Empowered Decentralized Teams and Enhanced Data Security: Minnesota State Mankato's Email Marketing Transformation with Beefree

Intro

Minnesota State University, Mankato, is a vibrant, comprehensive public institution in Mankato, Minnesota. Established in 1868, it has 14,500 students and 1,700 faculty and staff. It offers a diverse range of undergraduate and graduate programs, fostering innovation and academic excellence. Known for its supportive community and commitment to student success, Minnesota State, Mankato cultivates leaders and prepares students for thriving careers.

"We sought a solution enabling secure data transmission and management, while also providing our decentralized teams the freedom to create their own email templates."
- Amy Linde,  Director of Strategic Communications

Challenge

Amy Linde, Director of Strategic Communications in IT, and Kyle Snay, CRM System Administrator, faced the challenge of finding an effective email communication solution for Minnesota State University, Mankato.

The university's decentralized model led to inconsistent branding and messaging across departments, as individual teams were responsible for creating email campaigns and finding their own solutions. This resulted in the costly use of multiple tools, placing an unnecessary financial burden on the institution.

Moreover, data privacy and security were crucial concerns. The university takes student privacy seriously and adheres to strict guidelines governing data security. It wanted to avoid the potential risks associated with using certain software tools.

Solution

By implementing Beefree, Minnesota State Mankato achieved widespread adoption across departments thanks to its user-friendly drag-and-drop interface that made email creation quick and intuitive.

The platform facilitated accessible and compliant email design, ensuring all users could access and interact with the university's emails.

Consistent branding was maintained through style settings, while Beefree's seamless HTML export without coding allowed modern, responsive emails to be integrated into the university's CRM of choice.

Beefree also addressed data management concerns with enhanced security features, such as two-factor authentication, individual user accounts, and access control for administrators, ensuring compliance with state guidelines.

Experience

Minnesota State, Mankato's adoption of Beefree streamlined their email creation process thanks to workspaces and access control. The platform's intuitive interface led to a seamless transition and high departmental adoption. Beefree not only simplified email design but also addressed the university's data security concerns by offering a FERPA-compliant solution, allowing the institution to create effective email campaigns while maintaining compliance.

“The drag-and-drop editor is incredibly intuitive, allowing you to quickly create content without looking at code, and it seamlessly  integrates  with our CRM.”
- Kyle Snay, Customer Relationship Management System Administrator

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