Contacting Alumni Email Sample and Tips To Enhance Your Interactions

As an alumni relations department, do you often ask yourself, “how to network with alumni”? 

The core of alumni networking is based on two pillars: value and communication. 

And as studies suggest, email is an excellent method for the latter.

According to a membership marketing benchmark report, email is an effective way to improve member acquisition– second only to word-of-mouth. 52% of associations get most new members via email marketing.

If you want to employ this method for alumni outreach, look no further. We bring you tips and email samples for contacting alumni to help you with your university or college’s goals.

How do you write an outreach email?

The first email you write to alumni will set a precedent for the subsequent ones. This reach-out email will dictate your open, click-through and subscribe rates. If folks don’t respond to this email, it will restrict your pool for future interactions. 

For this reason, it is crucial to get your timing, target audience, and wording absolutely right. 

Here’s how to write an outreach email, when to send it, and whom to send it to

Target audience: Recent graduates who had signed up for email updates during their time at the college/university but haven’t yet opted in for alumni network updates or to be a part of the alumni association.

Timeline: Begin as early as possible– Around a month after the exams or last submissions is a good time to reach out. You can re-target students who haven’t opted in after the results come out or after the graduation ceremony.

Content: The reach-out email to alumni must include:

• Personalization: Based on majors, graduation year, and clubs/societies they participated in).
• Value: How the alumni network will benefit them.
• Ways to be part of the network: SMS opt-ins, email sign-ups, online forms, etc. 
• What to expect from future broadcasts: e.g., nature of the content, frequency.
• Choice of the preferred mode of communication: usually email or SMS alerts.

Pro tip:

Set a process to follow up with the alumni before you fade from their memory.

1. For respondents, use their preferred mode of communication (email or SMS) to send a hello (which includes a thank you note for signing up).
2. For nonrespondents, send follow-up emails 7-10 days after your first email.

Related Reading: Automated Text Messaging – How to Get Started

How do you cold-email alumni?

Cold emails are reserved for those who haven’t opted-in for any email (even in their student years) in the case of alumni networking. However, being part of a university, you can procure their university email IDs and send out a cold request.

When they accept or respond to your cold email, request their personal email ID, and move the conversation there. 

Emails are often used as the first point of outreach since they are non-intrusive and are generally favored by senders and recipients.

Follow these best practices while sending a cold email to alumni:

1. Send the cold email within a month of their last official day at the college or university. If you delay, the emails may bounce since universities deactivate students’ emails after they graduate. Check your institution’s policies before sending the email.
2. Open with the alum’s name. Reference details like their major, and graduation year for personalization– the email should not feel generic for the risk of getting ignored.
3. Use a different sign-up form than the reach-out email. This form must note their personal email, even if the preferred mode of communication is something else. Emails enable you to send long-form texts (like newsletters, event invites, etc.). They stay constant even when a person’s phone number changes (like when they move abroad for a job) and can be used for follow-ups.

Pro Tip: Introduce yourself at the beginning of the email. This shows that the email isn’t sent by a bot but composed by a human– thus improving click-through rates. 

How do you email an alumni association member?

The right email can drive action from your alumni and motivate them to 

1. Subscribe to receive content
2. Be an active part of the alumni network
3. Help your university be part of a global network
4. Help your current students with career prospects.

                                                                                                      Image Source: Alma Base.

Here are some best practices you can follow when emailing alumni for networking:

• Keep lists updated and target invitations according to their interests
• Compose intelligent subject lines and headers
• Provide prominent CTA
• Each email should contain something of value
• Find the sweet spot for the frequency of your emails
• Follow up with engaged individuals

Let’s dive deeper into each of them individually.

Keep lists updated and target invitations according to their interests

One of the biggest mistakes you will commit when sending an alumni networking email is to send out generic blasts to everyone.

Universities usually have the upper hand when it comes to sending cold emails, in that they already have an obvious connection with the recipients. However, that does not allow you to send the same generic email to everyone on the list.

Segment your primary contact list by:

• Degrees: Graduates, post-graduates, doctorates, etc.
• Major subjects
• Interests: Clubs or societies, sports teams, cultural events, teams, etc.

When you combine all these factors, you will end up with acute segments. Compose different networking emails to target each of these categories separately. 

Segmented email to alumni sample:

A child psychology graduate who played rugby for the university	A child psychology graduate who enrolled in a violin class
Hey Sasha,  Your batchmates from the Psychopathology 101 class and rugby teammates await your confirmation in the alumni network. What are you waiting for?	Hey Malia,  Your batchmates from the Psychopathology 101 class and fellow orchestra musicians await your confirmation in the alumni network. What are you waiting for?

After you begin conversing with the alumni and their engagement is guaranteed, you can further segment the list by:

• Preferred mode of communication (SMS/ email for textual communication)
• Career levels (keep lists updated with information on their jobs, place of stay, etc.)
• Engagement levels (would they like to donate, volunteer, or attend events for their alma mater?)

Pro-Tip: Adding a line that borrows information from your previous conversation shows readers that your interactions are valued and heard out. Don’t overdo it, though– just a subtle mention of a location change, promotion, changed preference of contribution or donation amount can add a lot of value to your alumni networking emails.

Read Next: Alumni Engagement Metrics: Why Responses Are a Better Success Measure Than Participation

Compose intelligent subject lines and headers

Subject lines determine the chances of opening an email 35% of the time. Composing dull, monotonous, or uninteresting subject lines will cut down your subscription rates even before the recipient reads the content.

Who wants that? Surely, not you.

This is why you must compose intelligent subject lines. Here are some types that improve open-rates:

• Communicate urgency or scarcity (e.g., ⏰ Last chance to be part of the alumni group) 
• Include incentives (e.g., Our alumni get free passes to Dar Yasin’s seminar. Join now!)
• Lead with recent updates (e.g., Our beloved Students’ Union gets a makeover! Join us for exclusive photos)
• Add social proof to ask to be part of the community (e.g., 54 business management students join our alumni network. What are you waiting for?)

• Announcements and events (e.g., Exclusive graduation party for MA Public Relations! 🎉)
• Generate curiosity (e.g., What do all former math majors from CSU have in common?)  

Pro-Tip: Address the alum with their first name in the subject line. This can improve click-through rates by 14% and conversions by 10%!

Provide prominent CTA

Without a prominent CTA, your alumni wouldn’t know what action to take or how to become part of the alumni network. Here are some ways you can bring their attention to the action you desire:

• Add anchor text
• Use bright colors to drive attention to the CTA. 
• Personalize your asks for each segment
• Use first-person phrases (e.g., Sign me up!)
• Add buttons with CTA words like Join Us, Sign Up Here, or Click Here to Join.
• For other types of actions (like SMS opt-in or replying with information), highlight the text using bold, or CAPITAL letters or different colors.

Pro-tip: A Hubspot study found that between 47-93% of a post’s leads come solely from anchor text CTAs. Anchor text CTA (call-to-action) is a line of text that is

1. Linked to a landing page or website.
2. Is highlighted using H3 or H4 text or other such styling that makes it stand out.

Each email should contain something of value

You need your alumni group more than they need you. So, you must provide them with value with every email you send. If your outreach ceases to create value, it will drive up unsubscribe rates and shoot down open and click-through rates.

These values could be tangible (like incentives) or intangible (like evoking emotions).

Some things that alumni find value in are:

• Event invitations
• Special incentives (e.g., gift vouchers, customized merchandise, free passes, campus perks)
• Newsletters from their alma mater
• Career panels/seminars
• Nostalgic posts
• Surveys and feedback
• Reunions
• Success stories

Pro-Tip: Two things you could do to convey value to your readers are:

1. Lead with how this email or your ask will benefit them.
2. Provide all relevant links and contact details in one place (it saves time).

Contacting alumni email sample:

For more on alumni engagement strategies, read: Alumni Engagement Strategy & Best Practices: 9 Top Ways to Nurture Your Network

Find the sweet spot for the frequency of your emails

Not getting responses? Maybe your alumni feel bombarded with your email updates.

Or they are not engaged enough because the emails are too scarce.

Running A/B tests or asking alumni to fill out surveys can give you the answers. Using them as a base to schedule emails is not just a matter of respecting their choice but also enhancing your nurturing flow to increase alumni engagement.

Chances are, you will get starkly different answers to questions about email frequency. For instance, if you gave slots like 1-4 emails per month, 5-8 per month, and 9-16 per month, the preferences will be unevenly distributed. Instead of following what the majority says, segment your alumni based on how many updates they want in a month.

Someone who wants regular information can be added to a ‘contact frequently’ list, and those who prefer fewer correspondences to another list.

This way, you don’t have to cut down on your alumni networking emails or frustrate them.

Pro-Tip: Make sure that individuals who prefer receiving fewer emails don’t lose out on important information. Send them emails that compile summaries from all the other emails you send. Link these summaries out to landing pages for more details.

Follow up with engaged individuals

You have asked for an alum’s preferred mode of communication in your reach-out email. In case of an email, you already have their ID, and you only have to confirm it.

In the case of SMS, create an SMS opt-in for them to subscribe to your list. Set up an automated process to follow up with the person when they opt-in to collect and add their details to your CRM. 

A text messaging tool like CallHub helps you with this. You only have to select a keyword and shortcode and share it with concerned individuals. When they send in the keyword, an automatic response confirms their opt-in. You can customize the campaign to ask for more details automatically. For instance:

Pro-Tip: Use every conversation as an opportunity to collect more information from the individuals and utilize it for future personalization.

Contacting alumni email samples

Let’s look at samples for some common emails sent to alumni. You can use them with personalized changes or compose your own emails using important elements from them.

Hello email 

Sent when an alum opts in to the network.

Inquiry emails 

To use when making a big ask, like mentoring/holding sessions for current students.

Event invites

To send invitations for events or virtual events.

Newsletters, news, and updates

Use to send regular newsletters to alumni who have opted in.

Here, we shared some best practices for contacting alumni with emails. To ensure minimum manual effort yet the most optimum results, you will require email marketing tools that automate personalization, help you build a nurturing flow, and guide you in enhancing your networking emails. 

Read here for a list of fantastic tools: Email Marketing for Nonprofits: Best Practices and Tools for an Effective Campaign.

Feature Image Source: Canva.