How Minnesota State Mankato streamlined email for 40+ departments using Pardot
On a mission to streamline communication and create on-brand emails, Mankato started searching for a tool that was powerful and easy to use. Here enters RGE Studio.
Minnesota State University, Mankato has consistently ranked among the top colleges in the State of Minnesota. Since its founding in 1868, the university has expanded to offer over 130 undergraduate and more than 80 graduate programs.
There was just one issue: its email process was stuck in the past. Its CRM was old and fickle, which meant days of hand-coding and testing, even for the simplest emails.
Kyle Snay, the university’s CRM Administrator, was on a mission to streamline communication and empower more staff to create on-brand emails. Kyle started searching for a tool that was powerful and easy to use.
That’s when he discovered RGE Studio.
The old way: Drowning in HTML
Before RGE Studio, Minnesota State Mankato’s email workflow was a patchwork of disconnected tools, and it showed.
Each of the university’s 40+ departments and programs was using its own system to design and send emails. This siloed setup resulted in fragmented communication and made brand consistency nearly impossible.
“It was tough to regulate branding. Everyone was doing their own thing. And we were living in HTML.”
Kyle Snay, CRM Administrator, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Departments sent over content, which then had to be hand-coded in Dreamweaver, tested, and reworked endlessly to (hopefully) render correctly in their CRM. There was no image hosting, limited personalization, and features like responsive design or buttons were out of reach.
The lack of centralized control wasn’t just a branding issue; it also raised security and privacy concerns regarding student data. And with overlapping tools doing similar jobs, the costs quickly added up.
Getting a basic email out the door took days of manual effort. The outdated system just wasn’t cutting it anymore.
How RGE Studio sparked a transformation
When Minnesota State Mankato first adopted RGE Studio in 2021, the goal was straightforward: replace outdated email design tools that posed security risks because they stored sensitive student data.
“As we got deeper into using RGE Studio, we realized its capabilities went far beyond what we originally expected.”
What began as a quick fix evolved into a powerful tool for streamlining workflows, improving collaboration, and unlocking new use cases. RGE Studio quickly became the go-to email design platform for the entire university. Within 1-3 months, Mankato was able to see a return on its investment.
Beyond the fix: Migrating from Oracle to Pardot with RGE Studio
Driven by rising licensing costs, Mankato switched from Oracle to Salesforce. Kyle admits that the team initially assumed Pardot’s native email builder might replace RGE Studio, but it didn’t take long to realize there was simply no comparison.
“We quickly realized that [compared to Pardot] RGE Studio was a much more powerful tool. It wasn’t just easier to use, we had more options. Merge tags that previously only existed in Oracle could be added directly in RGE Studio.”
For Snay, this was a game-changer. As a CRM Administrator, he no longer had to worry about missing merge tags, which significantly shortened his implementation time.
Even better? There's no need to train every user in the CRM. “We’re saving money by keeping users in RGE Studio instead of moving them into Pardot and paying for extra user accounts, which can get expensive,” Kyle explained.
Now, when a department needs to send an email, here is what the flow looks like:
- They build it directly in RGE Studio using on-brand, customizable templates.
- Once it’s ready, they notify Kyle and the CRM team
- The CRM team then imports it into Salesforce Account Engagement Pardot within 10 seconds.
The tools that changed everything
From faster builds to seamless collaboration, these standout features of RGE Studio transformed the university’s entire email workflow.
- Easy onboarding for all skill levels: With users ranging from student workers to communications directors, the tool had to be intuitive and user-friendly. “When we onboard a new user, the process is almost as easy as using the tool,” said Kyle. Most users are up and confidently running in under 45 minutes.
- 50% faster approval processes: Student workers build emails directly in RGE Studio within pre-set frameworks. Supervisors can then jump in and review and approve them in the platform. The built-in review process keeps everything accountable and streamlined, with no more jumping between tools.
- Organized workspace for every department: With over 40 departments, staying organized is no small feat. RGE Studio’s Workspaces feature lets Kyle group users by department, providing each team with its own environment to manage designs, assets, and folders (without stepping on each other’s toes).
- 100% improvement of on-brand designs: Not everyone designing emails is part of the marketing team, but with RGE Studio, they don’t have to be. Style Settings ensure university-approved colors, fonts, and design elements are always on hand, keeping every message on-brand without extra oversight.
- Set it and forget it: Reusable elements, such as saved rows, have saved Kyle serious time. “If we have a logo combo that appears in every footer, we just save it once and drag it in whenever we need it. I just set it and forget it,” Kyle said. No resizing. No guesswork. No wasted time.
- RGE Studio's Salesforce Account Engagement (Pardot) native integration: When Makato transitioned to Salesforce, RGE Studio's native integration with Salesforce Account Engagement (Pardot) became a crucial part of their workflow. The integration allowed Snay and his team to design in RGE Studio’s intuitive editor and push emails directly into Pardot, saving them costs and time.
Together, these features didn’t just improve the process; they completely redefined what’s possible for a decentralized team managing high-stakes communications.
Kyle Snay
Customer Relationship Management System Administrator
Amy Linde
Director of Strategic Communications
Kyle Snay
Customer Relationship Management System Administrator
Kyle Snay
Customer Relationship Management System Administrator
The proof is in the process
In higher education, teams are constantly asked to do more with less—fewer resources, tighter timelines, and ever-growing expectations. For Minnesota State Mankato, adopting RGE Studio didn’t just solve their immediate problem. It addressed issues they hadn’t even considered initially.
“RGE Studio has evolved with us and provided solutions as new challenges come.”
And the impact speaks for itself: in 2024 alone, the university sent emails designed in RGE Studio to over 280 lists and 3.1 million contacts, more than double the volume of the previous year.
But the real value goes beyond numbers.
“Whether you’re a department without design expertise or a pro looking to move fast, RGE Studio just makes your job better. It’s rewarding when someone comes to me with a pain point, and I can show them how quickly and easily we can solve it together in RGE Studio. It genuinely makes their day better.”
For universities and organizations considering RGE Studio, the real differentiator is this: it’s not just a solution for your current pain points—it’s a platform that grows with you, opening up bandwidth, unlocking resources, and helping you stay ready for whatever challenges come next.
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