According to the latest Tudor Collegiate Strategies research (August, 2022) on frequency of communications from colleges and universities during the college search process, 47.4% of students were comfortable receiving one email per week. Only 22.6% were comfortable receiving more than one email a week. It also might surprise you that only 7.6% of students did not want to receive letters and mail during their college search.
Now, how would prospective students describe those emails, letters, and other communications that make up your enrollment communications plan? Does everything look and sound like what they’re receiving from other colleges and universities – a lot of general facts and figures, language that’s robotic, overly professional, and feels very “salesy”, impersonal, and transactional. That’s the feedback students across the country continue to give us. In a recent survey of more than 9,400 high school juniors we conducted alongside Niche, only 16% said that what they’ve been receiving from colleges and universities feels very personal.
Having personalized and engaging communications that tell a better story and help your college or university to be more relational and less transactional has never been more important! In the words of one student, “We want to feel wanted by a college like we are individually special.”
Our yearlong research-based email and letter campaigns will save you time, eliminate the guesswork, personalize the process, and increase engagement between students and families and your admissions/enrollment team. Your counselors will become better communicators and more efficient territory managers.
HERE’S HOW IT WORKS:
- We partner with your admission and marketing/communications teams to create a year-long engagement focused student recruitment plan that targets both high school seniors (at all stages) as well as juniors. There are no gaps.
- We conduct survey research with both incoming and current students at your school, and we combine that with our database of national research on communication preferences and decision-making factors.
- The focus of your monthly messaging will be key topics that make up your school’s value proposition – things like your location, campus life, academic environment, financial aid/affordability, community, and outcomes. Our goal is to not only tell your school’s unique story, but also create engagement that leads to additional conversations between students, parents, and your admissions counselors.
- We train the entire admissions team on how to effectively engage, lead the conversation, build/strengthen relationships, and guide students and families through the college search process.
- Each monthly communication plan also includes talking points for the admissions counselors that tie in with that month’s messaging topic.
- In addition, we create parent and high school guidance counselor communications each month to engage and help cultivate relationships with those influencers. And we provide you with a social media focus that includes content recommendations.
- When needed, we craft various ad hoc messages to target specific groups of students (ex. cold inquiries, incomplete apps), and to push specific actions (visit campus, apply, FAFSA completion, deposit).
- Once students start to choose your college or university, we provide a separate set of monthly messages for those committed students to help prevent “melt.”
Our team at TCS understands that every college and university is different, and we pride ourselves on meeting your individual needs. We will help you consistently deliver impactful, authentic, engaging messages that explain and reiterate how your school is different, and why your students feel it’s a better overall experience.
THE RESULTS?
Our clients consistently tell us that besides higher open rates, the engagement they get from students and parents is at a level they’ve never seen before. Our messaging also helps admissions counselors better understand the mindset of students in their territories – including how and when many of them will make their college decisions.
Check out this response one of our clients received from a prospective student after she received a TCS generated email:
“I just wanted to tell you that, even though this email was more than likely sent by a robot, receiving this meant a lot to me. I get all sorts of emails from colleges that contain nothing but shallow compliments and information on the school. It has been a while since I have felt such a personal touch from a piece of college-related mail. Even if this will only be seen by a computer and all I get back is a quick “thank you,” email, I hope you know that it was really therapeutic to write this. I am excited to look further into your school.”
Numerous colleges and universities we’ve worked with have achieved record freshmen enrollment thanks in part to their partnership with Tudor Collegiate Strategies. We’ve also helped schools increase their application numbers, FAFSA completion rates, number of campus visits in a year, as well as lower their “melt” from committed students.
Dean of Admission
Illinois College
“The TCS team has challenged us to reframe the way we approach communication with students, families, and school counselors. They have helped us craft a relational communication strategy that is true to our institutional identity. It has transformed our interactions with students and driven us to big results. They are truly a partner in that they are responsive to our feedback and available to any of our staff to talk through everything from drip marketing strategies to staff burnout. The whole admission team knows Jeremy, has his cell phone number, and knows that he’s available to them when needed. It’s about relationships and that’s what TCS is all about.”
*Illinois College has partnered with TCS since 2018. They set a record for the largest first-year class in school history in 2019, and they exceeded their enrollment goals again in 2020 and 2021.
You can check out more client stories here.
READY TO LEARN MORE?
Contact us here to start a conversation about your specific needs, pricing, and timing.