By Jeremy Tiers, Senior Director of Admissions Services
2 minute read
As you might imagine, email continues to be the preferred method of communication for the majority of students during their college search.
If you don’t want your messages to get buried in a student’s Inbox, and you’re looking to increase engagement, it’s crucial that you send your emails out at the right times.
In our ongoing focus group surveys with students, one of the questions we ask is, “When did you usually check and read emails from colleges during your search?”
Over the past 24 months (March of 2021-March of 2023), more than 5,000 students have provided their input.
- 15.4% said in the morning before school
- 12.1% said during lunch time
- 25% said after school
- 35.7% said in the evenings
- 11.8% said on weekends
My recommendation based on this data, as well as additional past and present partnership work Tudor Collegiate Strategies has done with colleges, is that you schedule the bulk of your emails to be delivered between 3pm-9pm local time on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.
I can also share that many of the schools we partner with on communication work have seen some of their highest open and click-through rates when they send emails between 3pm and 4pm, or between 8pm and 9pm local time.
One last thing – Students tell us that email serves a very specific function in their minds, and it’s not to just regurgitate the same facts and figures that are on your website and in your brochures and mailers. Instead, they want colleges and universities to explain how they’re different, why they’re better, and why their current students enjoy different parts of the student experience…all in a way that is clear and feels personal, engaging, and helpful.
If you’re looking for even more email tips and strategies, I’ve got you covered. Click this link to access all of the email related articles I’ve previously written.
And if you found this article helpful, forward it to someone else on your campus who could also benefit from reading it.