Did you know that a well-designed alumni engagement survey can transform the dynamics of your alumni community? Whether it’s to strengthen a sense of belonging, improve your communication strategies or create professional opportunities, a survey can help you better understand the specific needs and expectations of your alumni.
If you are considering surveying your alumni to assess the effectiveness of your engagement strategies, it is crucial to follow certain best practices. A well-designed survey can provide valuable insights to strengthen your community.
Why survey your alumni?
Alumni are a valuable resource for higher education institutions. A strong and engaged alumni community can make a significant contribution to a range of institutional objectives, including recruitment, sharing of expertise and promotion.
According to a Deloitte study, 46% of alumni want to maintain a link with their home institution.
This desire to stay connected offers institutions a unique opportunity to mobilise this network for a variety of initiatives.
What’s more, it’s a real vector for development. Alumni have their own professional networks, and can share exclusive opportunities with the institution. As the saying goes, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
To take full advantage of these resources, it is essential to ensure that alumni are engaged and see the benefits of their involvement. A survey reveals that 27% of alumni associations have seen a significant drop in alumni engagement by 2024.
This highlights the importance of regularly surveying alumni to understand their expectations and increase their involvement.
In short, surveying your alumni helps maintain a mutually beneficial relationship, where alumni feel valued and the institution benefits from their active support.
How to create an alumni engagement survey (with sample questions)
The following sections highlight the types of questions to include in your alumni engagement survey. Ask participants to rate each question on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 representing the most positive feeling.
1. Measuring community engagement
Use these questions to assess how your brand is perceived by your internal community. High scores are expected. An average score below 7 is a red flag indicating a lack of engagement within your alumni community.
- Am I proud to be part of [name of your alumni community]?
This question assesses the pride an alumni feels in belonging to the community. It is often called the ‘barbecue test’: would your alumni be proud to talk about your community at a barbecue with friends? - How likely would you be to recommend [name of institution] to someone you know who wants to pursue higher education?
This question measures alumni’s propensity to actively promote the institution.
2. Evaluate the effectiveness of communication
These questions will help you determine the extent to which the objectives of your current engagement strategy are shared with your alumni.
- Do community leaders and ambassadors keep me informed of what’s going on?
Clear and concise communication is essential to the success of your community. The more your community grows, the more crucial it becomes to stay connected and communicate effectively with it. - Do community leaders have a shared vision that motivates me?
This question helps to determine whether your community’s vision aligns with what motivates and inspires your alumni, thereby influencing their engagement.
3. Understanding technological and communication preferences
The following questions will help you better understand the social networking habits and preferred communication platforms of your alumni community.
- I follow news from [name of your community] on [alumni platform]…
This question will help you determine the effectiveness of your communication and engagement on a specific social media platform. - I enjoy receiving news and updates on [name of your community]’s alumni platform?
The answer to this question will help you determine if your alumni are using your platform to engage with content. - I find that the news and stories shared with me are relevant?
With this question, you are trying to assess the extent to which your content is aligned with your alumni members. High scores will indicate that your community shares the same values, goals and ideals.
4. End with open questions
Finally, end your engagement survey with a few open questions. This will allow your alumni to make suggestions and address concrete points.
- What are the things you like about [name of your alumni community]?
- What are the things you don’t like about [name of your alumni community]?
- Is there anything else you think we should have included in this survey?
These questions will highlight your strengths and weaknesses, and reveal opportunities for your online community platform to grow and prosper.
There’s a lot at stake when creating an effective alumni engagement survey. The more information you get from your survey, the more power you’ll have to improve your community.
The first step to finding out what alumni want is to use the right alumni platform for your community. We’ll be delighted to help you build your project, as we do with over 380 partners every day. So make an appointment and let’s launch your network!
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