CRM for Universities Archives - INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE

CRM Helping You Successfully Track Your Virtual University Open Days

John Nicholls — Mon, 08 Jun 2020 08:00:51 +0000

For the foreseeable future University Open Days are a no go. Thousands of prospective students gathering on campus to view facilities and attend subject talks is a social distancing nightmare. As a result, you’re having to come up with exciting, cutting-edge ways to deliver your University Open Days virtually. And you’re having to do it quickly, so you’re not left behind. With the right software running your virtual Open Days prospective students are able to take virtual tours of the campus. Plus, they can chat with Tutors as well as speak to existing and other prospective students. It can work really well. And it does. So well, in fact, that many are already adopting this technology on a wider scale to give prospective international students a good insight into their institution. The reality of making your Open Days virtual But it’s not all plain sailing and running Open Days virtually does present you with one critical problem – tracking attendance. You can carry on using your event booking system to allow prospective students to book onto events as normal. The confirmation and reminder communications you send out will contain the link to the virtual Open Day landing site. However, typically […]

The post CRM Helping You Successfully Track Your Virtual University Open Days appeared first on INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE.

Why your approach to data migration matters and its impact on your CRM implementation

Gary Rooksby — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 09:00:45 +0000

Data quality is absolutely critical to a successful Higher Education Customer Relationship Management (CRM) implementation. It can literally make or break an implementation. On-going success is reinforced by clean and complete data. It also allows you to measure your Return on Investment (ROI) accurately, proving your success. Conversely, poor data can slow business processes, dilute benefits and reduce users’ confidence and compliance. Getting your existing CRM data into your new system can be tricky. But, there’s more than one way to peel a potato and different CRM systems and providers will offer you different data migration options. Where do you even start? You know you want your data imported in as complete and accurate a state as possible. To do that you’re going to need some help from your system vendor. After all, they’re the experts, aren’t they? Your CRM provider might supply a set of technical tools, leave you to use those tools yourself and take responsibility for your own data quality. Alternatively, they might offer a more customised (and expensive) service either including the tools or even doing the final data import for you. With each of these data migration approaches there are advantages and disadvantages. The key […]

The post Why your approach to data migration matters and its impact on your CRM implementation appeared first on INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE.

Protecting what’s important – safeguarding your data in your Higher Education CRM system

Sharon Williams — Thu, 13 Feb 2020 09:00:24 +0000

Welcome to the third part in our ‘Choosing a Higher Education CRM system’ series. We’re going to be discussing ways in which you can protect your data. In recent weeks there have been several data security breaches in UK Universities. Within your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, you’re recording – or want to record – a lot of personal data about your applicants and students. As well as capturing data and notes about your schools and partners. You need this information to make sure you communicate effectively, and make sure you do this in line with GDPR. So, how can you do this while making sure you’re safeguarding this highly personal and sensitive data in your Higher Education CRM system? And how do you make sure the system you choose will give you the protection you need? What’s meant by sensitive or personal data? Firstly, you need to clarify what you mean by sensitive or personal data. Most Universities will be capturing name, date of birth, email address, telephone and postal address details for applicants and students. This is probably classed by everyone as personal information. However, you may also be recording qualifications, family relationships, special requirements, conditional offers, and […]

The post Protecting what’s important – safeguarding your data in your Higher Education CRM system appeared first on INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE.

7 things to consider when choosing a Higher Education Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system

Sharon Williams — Fri, 17 Jan 2020 09:00:26 +0000

Welcome to part two of our ‘Choosing a Higher Education CRM system’. It can be quite confusing looking for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software for your University. With a range of systems out there that all seem to do very similar things it can be difficult to know where to begin to find the CRM system that’s right for you. Well, the first thing to recognise is there’s not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ CRM system that’s right for everyone. Just as you don’t do things in exactly the same way as every other University. So, here’s a few things to consider when you’re looking for a CRM system for your University. 1 – Make sure you really know what you need We’re not just talking about a list of functions that the CRM system needs to deliver. That’s obviously important. You want to be sure the system is going to support your processes and allow you to complete specific tasks. However, by just providing a list of functions you’re not setting any qualitative criteria. And although the CRM can perform a specific function it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s doing it efficiently, simply or with quality. So, by simply assessing potential University CRM […]

The post 7 things to consider when choosing a Higher Education Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system appeared first on INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE.

Manage every step of the student journey with Higher Education CRM

Sharon Williams — Fri, 10 Jan 2020 09:00:23 +0000

Welcome to our ‘Choosing a Higher Education CRM system’ series. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software can be used to manage every step of the student journey. From initial enquiry management through to graduation and beyond! Choosing the right Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system can be confusing, time-consuming and expensive. We want to arm you with questions and advice to help you choose the system that’s right for you. Our first blog in the series takes a look into the different steps on the student journey where a Higher Education CRM system can help. So, you can see if it’s something that will deliver tangible benefits to you and your University. Step one: attracting The decision to attend University is certainly not an easy one. Especially considering the potential financial outlay. So, expectations are high. Competition is fierce. Personalised marketing is the norm. Also, the influence and impact of social media is keenly felt by everyone. There’s a wealth of information out there – in a variety of different media – and your savvy potential students have access to it. What you do, how you do it and what others think of your University is being heavily scrutinised – all the […]

The post Manage every step of the student journey with Higher Education CRM appeared first on INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE.

Does your Higher Education CRM software make running your graduation ceremony as easy as ABC?

Sharon Williams — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 10:14:06 +0000

With graduation season drawing to a close, you can now allow yourself to let out a sigh of relief. It’s over for another year! Your newly awarded graduates hopefully had a lovely day to remember. Could you say the same for your team? Did everything run as smoothly as you’d like or were there the usual queues, confusion about who was attending, hastily handwritten tickets and gaps in your order of ceremony? Achiever Higher Education CRM software can help eliminate some of these challenges; taking some of the stress out of running your events including your graduation ceremony. A: Find out who’s planning to attend Using Higher Education CRM software, you can send out a focused email invitation to your targeted list of graduands. In Achiever CRM, for example, this is a personalised, branded email communication that contains a unique link to the system’s online event management portal. From the portal graduands can register to attend the graduation ceremony. Plus, they can also add guests as well as any dietary or special requirements. As soon as they have registered, Achiever CRM automatically sends a follow-up, personalised email communication to the graduand’s email address. This email also contains a unique QR […]

The post Does your Higher Education CRM software make running your graduation ceremony as easy as ABC? appeared first on INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE.

Achiever CRM for Universities – your future-proof system that continues to deliver ROI

Sharon Williams — Fri, 25 Oct 2019 10:06:25 +0000

Does your CRM system tell you how well your marketing activities are doing this year compared to last year? And if you implemented your system some years ago, are you still getting benefits and return on your investment from it? Achiever CRM for Universities – and most notably its dashboards – is providing Universities with a wealth of previously untapped information. And with each passing year the system continues to increase its value. Thanks to workflows built into the system, you capture data in a structured and consistent manner. All of which make it easier for you to query. Plus, the software’s unique configuration tools allow you to make changes to the system, so it stays relevant and you can adapt as you learn more. Supporting you every step on the student journey Achiever CRM for Universities captures detailed prospective student data at each step in the student journey. And integrates with student information management systems for a complete picture from initial enquiry through to enrolment. The software’s extensive enquiry management functionality tracks all incoming communication and handles any prospectus requests. Achiever CRM for Universities’ enhanced event and open day management capability enables your digital marketing, event management and schools […]

The post Achiever CRM for Universities – your future-proof system that continues to deliver ROI appeared first on INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE.

What a difference a day makes – the challenges of a university open-day event manager

John Nicholls — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 12:03:59 +0000

Never has the competition amongst the UK’s leading Universities been so tough. The ripples of recent political decisions have been felt by everyone. Compounding this are the rapid changes in technology and how best to interact with potential students. The pressure on University Marketing and Event departments to not only attract prospective applicants but keep them actively engaged throughout the application process, is challenging. That’s why the attendance on a University open-day event is often seen as a critical milestone in the student journey. How do you measure the success of a university open-day event? Measuring the success of a University open-day event consists of multiple components. These include the number of prospective students signed up to attend, the actual number who attended and the prospective students’ experience on the open-day event itself. As an Event Manager your responsibility is to ensure the maximum number of attendees are signed-up and converted to actual attendees. Therefore, your first measure of success is the sign-up rates and to achieve this you need to keep a close eye on sign-up numbers. How do you measure open-day event sign-up numbers? When comparing open-day event sign-up rates, you would usually compare this year with the […]

The post What a difference a day makes – the challenges of a university open-day event manager appeared first on INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE.