Wayne State: texting spurs student, staff engagement
Vision:
Wayne State University, a public research university in Detroit, Michigan with 27K+ students from 70+ countries, wanted to become an early adopter of text messaging to connect personally with prospective students, maintain alumni relationships and keep the entire Wayne State community informed of campus events.
Strategy
Responding to student preference to text over email, Wayne State University decided to implement a comprehensive, centrally managed text messaging system and selected TruReach Deliver Aerialink. The project’s success hinged on avoiding the myriad technological, privacy and regulatory issues that make institutional text a complex endeavor.
Action
TruReach Deliver Aerialink leveraged APIs to connect with existing Wayne State University systems to facilitate both mass communications and targeted prospective engagement initiatives. To increase participation, students, alumni and faculty were encouraged to register their numbers at broadcast.wayne.edu, where they could set their messaging preferences.
Results:
The results for Wayne State University serve as an example of how a well-thought-out text messaging program can benefit educational institutions nationwide. Their text open rates stand at 98% compared with 20% for email. More importantly, prospective and current students, plus faculty, alumni and even parents feel more engaged and informed.