Sources alumni use to receive most of their information about the College:
| Alumni Review |
39% |
| Emails or other correspondence from class presidents, gift chairs, etc. |
27% |
| Hamilton Headlines (monthly e-newsletter) |
17% |
| Social Media |
7% |
| Word of Mouth |
5% |
| Website |
3% |
| Other |
1% |
Kinds of information alumni look for when they visit the web (more than one answer possible):
| College News |
51% |
| Contact Information for Alumni |
41% |
| Don't visit website |
21% |
| Upcoming Regional Events |
20% |
| Career Networking/Job Opportunities |
20% |
| Upcoming Campus Events |
17% |
| Sports News/Scores |
16% |
| Contact Information for Professors |
12% |
| Ways to Make a Gift |
11% |
| Admission Information |
6% |
| Ways to Volunteer |
6% |
| Other |
4% |
How often alumni visit Hamilton website:
| A few times a year |
57% |
| Monthly |
20% |
| Never |
17% |
| Weekly |
4% |
| More than once a week |
2% |
How important it is to alumni to keep up with Hamilton information:
| Important |
64% |
| Not Important |
20% |
| Very Important |
15% |
How important it is to alumni to keep up with fellow alumni:
| Important |
67% |
| Not Important |
17% |
| Very Important |
16% |
Which communications from the College do alumni read the most (highlights):
- The vast majority of alumni “regularly read” the Alumni Review followed by emails and letters from the president.
- Results for the “occasionally read” were split fairly evenly with the Alumni Review and The Scroll (Hamilton’s social media aggregator) coming in last.
- Topping the “rarely read” category was by far the website.
- In “never read” category, The Scroll and website received the most responses.
- 716 respondents indicated they are unaware of The Scroll.
Hamilton-related topics of most interest to alumni (highlights):
- The vast majority of alumni listed class notes as their top “very interested” choice followed by special events (Reunions, Fallcoming), features about alumni and campus news.
- Results for “interested” were fairly split with class notes coming in last.
- In the “not interested” category, topping the list were athletics, fundraising activities and national higher education polity issues.
How alumni want to receive information from the College (ranked in this order):
- email
- print
- web
- video
- video followed by text messages
- text messages
(Social media was a low #1 choice, but fairly consistent in #2-#6)
Would alumni read additional Alumni Review content if it appeared only online (highlights)?
- The vast majority indicated they would be “very likely” or “likely” to read additional alumni profiles that appeared online.
- The vast majority indicated they would be “very unlikely” to engage in discussions with readers about topics covered in the magazine.
- Video features scored in the middle with just about the same number of respondents indicated they would be “likely” and “unlikely” to view.
- Student profiles scored highest in the “likely” and “unlikely” categories.
How alumni feel about class notes appearing online only and updated more frequently:
| Somewhat receptive |
48% |
| Very receptive |
30% |
| Not receptive |
21% |
How informed do alumni feel they are about the College:
| Somewhat informed |
54% |
| Well informed |
23% |
| Somewhat uninformed |
13% |
| Very well informed |
7% |
| Very uninformed |
3% |
How often do alumni say they receive email from the College:
| Several times a month |
39% |
| Monthly |
34% |
| Weekly |
11% |
| Every other month |
9% |
| A few times a year |
7% |
How much of the overall College correspondence do alumni read thoroughly:
| Some |
45% |
| Most |
33% |
| Little |
16% |
| All |
5% |
| None |
2% |
How alumni rate the amount of communications from the College:
| About right |
84% |
| Too much |
13% |
| Too little |
3% |
How alumni describe their feelings toward the College:
| Strongly favorable |
54% |
| Favorable |
36% |
| Neutral |
8% |
| Negative |
2% |
| Strongly negative |
1% |
How alumni want to receive their non-Hamilton information:
In general, the Web garnered the most votes by far and was top in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice categories. Email was the second #1 choice. Other media (newspaper, radio, magazines, TV) were fairly split. Coming in last was social media.
Platforms alumni use to consume non-Hamilton information:
| Computer |
64% |
| Cell phone |
19% |
| Tablet |
14% |
| None of these devices |
3% |
How frequently do alumni read the following non-Hamilton information:
In general, brief news items are far and away the most popular. Second is in-depth articles/features followed by video and then podcasts.
