Take Your Blue Notifications to the Next Level. Gaurav Gupta Virginia Commonwealth University

Transcription

1 Take Your Blue Notifications to the Next Level Gaurav Gupta Virginia Commonwealth

2 About Virginia Commonwealth University Urban university with two campuses 13 schools and one college 31,000 students 17,500 courses per year 6% short courses

3 History of course evaluation at VCU Paper and pencil evaluations until 2009 Switched to Online evaluations in 2009 Switched to Blue in 2013

4 Course evaluation by the numbers 225,000 evaluations per year 200,000 s per year

5 We have learned a lot in last 6 years

6 Goals of our communication strategy

7 Goal 1 Increase response rate

8 Goal 2 Get quality feedback

9 Goal 3 Increase transparency, reduce confusion and improve satisfaction

10 Goal 4 Reduce the need for troubleshooting

11 Lessons we have learned

12 1. We are salespeople

13 2. is our best marketing tool

14 remains a significantly more effective way to acquire customers than social media nearly 40 times that of Facebook and Twitter combined. - McKinsey & Company Source:

15 After trying for a few semesters we stopped using posters, postcards, Twitter, Facebook, campus TV and raffle prizes

16 3. Content is king

17 s to students include Introduction List of open evaluations and their due dates Link to evaluation forms Importance of their feedback and how it will be used Confidentiality Contact information Unsubscribe link

18 s to faculty include Introduction List of evaluations Start and end dates, report availability Link to check response rates How to improve response rate and get better feedback Contact information Unsubscribe link

19 A/B testing

20 A/B testing basics Create two versions of an Divide recipients into two groups Send different versions of to each group Measure completion rate

21 A B Subject line: It s Time to Give Feedback to Your Instructors Subject line: It s Time to Evaluate Your Instructors 13% more responses

22 A B Subject line: Reminder: Please Evaluate Your Courses and Your Instructors Subject line: Need a Study Break? Take a Few Minutes to Evaluate Your Professors 30% more responses

23 Faculty testimonials

24 A B With testimonial Without testimonial No significant difference

25 A B 6% more responses

26 A B Subject line: Your Course Evaluations are Still Pending Subject line: Reminder: Your Course Evaluations are Still Pending 12% more responses

27 A B Subject line: Only 3 Days Left to Evaluate Your Professors! Subject line: Your Course Evaluations are Due in 3 Days No significant difference

28 Feature request: A/B testing functionality in Blue

29 Tips for writing great content

30 Pay attention to subject line A well designed subject line can make big impact

31 Put yourself in their shoes If you were a student or instructor, what information would be helpful to you

32 Are they asking you the same questions repeatedly? Consider including this information in the

33 Be conversational Keep it to-the-point Avoid being clever, using puns

34 Sound official, authoritative Don t beg, make them care instead Create a sense of urgency

35 instead of please complete your evaluations say evaluations are due in 2 days

36 Divide up content into small sections Use headings

37 Without headings

38 With headings

39 4. Personalize to the right extent

40 Two banks Two very different s

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43 Which would you rather receive?

44 Personalized improved our response rate (Spring 2011) /21/ /22/ /23/ /24/ /25/ /26/ /27/ /28/ /29/ /30/ /01/ /02/ /03/ /04/ Evals Completed/Hour Generic Personalized

45 Personalized data used at VCU Name List of courses Instructor names Due dates

46 Personalized subject line

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48 Almost any data can be included

49 5. Formatting the

50 Unformatted

51 Formatted

52 Find a web designer

53 Tips for your web designer Use call to action buttons instead of links Minimize use of images Use inline CSS Responsive design

54 Resources for your web designer Responsive tutorial BeeFree Zurb CSS Inliner

55 6. Getting the timing right

56 Typical course evaluation cycle Course duration Evals Exams Reports (14 days)

57 Typical communication cycle to students Evals Exams Reports to instructors

58 We analyzed data from last four semesters

59 Evaluations completed/hour Fall s sent Weekend Thanksgiving break Weekend Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

60 Evaluations completed/hour Spring s sent Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed

61 Evaluations completed/hour Fall s sent Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

62 Evaluations completed/hour Spring s sent Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed

63 Best days to send s First and last day of evals Monday Thursday > Friday Sunday > Thanksgiving / long weekends

64 Evaluations completed/hour in a single day Spring Tue Wed Mon AM 3 AM 6 AM 9 AM 12 PM 3 PM 6 PM 9 PM

65 Best time to send s 10am minus time required to send all s (3-6 hours for us)

66 7. Testing

67 Testing process Create a test project with 4-6 courses Remove all students, instructors Add yourself and student and instructor to each course Compose and send it Test after every edit, even if it is a minor one

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69 Another feature request: Easier way to send test s

70 Thanks! I would love to hear from you