24 Jun 2020

by Frances Van KlaverenX

One of the best-performing newsletters

Topics

Created with limited resources, bringing on an organisation-wide culture shift in the way in which we communicate with our members.

Success achieved

Creating one of the best performing newsletters of SPE with limited resources, thus bringing on an organization-wide culture shift in the way in which we communicate with our members.

Website: https://www.spe.org
Project dates: 1 Jan 2018 – 31 December 2018

Project team

Frances van Klaveren - Regional Activities Manager, Eastern Hemisphere
Kirsten Bossart - Marketing Specialist, Member Programs (April 2018 – current)
Michelle Mendez - Marketing Specialist, Member Programs (left SPE in May 2018)

Tools & Systems

The mailing was sent through Marketo. A lot of the content was housed on the members forum, SPE Connect, which uses the Higher Logic platform. Some of the video content included was made available via the SPE YouTube channel, and we linked to several social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Prior to 2018 the newsletter was sent out via Informz (which has recently been incorporated into Higher Logic). Informz is also the broadcast email platform we make available for each section and chapter to undertake their own mailings within their local groups. Each section and each chapter is provided with their private account, and is given an email allowance, so that they can email all members in their local group. All officers are trained by SPE staff on how to use the system, and provided with best practices and tips on how to design their mailings.

Introduction

SPE has 203 sections and 383 student chapters worldwide. Each of these groups operate activities on a local level with guidance and support from SPE. For each section or chapter, a minimum of three officers are appointed to take responsibility for the activities of their groups. The officers receive many communications from the membership team, and work closely with SPE staff in the regional office to seek advice on how to fulfill their duties as an officer.

Historically the officers have been sent newsletters on a semi-regular basis, which compiled information for them and reminded them of upcoming deadlines. In 2018 we launched a new online resource centre and alongside this project we also wanted to revamp the newsletter into a more valuable resource for all officers globally. The newsletters do not contain technical content, nor do they aim to advertise or market any specific programs or services. The main content is written and compiled with the aim to educate officers on operational matters, member engagement, and communication, and also demonstrate how they can leverage SPE programs, tools and services available to them within their local groups.

The quarterly newsletter is sent separately to section officers and student chapter officers. The audience size varies from mailing to mailing as each section and chapter can update the number of officers they have on file as and when required. Audience size for 2018 was as per below.

We aimed for varied and engaging content, which usually comprised of:

Welcome message from staff
Congratulations/accolades (winners of student competitions, scholarship awardees, international award winners, other competition winners)
Welcome to new sections/student chapters established
Congratulations/accolades (winners of student competitions, scholarship awardees, international award winners, other competition winners)
Welcome to new sections/student chapters established
A series of articles/blog posts, usually written by staff and themed around four areas of interest (operational matters, member engagement, communication, events and activities)
Success stories written by section and chapter officers, where we showcase their successes
Links to best practice documentation
Showcases of stories section and chapters have shared on social media
Meet the team – information and biographies of staff members
Tips and tools – useful tip and tricks officers can apply when using our systems and tools
Explore – further useful resources such as webinars, webpages, videos etc on related topics
Reminder of upcoming deadlines and save the date for events

Discovery

Although the section and chapter officers are spread out over more than 150 countries, and all have their own unique ways in which they interact with their local groups, there are common themes and information that can benefit them all. We have several avenues where we collect feedback on what the officers need from us in terms of support and information;

We get regular feedback from our online members’ forum, SPE Connect, where we have communities specifically dedicated to officers and where they regular post questions and request information, giving us a good idea on what they want and need to hear about.
Each section and chapter is required to submit an annual report, which provides us with a wealth of information including what challenges they are facing and what support they need from SPE International.
Each region holds annual officers’ meetings where they provide us with feedback on their needs and challenges in a face to face setting.
For the redesign of the online resource centre we created an internal workgroup where we asked regional staff members to provide feedback on their day to day experience with working with officers and the challenges they come across. This information helped up re-structure and expand the information we make available to them and also set the scene for the content of the newsletter.
Our annual member survey has given us insight on what programs and services are most valued and in what regions, so we used that information to focus on those programs and how the local groups can engage with them.
We invite feedback at the end of each newsletter, and asses which areas got the most clicks and used that information to structure the newsletters that followed.

Objectives

The main purpose of the newsletter is to make the section and chapters feel more connected to SPE International, allowing them to better support their areas. The newsletter aims to educate officers on operational matters, member engagement, and communication, and also demonstrate how they can use and leverage SPE programs, tools and services available to them within their local groups. The newsletter is one element of this wider purpose, which is also achieved through organizing leadership workshops were officers and staff come together in a face to face setting, the online resource centre, orientation and onboarding programs, educational resources as well as the day-to-day interactions our officers have with membership staff in their regions.

Historically the officer newsletter has been very instructional in nature, telling our officers what to do, giving them deadlines, threatening them with repercussions if those weren’t met, pushing out generic marketing messages and generally a lot of bold and red text and not very friendly in its tone. As a team we came together and decided we wanted to change the way in which we communicated with them, and make the tone of the email much more supportive and collaborative. This really required a culture shift within our team, which I believe we have achieved and along the way we also managed to convince other teams to adapt this approach too.

In addition to those overarching purposes and goals, we wanted to achieve the following:

Raising awareness of the resources provided to officers by theming each email based on one of the main knowledge areas in the online resource centre, and showcasing the information available to them.
Showcasing the global diversity of SPE and share how local groups in different parts of the world operate.
Celebrating the successes of our local groups and motivating others to follow.
Giving SPE a face by introducing staff members with pictures and biographies.
Driving traffic to the member forum, SPE Connect, by posting blogs and resource materials there.
Showcasing how different programs and services have benefitted members in different parts of the world, and sharing real stories rather than generic marketing messages.
To facilitate engagement and sharing of best practices amongst officers.

Timeline

The initial conversations about revamping the newsletter started around November 2017, and the marketing plan and content calendar were agreed on in January 2018.

For the first mailing we allowed three weeks from getting content to myself to the date of the actual mailing. It soon transpired that this was too tight, so the timeline was increase in 4 weeks in total, 2 weeks for me to work on the content, and 2 weeks for Marketing to put the content in the email template and test the emails. I started to chase other members in the organizations approximately 2 weeks before the content was due to me, so each email had about a six-week turnaround time, from content sourcing to the actual mailing.

Activities

To kick start the project, members of the membership team and the marketing team got together to assess how the newsletter could be improved. At this stage we made a few key decisions, including the decision to utilize a different email system to allow for an improved design, to reduce the frequency of the mailing and also to create two separate mailings for section officers and for student chapter officers. We also agreed on a timeline for the four mailings for the coming year.

Ahead of the mailing, I put together a content calendar where I sourced ideas for the themes of the email as well suggestions for topics for articles, best practices and blog posts. I utilized information already available to us, for example the section and student chapter annual reports which contains information about their activities and successes, from which we took ideas for the success stories. Putting the content calendar together took a couple of days, however throughout the year I kept adding new ideas to this so it was very much an organic process throughout.

Due to the number of different people (internally and externally) providing content for the newsletter we needed to allow a relatively long turnaround; approximately six weeks from sourcing content for each newsletter to getting the mailing sent.

The most time consuming part of the project is educating contributors on the type of content we were looking for, and chasing them to submit on time. At the early stages I also wrote a lot of the pieces myself, which was time consuming too.

After each mailing, we would debrief the results of the newsletter (open and click through rate) and decided on improvements to be made for the next one.

For the 2019 mailings, the project was handed over to another member of staff who will continue with the emails in the same format for this year. To allow for a smooth handover, we had several meetings and information transfers to get the new person up to speed. Also during 2018, the marketing staff left and was replaced so another handover took place just before the second mailing went out in May 2018.

Innovation

A culture shift in our communication style

The newsletter has really initiated a culture shift within our department when it comes to how we engage and interact with our members through our email communications. The tone has changed from instructional, dry messages with an overload of information, to more of a story telling and celebratory approach. To date this is the most personalized newsletter SPE sends out to its membership, and as a result is also the best performing newsletter with the highest open and click through rates across the organization. A lot of time and effort has been spent on collating information, writing blog posts and creating useful content and resources, which has only been made possible by the whole team coming together to contribute.

Content creation

This was also the first time that each of the newsletters was themed around a main topic, and all content included in the email was carefully selected and written to fit within those themes. The way in which we sourced the content was very different from how it was done previously, which was more on an ad hoc basis with a short turnaround time. We deliberately reduced the frequency from monthly/bi-monthly to quarterly, to allow sufficient time to create valuable content. A project plan was set out at the beginning of the calendar year with the four themes and proposed content for each of the emails (refer to the supporting materials for a full project plan). All membership staff were asked to reach out to members in their regions to source success stories and content. We also worked collaboratively with other departments to showcase their programs and services, but in such a way that it would be presented as a knowledge article, or blog, that would give some real insights on how members can benefit and have benefitted from those programs and services.

Each email would also include a welcome message to outline what content is covered and how that can be of value to the reader. We had previously included similar welcome messages from our Regional Directors for our regional newsletters which was well received, so we followed that approach.

We also, for the first time, used some of the social media content generated by out sections and chapters, to showcase that in the newsletter.

Design

Using the Marketo email system has allowed us to redesign the email to a much cleaner look, and make it more visual with the inclusion of photographs, videos and graphics. Although initially we felt the newsletter would be too long, we did find that this did not impact negatively on deliverability or open and click though rates. By including a section on important deadlines and save the date at the end, we managed to encourage readers to scroll down to the bottom of the email. In a bid to make the letter more personal, we included actual pictures of our members where possible, rather than generic stock images.

Targeted audience

The previous newsletter was sent as a single mailing to both officers of sections and student chapters. For the 2018 mailings we decided to separate the two out and create two separate emails, one for students and one for professional members. Although the content and topics followed a similar theme, we tailored the content to fit the two audiences. This created a lot more work, but did result in a much more targeted email. The majority of articles, blog post and other content pieces were written twice. We also showcased different programs and services for the two audiences, for example for the section officers we would include best practice documentation on our Distinguished Lecturer Program (which is only available to sections), and for student officers we would include best practice documentation on our Ambassador Lecturer Program (which is only available to student chapters).

Marketing

We let our officers know in different ways that we had revamped the newsletter:

Posted an announcement on the officers’ online forum to notify them
Regional membership staff presented slides at various events to highlight the revamped newsletter
The newsletter was mentioned verbally during interaction with officers by email, over the phone or in person
At the end of the year the links to each mailing were posted on the officers’ online forum to serve as an archive

We also promoted the newsletter internally by getting in touch with other departments to offer them space for content. The successful results of the email we also widely shared during internal presentations and presentations to the executive team.

Challenges

The main challenge was to create a culture shift in our communication style. This entailed a lot in internal communication and education. I found especially for the first mailing that I had to write a lot of the content myself, even on programs or projects I was not directly involved in. I worked very closely with my colleagues to ensure that they were happy with how their program or service was presented, and to make sure that I would write the content with our officers in mind; ie how they could engage with the program locally and how they could get the most out of the services provided by SPE, so it would be very relevant for them. After the second round, colleagues were more forthcoming with content, once they had seen some examples from the first mailing, which was helpful. I did have to be quite strict to say no to certain content that wouldn’t be suitable, and I think this was also something quite new for my colleagues so this required a somewhat diplomatic approach from my side. Also due to heavy workloads and several staff changeovers during that period, it was difficult for my colleagues to find the time to contribute content so I had to step in myself to help them along.

Meeting the content deadline for marketing was also a challenge. Especially for the first mailing we had underestimated the amount of time needed to create the content, and we had not allowed sufficient time for this. Therefore we decided to delay the mailing by approximately 2 weeks, and ensured that we built in more time in the timeline for the future mailings. For the first mailing, there were quite a number of revisions to the content, and content added or removed last minute. This created some problems for the marketing team as each revision required shifting items round in the template and testing the email all over again. For the mailings that followed we allowed more time for me to get the content to marketing, and I was able to ensure that all content was as complete and as accurate as possible to avoid multiple revisions and only requiring one round of testing.

Achievements

The main purpose of the newsletter is to make the section and chapters feel more connected to SPE International, allowing them to better support their areas. I think the verbal feedback showcasing that we have achieved that, at least for some the groups we spoke to.

Other objectives were:

Raising awareness of the resources provided to officers by theming each email based on one of the main knowledge areas in the online resource centre, and showcasing the information available to them. - The traffic to the newly launched Officer Resource Centre has more than doubled its average monthly page views (144% increase).
Showcasing the global diversity of SPE and share how local groups in different parts of the world operate. – we managed to include success stories from all regions globally. The verbal feedback also indicates officer feel more connected and enjoy having a chance to learn from other groups in other parts of the world.
Celebrating the successes of our local groups and motivating others to follow. – the success stories have been well received and we have been able to collect more and more for each mailing. Especially the student chapters have been very keen on showcasing their achievements. This is something we did not do much off previously, so it’s a good start.
Giving SPE a face by introducing staff members with pictures and biographies. – we have featured most membership staff, and will continue to include more staff profiles in the upcoming editions. Especially the map for the regional staff has also proven useful for our internal communications as colleagues in other departments are not always sure who looks after which region.
Driving traffic to the member forum, SPE Connect, by posting blogs and resource materials there. - Blog views on SPE Connect went up from 0 in 2017 (for both chapters and sections) to 603 (sections) and 563 (chapters) respectively. Library views on SPE Connect went up by 151% for sections and 11% for chapters.
Showcasing how different programs and services have benefitted members in different parts of the world, and sharing real stories rather than generic marketing messages. – we have managed to avoid any sort of generic marketing messaging in any of our mailings, and have managed to present each program or service in a way that makes educational and valuable reading for our officers.
To facilitate engagement and sharing of best practices amongst officers. – the emails have seen exceptional open and click through rates so I believe we have managed to engage our officers effectively through this communication. Student chapters are generally more proactive with sharing success stories and best practices with each other, the sections are less inclined to do so on their own account. Thus this is something we will continue to work on, but the newsletter has certainly helped make a good start.

Targets & Statistics

The newsletter is one of the best performing emails sent out by SPE, and has resulted in substantial increase in web traffic to the new Officer Resource Centre as well as the member forum, SPE Connect. Some key highlights form the statics include:

40.7% average open rate (above industry standards of 22.8%).
6.2% average click-through rate (above industry standard of 3.3%).
Compared to the 2017 mailing we have seen a 15% increase in the open rate.
The traffic to the newly launched Officer Resource Centre has more than doubled its average monthly page views (144% increase).
Blog views on SPE Connect went up from 0 in 2017 (for both chapters and sections) to 603 (sections) and 563 (chapters) respectively.
Library views on SPE Connect went up by 151% for sections and 11% for chapters.

*Mailining statistics - comparative data 2013 - 2018*

Use of library documents on SPE Connect has seen a dramatic increase for sections, however this was not the case for chapters, which have actually seen a fall in the number of library downloads. As of yet, we are unsure as to why this is, although we generally know that students prefer to use other platforms to communicate, so this may explain the good results on the emails, but less so on the use of SPE Connect.

Financials

There was no budget allocated for this project. All content has been provided internally or by our members and has been hosted on platforms the organization already has in place. A considerable time effort was put in my the membership and marketing team.

What would we do differently?

I think the main lesson learnt was to allow sufficient time to create good content, especially if you need to rely on a host of internal and external people to contribute. Staff changeovers during the project have also been challenging but this has been out of our control.

In terms of the design I think there is probably more we can do to make it look even better, and I think having more video content would also be an improvement. We already started doing that for the 2019 mailings. Perhaps allocating some budget towards design costs would have been helpful.

Advice

Make sure to put someone in charge of the project who has a strong ambition and vision for change, and is willing to put in the work to make it happen. Most importantly they will need to have a very good understanding of what the target audience wants to read about – this may be someone who works directly with the members, rather than someone in a marketing role for example. For any staff expected to contribute to content, make sure to incorporate it into their goals so they’ll have to take responsibility for it.

Look into possibilities of making it part of a wider strategic approach, or larger project that is happening within the organization. In our case joining up the newsletter with the launch of the new officer resource centre webpage helped giving both projects more exposure internally and externally.

Feedback & Testimonials

The new newsletter received a lot of positive feedback both internally and externally. It was initially challenging to obtain such elaborate content from other members of staff, as it requires time and effort to write up the pieces to the standard we wanted. However, with the right support and showcasing the successful performance of the emails, we have noticed that staff were more and more willing to contribute content for each mailing. The Marketing Department is now looking to roll out a similar approach for a larger audience and introduce a newsletter in a similar format specifically aimed at young members (which make up about half of our entire membership).

Some feedback from staff includes:

“I liked the look and feel of the eUpdate. You did a really good job.”

Feedback from our officers include:

“The e-update newsletter is a great source to receive information about the Best practices being followed by fellow sections officers to smoothly run and grow their section. It also provides useful information about the latest SPE Programs which help all of us grow professionally and personally. Another section that I really look forward to is the Success Stories where sections implement bright new ideas. And of course it always is good to know which student chapters and sections have joined SPE. Overall I am quite happy with the new look and feel of the e-newsletter. Many Thanks.”

Abhinandan Kohli, Bangalore Section, India

“It looks good, with an easier way to see the relevant information. I like how the content and format of the newsletter is displayed in general.”

Rodrigo D. Zeballos Espinoza, UPB Student Chapter, Bolivia

“I really like the format and frequency of the section mailing. I especially like the highlights of specific local section activities, as it not only helps to recognize those groups and build a sense of community but it also is a good source of brainstorming for our own section activities. I also like the focus on social media, as we’ve recently tried to take advantage of that with our own section to limited results.”

Officer from the Appalachian Section, US

“The content of the 'Officer Update' encompasses all the vital information student chapters require to be effective. I will like to see more success stories of chapters around the world and a means of open communication between officers of various chapters.”

Orodu Oyinkepreye David, Covenant University Student Chapter, Nigeria

“Yes, it’s great, appreciate it. Will it be a regular thing? Helps to get a bit more connected etc”

Serge Hayon, Vietnam Section, Vietnam

“I think the format is good as it highlights opportunities, such as pointing people to the new resource centre. The only thing to consider is some people are complaining about the number of SPE emails they receive... even though I/we/others inform them they have the option to opt out if there are too many. So I think the format is good and if they are sent out say quarterly (i.e. not too often... or infrequently), then I think officers will get some useful tips from them “

James Griffiths, South Australian Section, Australia

“I believe that it's a helpful way to share best practices & success stories and to get a brief update on SPE globally.”

Shamel Fahim, Egypt Section, Egypt

“The newsletter is very appealing and good for our members as it is keeping them engaged and well informed about successes and best practices from different areas (Geographical and Professional). Please keep up with the good work.”

Mohammed Othman, Port Harcourt Section, Nigeria

“It looks pretty good to me overall.”

Officer from the Calgary Section, Canada

“The eUpdate is a fantastic idea that helped many officers around the world to cope with changes. I think the content of the newsletter when changed is great enough to provide us with valuable information on many topics and stories. Also, the format is very good and make it simple for readers. Keep it up. It will be always a great pleasure and honour for us to share our success stories with you. Thank you very much for your efforts.”

Mahmoud Morsy, Suez University Student Chapter, Egypt

“The SPE eUpdate is more than perfect and was quite helpful. It was great that you guys focused on reducing it from quarterly sent news to the most relevant content only being sent. Also, the new look and format were great, keep it going.”

Noran Hussien, British University in Egypt Student Chapter, Egypt

Wider impact

The revamp of the officers’ eUpdate has allowed our organization to trail, on a smaller scale, an approach with more personalized and relevant content, with successful results.

Getting staff to really think about what to include and how to word it, has required an internal culture shift to change the way in which we communicate to our members. This has been challenging at times, but we persevered and were able to showcase the success of the emails and get our colleagues on board with this approach. The format is now being introduced for a larger group of members (our young members which make up around half of the entire membership), with the aim to achieve improved engagement and effectiveness of our communications.

I think with the limited resources we had available, we have been able to pull together a great resource for our officers which we will continue to develop over the years to come.

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