Marketing & Communications

ASU has been using the Salesforce Marketing Cloud since November 2014. The implementation to date has been focused on replacing more than 13 siloed mass email systems that were in use by various units of the university.

Since bringing the email channel online in November 2014, we have achieved the following:

Discontinued use of dozens of instances of siloed email systems, including Lyris, Mail Chimp, Mail Dog and Bronto.
Replaced Outlook for mass communication to students by several units. (Outlook does not provide tracking information, so those making the switch to the Marketing Cloud now can see which emails are being delivered, opened, clicked through and responded to. The Marketing Cloud also provides significantly enhanced filtering and segmentation capabilities.)
Imported more than 1.5 million active subscribers, including faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors, sports fans, corporate partners, government officials and community members.
Onboarded 109 business units, including numerous colleges and schools; centers, institutes and programs; administrative offices and units; the Foundation; the Alumni Association; Sun Devil Athletics; Business and Finance; and a number of student service units.
Added 275 users and deployed regular training and user group programs to enhance their knowledge and ability to effectively use the tools.
Created daily automated imports of Peoplesoft and Advance data to enable President’s Office and others to reach updated lists of faculty, staff, students, alumni and donors with timely communications.
In summer 2016, we turned on the Connector between the Marketing Cloud and Salesforce. This has enabled us to send digital communications through the Marketing Cloud directly from Salesforce and return results (e.g., opens, clickthroughs and conversions) directly to individual contact records in Salesforce.

There are several important projects in fiscal year 2018 that will significantly enhance the platform:

Mobile Studio: We will begin using the platform for text messaging delivery and management in early 2017.
Onboarding: We plan to have all remaining university units onboarded to the Salesforce Connected Marketing Cloud by the end of the 2017 year.