A Dynamics 365 move that outran the sector's benchmarks
- Client
- Southern Cross University
- Industry
- Education
- Solutions
- Marketing Technology
- Customer type
- B2C
- Region
- Australia
Delivery rate across all emails since the transition
97.6%
Open rate, against the education sector benchmark of 35.64%
43.97%
Click-through rate, against the industry benchmark of 3.02%
4.57%
The challenge
Platform transitions are where student communications usually break. SCU needed the move to Dynamics 365 to be seamless: no lost journeys, no deliverability slump, and a refreshed brand identity carried into every template, while setting the university up for real-time, personalised engagement at scale.
Our solution
Four automated nurture journeys were developed and deployed in Real-Time Marketing, one for each student lifecycle stage: welcome, application, mid-year and graduating students. Dynamic, mobile-first templates aligned to the refreshed brand, lead scoring models triggered personalised actions from engagement signals, and the workflows integrated into Dynamics 365 through Microsoft’s Power Platform for real-time tracking.
The project ran in four phases: discovery and planning workshops, technical assessment and setup, thorough quality assurance across every template and workflow, and final delivery with handover documentation and training for go-live.
The results
Since the transition, emails have held a 97.6% delivery rate, a 43.97% open rate against the education sector benchmark of 35.64%, and a 4.57% click-through rate against the industry benchmark of 3.02%: a smooth move, and a platform positioned for personalised, scalable automation.
From the team
This project showcased the power of well-structured marketing automation. By transitioning to Dynamics 365, we enabled Southern Cross University to communicate with students in a more personalised, timely, and scalable manner.
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