Alumni engagement is unique to every institution, shaped by its specific goals and priorities. While institutions put significant efforts into building meaningful connections with their alumni, many overlook a critical step: analyzing their alumni engagement strategies. Without this, it’s hard to assess how well these efforts are adding value to alumni and the institution itself.
The first step in measuring the success of your alumni engagement is to define some quantifiable metrics. These key performance indicators will help you track progress, identify strong & weak areas, and check if your efforts are in line with the engagement goals. Though these metrics vary based on the engagement objectives, here are some common ones for you to hit the ground running:
Common Alumni Engagement Metrics
To gauge alumni’s involvement in all the engagement activities, we’ve outlined four basic categories that are part of a typical alumni engagement program. The aim is to evaluate participation in all the essential aspects and find room for improvement. Let’s break down each alumni engagement metric you should track:
1. Digital Engagement
This metric focuses on the social media aspect of your alumni engagement plan. Your institution can analyze how alumni receive your image of alma mater through the content that is shared on all the social media platforms.
The following metrics will throw a light on how well your alumni are being engaged through social media:
- A number of views, likes, shares, and comments for posts.
- The number of new followers gained.
- The amount of website traffic coming from all the social media platforms.
- Subscriptions to newsletters/magazines through posts.
- Number of saves/bookmarks
- Profile visits on all social media platforms.
- Reach & impressions – unique users to see content and the content displayed.
- Tags and mentions by followers.
- Number of views, watch time and completion rates for the video posts.
2. Alumni Event Participation
Though the social media metrics tell how alumni perceive the alma mater’s image, it is the alumni event attendance and the parameters associated with it that convey the real interest of your alumni. It is easy for the alumni to interact with the content on social media. If that interest translates into a good turnout for the alumni events, then your institution has made good progress.
Following are the metrics for you to consider while analyzing the alumni meet attendance:
- Attendance Rate: Percentage of invited alumni who attended the event:
Attendance Rate = [Number of Attendees / Number of Invited Alumni] x100 - Number of first-time attendees for the alumni event.
- Number of repeat alumni attendees from the past events.
- Number of RSVPs vs Number of alumni attendees.
- Feedback sourced through post-event surveys and polls.
- Detailed breakdown of the alumni demographics such as batch, department, location, etc.
- Social media posts and mentions by alumni.
3. Email Communication Analysis
Communication plays a vital role in holding alumni closer to your institution. Emails, newsletters, and birthday wishes are a part of it. Communication should always be a two-way street. So, pay attention to the responses from alumni rather than the number of alumni you’ve reached out to.
Here are the parameters for you to take note of:
- Number of open and click-through rates (CTR) for the emails.
- Number of subscribes/unsubscribes for the emails and newsletters.
- The bounced rate for the emails sent.
- Replies and forwards.
4. New Alumni Signups & Portal Usage
Getting alumni to sign up on your alumni portal conveys how well your efforts resonate with them and the value they see in staying connected to their alma mater. It gives a clearer picture of alumni’s interest to come back and stay connected with your institution.
Below are the metrics to monitor the alumni portal signups & usage:
- Number of new signups and profile completion rates on the alumni portal.
- Number of returning users & MAU (Monthly Active Users) on the portal.
- Referral signups on the portal.
- Track alumni activity after signing up (joining groups, accessing job boards, participating in newsroom activities, etc.)
- Comparing signups from one time period to another.
Outcome – Based Alumni Engagement Metrics
While traditional metrics focus on how alumni respond to your engagement strategies, outcome-based metrics emphasize the tangible value being created for the institution. These metrics measure the success of your alumni engagement program in achieving its broader goals and delivering meaningful outcomes.
- Placements: Keep track of alumni offering placements, internships to students.
- Mentoring: Measure how many engaged alumni participate in guiding students through:
1. Academic projects
2. Upskilling workshops
3. Placement interviews
4. Resume preparation
- Admissions: Track how alumni contribute to student recruitment by:
1. Referring prospective students
2. Participating in admission events or webinars
3. Sharing testimonials or success stories
- Rankings: Measure how many alumni are willing to contribute to improve rankings and accreditations by:
1. Involving in academic collaborations, curriculum enhancement, research, and guest lectures.
2. Giving out testimonials and participating in alumni surveys.
For alumni to give back, they should realize the value of staying connected to the institution. We have crafted a 4 stage framework, BEHA (Build-Engage-Help-Ask) which elaborates on the journey of alumni relations and how to build a strong alumni network.
Wrapping It Up!
Measuring alumni engagement is all about understanding how alumni perceive their connection to their alma mater and the value it generates for both parties. By tracking the right metrics, institutions can improve their strategies and outcomes, and foster lifelong relationships with alumni. Whether it’s through digital engagement, events, communication, or alumni portal signups, these metrics provide a roadmap to assess and enhance alumni relations.
