Your Alumni are Moving onto the Mobile Web. Are You?Mobile Applications and Alumni Engagement

Chad Davis, Lehigh University

Steve Rittler, CounterMarch Systems

Our Promise

In this

session wewill boldly go where

email, Facebook, Twitter, the alumni website and an

online community simply can't:directly into the pockets of

alumni

S T A R W A R S S T Y L E

Hello!A B R I E F I N T R O D U C T I O N

Chad Roy HalladaySteve

Hello!

PURPOSE A well designed mobile app gives instant

gratification

HOW TO Tools, talent and techniques

DONE A case study of an integrated campaign

T H I S I S W H A T W E ' R E H E R E F O R

Why mobile?

More convenient People feel smarter when they have the

answers

More engaging (briefly)

Immediacy drives interaction

More intimate It's right there in your pocket all the time

W E J U S T G O T G O O D A T F A C E B O O K !

Why mobile?

Mobile devices sales rate exceeds computers > 1 billion mobile broadband subscribers in 2011 http://tinyurl.com/4mol3tp

Timeliness > Quantity Situational applications have massive utility

value

Engagement of students and young alumni

L I K E G O I N G F R O M M O V I E S T O T E L E V I S I O N

The machines are taking overO U T P A C I N G L A P T O P / D E S K T O P S A L E S

What is a mobile device?

Smartphones iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Palm Pre with screen sizes

from 3.5"-4.2"

Tablets iPad (9"), Samsung Galaxy (7"), and the hundreds of

others (various) on the way

W E ' R E G L A D Y O U A S K E D

Lesser devices

"Dumbphones"

E X T R E M E L Y L I M I T E D C A P A B I L I T Y

What is used and whyP O P U L A R M O B I L E A P P S

App Why? Really…why?LinkedIn It's a better networking platform than your online

communityWork

Facebook It's a better "stalking" platform than your online community

Play

Twitter Everybody listen to me! I have valuable thoughts about my lunch!

Ego

Foursquare I'm here. Why aren't you here too? I'm lonely. Companionship

Angry Birds Kill time, lose sleep Fun

These five factors determine the success of every mobile app

The Home Screen

Installing/bookmarking an app is a personal choice made based on relevance and utility

You want to (you NEED to!) be one of those home screen apps an alum uses

P R I M E R E A L E S T A T E

Key Question

How do we drive actions that lead to substantive engagement?

1. Think about the context in which the app is used

2. Provide only what is necessary and useful

3. Act quickly and openly on collected feedback

R E P E A T F R O M L A S T S L I D E …

Hypothetical PrioritiesW E ' R E N O T M I N D R E A D E R S

Alumni Institution"Do stuff for me" The appearance, if not reality, of being

technically up-to-date with minimal management overhead

Alumni directory and networking access Protection of confidential and/or personal information

Answers to questions Where is reunion check-in? How do I get to Davis Hall? What time does the lecture start?

A phone call and an opportunity to engage in depth

Relevant, interesting, 'pride-inspiring' news

Promotion of "The Mission" or "The Campaign"

High fidelity, high utility Low cost

Hypothetical PrioritiesT H E S P A C E B E T W E E N

Finding common ground Understand key needs (some are

probably echoes of past requests)

Address items that align with your long term plans How easy can you make it to collect an

address update?

In-app surveys and frequent feedback on enhancements

Word of caution

Do not try to push every bit of content from your website out into your mobile application!

The context in which someone uses a

mobile app is very different from a

standard website

1 0 P O U N D S O F S U G A R I N A 5 P O U N D B A G

What is 'mobile'?

Text messaging (SMS)

Mobile web applications Websites designed for mobile device

capabilities and constraints

Native mobile applications One for Android, one for iOS, one for

Win7…etc.

T H I N L Y S L I C I N G T H E T E R M S

SMS

Ye olde "text message"

S H O R T M E S S A G E S E R V I C E

Pluses Minuses

Cheap (pennies per message) Opt-in required

Low management overhead Low fidelity message – short text

Runs everywhere Lost in the mix of other SMS messages

Can be used to address short-term needs No long term interaction

SMS

Several great services available to help Twilio (also voice!), Tropo, Clickatell

Bi-directional communications!

Extremely "event-driven" Request and response, end of

conversation.

S H O R T M E S S A G E S E R V I C E

SMS Opportunities

Reunion event reminders

Event registration

Event help desk (on-site FAQ)

Low-bandwidth Twitter for events

Mobile giving

F O R A L L D E V I C E S

Mobile Web Apps

Pluses Minuses

Cheapest, easiest way to extend your presence

Your existing CMS may not be up to the challenge

Newer devices have modern, standards-compliant browsers

Not every device is new (older Blackberries are especially flaky)

It's just another website (easy updates) …with modifications

Can do just about anything "Just about" means limited access to hardware

Can "look like" a native app Who knows how to "make a bookmark on the home screen"?

1 0 0 % B R O W S E R - B A S E D

Mobile web apps (think HTML5) have become the de-facto standard

Native Mobile Apps

Pluses Minuses

Highest performance, hands down Every platform requires a different codebase

Complete access to hardware Every platform requires a different codebase

Native look and feel Every platform requires a different codebase

Use new hardware/OS features as they become available

Updates to the app may require a fresh installation

You get to put it in an "App Store" …where the rules are opaque at best and the control is outside your institution

A S U P P O R T P R O B L E M

Native apps are installed on the device and live there until removed

"Near-Native" Mobile Apps

Pluses Minuses

Built using web technologies (HTML, Javascript, Flash)

Any translation tier will hurt performance

Access to most hardware Varies per platform, lags in releases

Native look and feel Depending on the tool

You get to put it in an "App Store" …where the rules are opaque at best and the control is outside your institution

W E B T O N A T I V E T R A N S L A T I O N

Builds like web, installs like native

"Near-native" Mobile AppsA L M O S T T H E R E

Tools are maturing fast Titanium Appcelerator (most mature)

PhoneGap (most extensible)

Adobe (most accessible for developers) Flash Packager for iOS

Adobe AIR for Mobile

http://tinyurl.com/mcompare

Use of familiar languages lowers the bar for app development

Good News!

The process for implementing a

mobile app is the same as other

media! Assess target audiences

Segment appropriately

Design appealing content for each

Select implementation on usual factors

Execute support and feedback workflow

I T ' S N O T A L L T H A T D I F F E R E N T

Vendor Questions

What type of app do you provide for each platform?

What metrics will we have access to in order to evaluate success?

Integration: to what extent and how much is included?

How well does their product relate to your users?

O T H E R T H A N C O S T

Let's talk actual apps

Demo time

Situational Applications

Reunion/Homecoming Event information

Campus maps

Emergency contacts

Networking

T H I S H A S N O T H I N G T O D O W I T H J E R S E Y S H O R E

Reunion

Princeton and

Cornell Homegrown app

Andrew Gossen

@agossen

H O M E G R O W N E X A M P L E S

Situational Applications

Self-guided campus tour using GPS

T H I S H A S N O T H I N G T O D O W I T H J E R S E Y S H O R E

Geolocation

Your personal GPS coordinates

Built in to newer devices and some

standard browsers

Opportunities What would you do if you knew your

proximity to places, things and other

people?

Y O U ' R E N E V E R L O S T . E V E R .

Sample: Cornell Compass

App tells you how far

you are from the

center of Cornell's

campus

You can "check in"

from that location

A N E A R L Y E X P E R I M E N T

Social Media + Events

Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter are

all "mobile enabled"

Foursquare's primary reason for

being is mobile

T H E G A N G ' S A L L H E R E … O R A R E T H E Y ?

Sample: Cornell's "Zinck's Night"

Integrated Twitter, Foursquare and

Google Maps

A real-time look at global event

participation

G I V E M Y R E G A R D S T O D A V Y

Sample: Cornell's "Zinck's Night"

Case Study

Lehigh/Lafayette Challenge Concept

Weeklong Challenge

Mobile Giving

Results Followup

D O N ' T L E T " T H A T O T H E R S C H O O L " W I N

ResultsB O T H S C H O O L S W O N

Online (strictly Young Alumni & Seniors) Texting (all alumni)

339 gifts in one week 445 text gifts in one day

$13,300 ($7000 for scholarship) $4450

56 designations 305 distinct phone numbers matched to 254 names in Banner

40 donors who had never made a gift before

11 alumni were first time donors

70's: 2280's: 4090's: 37Young: 89

Samples

Desktop

www.zincksnight.com

www.llchallenge.com

Mobile

www.cornellcompass.com

www.llchallenge.com

www.case.org/app

G O A H E A D A N D C L I C K A W A Y

Protip:

Bookmark and "add to home screen" to see how these apps look like native applications!

Final Thoughts

Work. Play. Ego. Companionship. Fun.

Segment appropriately

Build for relevant, actionable content

F O O D F O R T H O U G H T

Thanks!

chad.davis@lehigh.edu

srittler@countermarch.com