THE CLIENT'S EXPERIENCE

Ball State University Success Story
Tufts University Success Story

Selected Testimonials

"Partnering with Harris Connect was a logical extension of the existing successful partnership between Harris Connect and the UNC General Alumni Association. It's a great opportunity for Kenan-Flagler Business School to take advantage of the data sharing and automatic updates that the smart site technology offers, while maintaining a distinct online presence. The real key for us is that all data updates come through the Alumni Association and integrate seamlessly to the business school site, which eliminates the data management burden.

When we launched our community in April, 2005, we had the immediate benefit of starting off with a base of users who had already registered through the General Alumni Association. Since then, registration for the online community has reached 10,600, representing more than 30% of our entire database. A key to this success is the fact that we make our Online Community available to new students as soon as they hit the door at orientation. Our marketing strategies for students and alumni highlight different features of the community each month, which has kept our registration list growing at a steady pace."  
Jeff Terry, Executive Director, Alumni Affairs, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School

"The nametag feature on the Harris Connect events registration tool helped our Pace Setters Award Program run smoothly and successfully. It was very important to us internally to know where specific award recipients were sitting. The name tags were easy to produce, and helped simplify the task of seating arrangements. Overall, the Internet tools and services enhance our ability to publicize events, while enabling us to download spreadsheets with up-to-the-minute registration information. The Harris Connect staff has provided support whenever we needed them." 
Michelle Jacobson, Director, Alumni Relations, Ohio State University Fisher College of Business

"Harris Connect has helped provide a consistency in communication in terms of marketing and overall timely communications. The online events registration and the monthly e-newsletter have been very well received by alumni.  The events registration tool has been especially helpful in clubs communications and makes it easy for alumni to participate. We're very pleased." 
Sarah Beaudry, Director of Communications, The University of Arizona Alumni Association

"A big motivating factor in renewing our OLC contract is our relationship with Harris Connect.  Out of all the providers, Harris Connect is the company I am most comfortable with.  They're very responsive and professional in handling our requests, and there have been few personnel changes in the three years since we populated the community.  We reviewed all the other big players and although they had interesting bells and whistles, we know we made the right choice staying with Harris Connect.
 

We are totally committed to the Online Community and look forward to working with Harris Connect well into the future." 
Mimi Koral, Director of Alumni Communications, University of Pittsburgh Alumni Association

"The Broadcast Email tool plays an important role in increasing attendance at regional alumni association events held nationally.  Recently, there was a significant surge in response with three times as many alumni registering to attend directly after the mail was sent.  We were more than pleased with the results. 

"In addition to boosting attendance at events, we use Broadcast Email as a pre-announcement tool, and a fast, cost-effective way to remind alumni about upcoming events.  It's also effective for building international alumni chapters and setting up overseas functions that wouldn?t otherwise be possible."
Katherine Kane, Pace University Alumni Relations

"We are very happy with the Online Community and the Estore, now managed by Harris. This addition of the broadcast Email has helped to direct 9 times more traffic to the Estore. We are very excited that more alumni are purchasing our merchandise, because every time Mercersburg attire is worn, it's a walking advertisement for the college."
Mike Kidd, Internet Systems Analyst, Mercersburg College

"With Harris Connect, we've found a solution that provides stability, by integrating all modules and services, while sharing the most up-to-date information with alumni.  The goal is to continue to increase alumni involvement by delivering more value-added services."
Charlie Cardillo, Deputy Executive Director, Harvard Alumni Association

"With very little work on our side, Harris has helped us more than surpass our online giving goals in half the time. We had hoped to raise $10,000 in the first 12 months, and already after only 6 months, we have a total of $16,370 in contributions through traffic to our online giving site. Not only is it easier from an administrative standpoint, it has already more than paid for itself, and is actually more cost effective now that Harris manages the site. And the results are outstanding!"
Susie Malone, Director of Advancement Services, Ball State University

"We processed approximately 820 registrations through our application, totaling over 3,000 people, and generating more than 127 new UOAA Memberships. We saw an increase in attendance, and we also captured 700 new email addresses as a result of the online process. We're very excited about both the registration numbers and the ease of use associated with the Harris Connect tool. What was key for this event is that it was all done completely online.  We still had people calling in, but all data was entered online just one time -- for both accounting purposes and registration.  It is very beneficial for our office and for alumni."
Jennifer Casey, Deputy Director for Alumni Communications, University of Oregon Alumni Association

"Membership Dues paying is a much bigger hit than we imagined it would be.  We're impressed at the amount of payments we've gotten, and our membership revenue has already increased since we started.  It's very easy-to-use, captures and sorts all the data we need, is much more accurate than a manual process, and it doesn't create any new work for us.  All big pluses for us -- and alumni like it much more than filling out and mailing forms.  Honestly, it's a great feature." 
Brent Richardson, The Citadel Alumni Association

"Harris Internet Services is the company that has the best combination of imagination, vision, experience, and humility in the marketplace. The Online Directory and all the companion products are powerful community building tools that greatly enhance our ability to strengthen the relationship between alumni/ae and our school. The directory is by far the most popular online service we offer. It's more than a case of helping alumni stay in touch. At Exeter, alumni are part of the family. The Online Community helps family members connect with each other. It also gives alumni the freedom to do this on their own which is huge in terms of saving staff time."
Harold Brown, Director of Alumni/ae Affairs, Phillips Exeter Academy

"The broadcast email feature makes our lives much easier. It played an important role in keeping alumni on top of school news and increasing participation at events. When attendance is low, we just shoot out an email to boost response, saving staff time and money that we usually spend on postcards and flyers. One of this year's successes involved putting a reunion reservation form online and sending a broadcast email announcement.

There was such an amazing increase in the number of faxed responses that we actually had to go out and get a new fax. Another time, we doubled voter participation in our alumni trustee election by sending a broadcast email one week prior to deadline. We are now building on this success and using email to boost development, marketing and public relations efforts."
Megan Fitzsimmons, Associate Director of Alumni Relations, Trinity College

"Online registration has cut down our workload by about 80%.  The process of posting events is now so much easier.  There's no re-keying of data, and it's so much more convenient for our alumni.  The system itself is easy to use, and the training is awesome!  Harris Connect is very accessible.  Our trainer recently walked us through the process for our Homecoming event, and we're also using the tool for alumni networking.  Alumni are very happy, especially our chapters who have been begging for online registration for months.  It's been a great experience so far." 
Tracie C. Meadows, Program Assistant, Office of Alumni Relations, James Madison University

"We have had great success combining the Harris Connect Broadcast Email and Event Registration tools. We just sent a Broadcast Email advertising an event that uses the Event Registration component, and it's amazing how many people immediately registered on our website for the event literally right after I sent the email." 
Fran Williams, Assistant Director of Alumni Relations, Columbia Law

"Broadcast email enables us to get news out quickly, and alumni response has been very, very positive.  In fact, it's led to alumni encouraging their non-registered friends to sign up for the Online Community. We are now reaching more than 50 percent of our alumni by e-mail."
Cynthia Snyder, Director of Alumni Relations, University of Mary Washington