Case study: how EPFL MoT drastically improved its alumni relations with the right tool

A case study on how the EPFL MoT Alumni Association launched its dedicated app and succeeded in improving its alumni relations.

Our collaboration with the Alumni Association of the EPFL Management of Technology program (MoT for friends) started about a year ago.

The association board was looking for a solution to better engage with the alumni, but at the same time, was wary of using yet another communication channel. Who could blame them?

But at the same time, social media and emailing were not pulling it off. The board truly believed in their alumni community and knew how beneficial it could be to all alumni, should they be able to improve engagement and increase their numbers.

It is also important to mention how both Tilo Peters and Olivier Courvoisier, the Executive Director and Program Coordinator respectively, played an important role too. They knew very well that the alumni were key to the reputation and success of their program and were eager to support the association in obtaining the right tools to strengthen the community.

The app has proven to be an effective platform for strengthening ties with the Alumni Association as well as facilitating communication amongst the alumni. These are key success factors for both the MoT EMBA program as well as the MoT Alumni Association.

Tilo Peters
Executive Director
MoT Program

User growth

User growth rarely comes overnight, but good promotion makes a huge difference. The MoT alumni association and the MoT program direction worked hand in hand to promote their app since April 2015. They did an amazing job.

The number of members in the app has regularly grown since its official launch in April 2015, and continues to do so. We have noticed 3 peaks of new users over 2015:

• April 2015: Giulia Stefani, the President of the association, sent out a mailing to all the alumni.
• July 2015: Olivier Courvoisier, Coordinator of the MoT program, mentions the app in his invitation to an event to welcome the new MoT 2016 class.
• September 2015: Olivier Courvoisier invited the MoT 2016 students themselves to join the app.

As of December 2015, the MoT Alumni app counts over 150 members. True, the total number of alumni is near 500, so clearly, not all the alumni have installed the app. And that’s fine by me. Not everyone wants to stay in touch. Those who have installed the app are very much engaged in it. They represent the heart of the community, where everything begins.

I believe that inviting both the alumni and the new class was a great move from the alumni association and program direction. Who better than the new students can benefit from the experience of the alumni?

At the same time, it ensures that year over year, fresh recruits join and re-engage old-timers.

Using the App has allowed our MoT Alumni Association to engage with our alumni in a very dynamic way, to strengthen the image of the association, and to provide alumni with an added value dedicated to their networking. Very different than what emails or Facebook can do.

Giulia Stefani
President
MoT Alumni Association

Participation - A few Metrics

Nothing speaks better than numbers.

Between October and December 2015, there were more than 40 weekly active users in the app. That’s 25% of the total number of members. Weekly.

Between April and December 2015, the alumni posted almost 300 messages that gathered over 200 likes.

Almost half of the registered shouts were private one-on-one messages.

Conclusion

This is only the beginning. But in a few months, the alumni association has seen its community ties grow much stronger. As I always say: a communication tool is never as good as the people behind it, using it. The board has done an amazing job at leveraging the app towards stronger alumni relations.