Villanova University

Success Story

How Stova's mobile app provided technology that connecnted students at a top-tier university.

Challenge

Villanova University Challenge

More than 20 years after their first win, the Villanova University men's basketball team won the 2016 NCAA March Madness tournament. While there was a lot of celebrating throughout the university community, there was also many lessons learned in terms of event communication and engagement, says Sandy Upton, assistant director for development operations, Office of University Advancement.

Since the tournament includes 68 teams and 6 rounds, it moves at a fast pace and once a team wins the latest round, its fans are often scrambling for the latest official information - who will their team face next, where will the game be held, and where can they watch the game, for example. With that in mind, Villanova's main goal, says Upton, was to provide a mobile-friendly source of up to date information for its constituents.

Solution

Villanova University Solution

About a year before March Madness 2018, Upton started using Stova and was able to develop the perfect mobile event app via a collaboration with the office of the President, Athletics, University Advancement, and Alumni Relations. In the months leading up to prime basketball season, representatives from these offices discussed the potential app content and how and when the content would be released throughout the season.

Villanova then worked with Stova's professional services team to build the app based on the unique needs of the tournament. The initial content, Upton explains, was based about the Big East tournament, which occurs prior to March Madness and determines who will enter the latter tournament. As knowing if the Villanova team would move on after each round was unpredictable, they wanted to be prepared.

"When we started, the primary content in the app was Big East-orientated, but in the back end we were building all the modules with information regarding each subsequent round of the tournament and each potential location it could be in", Upton says. "The content was updated on a rolling basis and was activated as each game was won in the tournament."

Villanova also took advantage of Stova's registration, website, and email tools to integrate all of their marketing efforts around the basketball tournament. They encouraged attendees to download the March Madness app on the event website, confirmation emails, and additional marketing emails created by using the Stova platform.

Using Stova alongside the app was also helpful when coordinating communication. For example, when Villanova Athletics tweeted out the registration link for the next round of either tournament, Upton was able to turn on registration in the app an send out email sat the same time with a click of a button.

Event Success

Villanova University Event Success

Throughout the Big East and March Madness tournaments, the app had the most up-to-date information about where and when future games were held, detail about local watching parties and who would be there, special giveaways and links to register for related-events.

Updating any information was easy using the Stova platform, as any changes were automatically synced to the app. For example, if a watching party for Villanova alumni in Boston's venue changed, Upton could update that information in Stova and that information would automatically sync with the app. Then organizers were able to send out push notifications to users, giving them an additional way to communicate to the community that went beyond traditional email, says Upton.

The app was also a great resource for staff, who had easy access to both information about the tournament and real-time RSVP reports via administrative-only modules built right in the app. "This was a huge step forward for us as they were available to our front-line fundraisers on the road during the tournament," Upton explains. These fundraisers were able to pull up a RSVP report for any event to see which of their prospects were registered, allowing them to make time to speak with them.

Finally, the app came in handy about a week and a half before March Madness' Final Four Tournament, when Villanova used Stova's mobile check-in module and badge scanning to help make the local events in San Antonio (where the tournament was being held) as easy as possible. "We were able to make mobile check in visible in the app to just staff members, so that they could jump in during any event and scan badges." Upton says "This helped prevent bottle necking at the door and get people into events quickly, so they could spend more time enjoying them instead of waiting online."

Overall, Upton says Villanova's first March Madness was a success as it helped reach their goals of creating an enhanced, up-to-date communication tool for the tournament. And attendees found it important as well, as there was a steady stream of app downloads each week, with a noticeable consistent increase by the hundreds after Villanova moved on to each round. While email was largely used to promote the app, Upton says the biggest promoter of the app was word of mouth.

Location: Villanova, Pennsylvania
Founded: 1842
Industry: Higher Education

Villanova University was founded in 1842 by the Order of St. Augustine. To this day, Villanova's Augustinian Catholic tradition is the cornerstone of an academic community where students learn to think critically, act compassionately and succeed while serving others. Villanova offers programs in the liberal arts, the sciences, business, engineering and nursing. The University draws students from 45 states and nearly 50 countries. More than 10,000 undergraduate, graduate and law students take part in a wide variety of degree and certificate programs throughout the University's six colleges.

www.villanova.edu

Key Statistics

2 NCAA tournaments

3,300+ app downloads

Products Leveraged

Event mobile app, Registration, Real-time reporting

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Villanova University

How Stova's mobile app provided technology that connecnted students at a top-tier university.

Villanova University Challenge

Villanova University Solution

Villanova University Event Success

Key Statistics

Products Leveraged

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