Washington State University was experiencing issues on campus with decentralized, high volume html email campaign demands. Department staff often sent emails that were unbranded and did not carry the message that WSU wanted to convey. Additionally, the emails were often not well timed, causing recipients to be overwhelmed by various messages from WSU.
To solve the problem, WSU determined that emails for prospective students and parents should be sent from a central office. However, this caused major workflow issues and placed a heavy burden on limited staff. We found that in most cases, it took an average of two weeks from time of the original request until an email could actually be sent!
To fix these issues WSU Enrollment IT team created their own email builder tool with built in workflow and approval. There are plenty of tools available on the market that allow users to select from templates, move modules around, change colors and images, etc. However, WSU was looking for a tool that would meet desired needs of our diverse and dispersed recruitment staff who have little or no technical skills.
Multiple user-friendly tools allow non-techy staff members to have complete control of creating beautifully branded html emails that are reviewed and approved through user defined custom workflow processes specific to individual department and staff needs.
WSU now has a tool that serves the entire campus community, ensures consistency of branding, standardizes the best visual representation of the university, provides a user-friendly workflow and oversight, and a tremendous number of hours saved. Additionally, we worked with our Office of Commercialization to successfully create a revenue stream that is reinvested into our technology endeavors that support Enrollment Management.

Submission ID: 

5208

Day:

Monday, July 15, 2019

Time:

9:30 AM - 10:30 AM

Room:

Milano VII