volunteer fundraising, Web site management and email communications. All solutions include the Constituent360(TM) platform, a sophisticated, online marketing database that centralizes constituent data and integrates with offline databases. This gives organizations a unified view of constituent interests and motivations -- key for personalized and targeted outreach and communications. Convio also provides services and consulting to help organizations achieve success online.

Convio's clients include the University of Texas alumni association -- the Texas Exes, Georgetown University, Texas State University Alumni Association, International School of Geneva, Hunter College, University of Texas School of Fine Arts, University of Texas School of Continuing Education, University of Texas Department of Athletics, American Diabetes Association, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, AVON Foundation, Brady Campaign United with the Million Mom March, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Chicago Public Radio, Easter Seals, Farm Aid, KCET Community Television of Southern California, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, National Trust For Historic Preservation, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization. For more information, please visit www.convio.com.

Contacts


Convio, Austin
Whitney Wood Otstott, 512-652-2632
wotstott@convio.com

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