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Home › Success Stories › IE University
Success Story

Creating life-long relationship with a global alumni community

Since 2013, IE University has used an experience platform for students and alumni. Initially, it was mostly used for event and club management. However, as the university experienced significant growth, in 2021 it upgraded the platform to a true enterprise solution and rebranded it as “IE Connects.”
Type of institution:
Private University
Alumni Numbers:
75,000+
Customer since:
2013
Location:
Madrid, Spain

About IE

About IE University

IE University was founded in 1973 as a graduate professional school in business and law. Today it is renowned for its commitment to providing an educational environment that fosters a global and lifelong approach to learning. A vibrant community, characterized by close interaction between students and faculty, forms the cornerstone of the university experience. Representing over 130 nationalities, IE University boasts a diverse student body, with more than 75% hailing from outside Spain. IE Business School consistently ranks among the world’s top academic institutions in global rankings.

Outcomes

Alumni engagement has significantly increased with IE Connects. This is reflected in the following user stats for the first month of use, which continue to grow:
App Downloads
0
Alumni campaign drove 4,000 app downloads following completion
Boosting Alumni Engagement
Alumni
A multi-channel campaign to show how the app increases alumni engagement.
Increase in monthly logins
0 %
CampusGroups supported a 71% increase in unique monthly logins.

Challenges

To better meet the needs of its global community of 8,000 students and 75,000 alumni professionals, IE Connects offers many value-add features. This includes a dedicated Alumni Community Hub within the wider platform. Having a dedicated hub resolves the following challenges for the alumni community:

  • Absence of a Central Place for Alumni Activities, Resources, and Engagement – Having disparate systems requires complex messaging to the alumni community and creates a barrier to alumni engagement. This is why IE wanted to implement a dedicated alumni platform that unifies multiple value-add services in one space.
  • Inconsistent Uptake and Experience as Students Transition to Alumni – Considering the entire lifecycle – from student to alumni – IE recognized that system adoption would be higher by leveraging an existing and healthy system. Having one system for students and alumni contributes to higher adoption and engagement rates. Users keep the same app and password. Relationships built on campus remain within the portal. Department-centric information structures led to fragmentation and inconsistency.
  • Inability to Generate Valuable Engagement Data – With disparate systems, tracking and reporting alumni engagement is decentralized and therefore not interlinked. Having a centralized tool offers numerous possibilities for more precise tracking and reporting of alumni engagement. The prior system had evolved organically over time, resulting in unwieldy complexity. Duplication of information compounded management difficulties.

Solutions

IE Global Alumni Relations wanted an experience that specifically catered to their alumni’s needs. It also sought to foster an engagement culture built on the campus experience. Having a dedicated hub within IE Connects provides the following benefits to alumni:

  • A one-stop shop for Alumni Engagement – “IE Connects” bundles a suite of resources into a single digital platform. Alumni benefits include: alumni events, career workshops, alumni clubs, alumni directory, on-demand videos, career advisory sessions, and job vacancies.
  • A Customized & Personalized Experience – IE’s alumni hub and personalized mobile app provide custom experiences as the needs for each community member is distinct. Relevant content is delivered based on alumni preferences (events by geography, by clubs membership and/or interest). Exclusive content is also available to a membership-based community.
  • Robust Tracking & Reporting Features – The ability to access alumni and clubs involvement data makes engagement strategies more informed, purposeful, and effective. With “IE Connects” all data feeds into an analytics and reporting dashboard. Metrics include event data (check-in, registration) club and paid-dues membership, targeted communication open rates, and mentorship connections.
“The Results Have Been Phenomenal”
“The platform’s analytics capabilities give us visibility on engagement levels.”
Sara Lindgren
Deputy Head Alumni Engagement and Programs, IE University