How Minnesota State Mankato Streamlined Email for 40+ Departments
On a mission to streamline communication and create on-brand emails, Mankato started searching for a tool that was powerful and easy to use. Here enters Beefree
Minnesota State University, Mankato, has consistently ranked among the top colleges in the state. Since its founding in 1868, the university has expanded to offer over 130 undergraduate and more than 80 graduate programs.
There was just one issue: its email process was stuck in the past. Their CRM was old and fickle, resulting in days of hand-coding and testing, even for the simplest emails.Â
Enter Kyle Snay, the university’s CRM Administrator. On a mission to streamline communication and empower more staff to create on-brand emails, Kyle started searching for a tool that was powerful and easy to use.
That’s when he discovered Beefree.
The old way: Drowning in HTML
Before Beefree, Minnesota State Mankato’s email workflow was a patchwork of disconnected tools, and it showed.
Each of the university’s 40+ departments and programs was using its own system to design and send emails. This siloed setup resulted in fragmented communication and made brand consistency nearly impossible.
“It was tough to regulate branding. Everyone was doing their own thing. And we were living in HTML.”
Departments sent over content, which then had to be hand-coded in Dreamweaver, tested, and reworked endlessly to (hopefully) render correctly in their CRM. There was no image hosting, limited personalization, and features like responsive design or buttons were out of reach.Â
The lack of centralized control wasn’t just a branding issue; it also raised security and privacy concerns regarding student data. And with overlapping tools doing similar jobs, the costs quickly added up.
Getting a basic email out the door took days of manual effort. The outdated system just wasn’t cutting it anymore.
How Beefree sparked a transformation
When Minnesota State, Mankato, first adopted Beefree in 2021, the goal was straightforward: to replace outdated email design tools that posed security risks due to the storage of sensitive student data.
“As we got deeper into using Beefree, we realized its capabilities went far beyond what we originally expected.”
What began as a quick fix evolved into a powerful tool for streamlining workflows, improving collaboration, and unlocking new use cases. Beefree quickly became the go-to email design platform for the entire university. Within 1-3 months, Manktao was able to see a return on their investment.
Beyond the fix: Migrating from Oracle to Pardot with BeefreeÂ
Influenced by rising licensing costs, Makato made the switch from Oracle to Salesforce. Snay admits that while the team initially assumed Pardot’s native email builder might replace Beefree, it didn’t take long to realize there was simply no comparison.
“We quickly realized that [compared to Pardot] Beefree was a much more powerful tool. It wasn’t just easier to use, we had more options. Merge tags that previously only existed in Oracle could be added directly in Beefree.”
For Snay, this was a game-changer. As a CRM Administrator, he no longer had to worry about missing merge tags, which significantly shortened his implementation time.
Even better? There's no need to train every user in the CRM. “We’re saving money by keeping users in Beefree instead of moving them into Pardot and paying for extra user accounts, which can get expensive,” Kyle explained.
Now, when a department needs to send an email, here is what the flow looks like:
- They build it directly in Beefree using on-brand, customizable templates.Â
- Once it’s ready, they notify Kyle and the CRM team
- The CRM team then imports it into Salesforce Account Engagement Pardot within 10 seconds.Â
The tools that changed everything
From faster builds to seamless collaboration, these standout features of Beefree transformed the university’s entire email workflow.
- Easy onboarding for all skill levels: With users ranging from student workers to communications directors, the tool had to be intuitive and user-friendly. “When we onboard a new user, the process is almost as easy as using the tool,” said Kyle. Most users are up and confidently running in under 45 minutes.
- 50% faster approval processes: With Beefree, student workers can build emails directly in Beefree within pre-set frameworks. Supervisors can then easily jump in and review and approve directly in the platform. The built-in review process keeps everything accountable and streamlined—no more jumping between tools.
- Organized workspace for every department: With over 40 departments, maintaining organization is no small feat. Beefree’s Workspaces feature allows Kyle to group users by department, providing each team with its own environment to manage designs, assets, and folders (without stepping on each other’s toes).
- 100% improvement of on-brand designs:   Not everyone designing emails is part of the marketing team, but with Beefree, they don’t have to be. Style Settings ensure university-approved colors, fonts, and design elements are always on hand, keeping every message on-brand without extra oversight.
- Set it and forget it: Reusable elements, such as saved rows, have saved Kyle serious time. “If we have a logo combo that appears in every footer, we just save it once and drag it in whenever we need it. I just set it and forget it,” Kyle said. No resizing. No guesswork. No wasted time.
‍ - Beefree’s Salesforce Account Engagement (Pardot) native integration: When Makato transitioned to Salesforce, Beefree’s native integration with Salesforce Account Engagement (Pardot) became a crucial part of their workflow. The integration allowed Snay and his team to design in Beefree’s intuitive editor and push emails directly into Pardot, saving them costs and time.
Together, these features didn’t just improve the process; they completely redefined what’s possible for a decentralized team managing high-stakes communications.
Kyle Snay
Customer Relationship Management System Administrator
Amy Linde
Director of Strategic Communications
Kyle Snay
Customer Relationship Management System Administrator
Kyle Snay
Customer Relationship Management System Administrator
The proof is in the process
In higher education, teams are constantly asked to do more with less—fewer resources, tighter timelines, and ever-growing expectations. For Minnesota State Mankato, adopting Beefree didn’t just solve their immediate problem. It addressed issues they hadn’t even considered initially.
“Beefree has evolved with us and provided solutions as new challenges come.”
And the impact speaks for itself: in 2024 alone, the university sent emails designed in Beefree to over 280 lists and 3.1 million contacts. This is more than double the volume from the previous year. Kyle also expects them to exceed this number this current year.Â
But the real value goes beyond numbers.
“Whether you’re a department without design expertise or a pro looking to move fast, Beefree just makes your job better. It’s rewarding when someone comes to me with a pain point, and I can show them how quickly and easily we can solve it together in Beefree. It genuinely makes their day better.”
For universities and organizations considering Beefree, the real differentiator is this: it’s not just a solution for your current pain points—it’s a platform that grows with you, opening up bandwidth, unlocking resources, and helping you stay ready for whatever challenges come next.
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