As part of our ongoing research at Spectrum, we’ve perused just over 3,000 emails from college and university admission offices. This post is #6 in an ongoing series that describes how you can avoid email pitfalls and establish best practices.

This week’s pitfall: The email with a giant “forward this message” button

Nearly every study we’ve found suggests that click rates on “forward this message” buttons within emails are abysmal—like one-hundredth of one percent (0.01%).

The reason is simple—your prospective students know where the forward button is!

Plus, if you’re segmenting your database and targeting your emails to individuals, the message won’t make sense for someone other than the intended recipient.

There is a place to satisfy for your refer-a-friend desires (like in social media invitations—but that’s another post), but email is not the place.

This week’s best practice: An email written by a past transfer student to current transfer prospects.

Transfers are a unique group of students with unique needs. What a better way to connect on a personal level with a transfer prospect than with a current transfer student?

The transfer-to-transfer email has instant credibility, offers insight you may not have otherwise come up with on your own, and shows that your student body really cares (remember that beyond economic considerations, homesickness and dissatisfaction with social life are two of the major reasons students transfer in the first place).

As part of our ongoing research at Spectrum, we’ve perused just over 3,000 emails from college and university admission offices. This post is #4 in an ongoing series that describes how you can avoid email pitfalls and establish best practices.

This week’s pitfall: The tremendously long “News and Events” email

One school in our list did a series of “News and Events” emails that were longer included more stories than are listed on the home page of this blog. Not only were they long, they were really dry too—details about conferences the administration was attending, the results of a marketing survey, the reason for summer operating hours shifts…you get the point.

Worst of all, the email gave prospects no reason to respond. As it is, it’s destined for deletion because it’s boring.

This week’s best practice: The short news email with a call to action

News and events emails can be beneficial if your news and events are kept to brief announcements that pertain to what your prospects are interested in—on campus visit days, new dorm openings, a success story from a recent graduate.

One email we reviewed used three bullet points of 40 words or less to point out that (1) an open house was coming up, (2) they were building new classrooms, and (3) the new student life opportunities coming up in 2010.

The email concluded by inviting the student to respond so that they could be part of all of the fun stuff that was happening on campus.

Not only was the email short, entertaining, and targeted to prospective students, it provided an avenue for response.

So next time you find your self ready to send a news email, ask yourself these three things: (1) Is the news engaging enough that my prospective students will read it? (2) How will this news help me build the relationship my institution has with our prospects? (3) How do I want prospective students to respond?

As part of our ongoing research at Spectrum, we’ve perused just over 3,000 emails from college and university admission offices. This post is #3 in an ongoing series that describes how you can avoid email pitfalls and establish best practices.

This week’s pitfall: The undelivered promise

One email we reviewed had a subject line that read something like this: ABC University is Affordable!

So, realistically, one would expect that the body of the email would describe how ABC University was affordable…but it doesn’t. Instead it lists the types of financial aid that are available (loans, grants, scholarships, work study) without any indication of how that financial aid would actually influence a student’s tuition bill.

The point: your emails must (1) provide content that has real value, and (2) differentiate you from everyone else. Without value, your prospects have no reason to respond (or even finish reading the email). WIthout differentiation, you’re just making noise.

Instead of focusing on the fact that students need to know about their financial aid options, find a way to demonstrate how your institution can fulfill that need.

This week’s best practice: The Financial Aid calculator

We reviewed a simple email pointing prospects to a place online where they could determine about what their tuition bill would be.

This email not only provides relevant content (figure out your bill!), it instantly differentiates an institution by offering a “personalized” response to an individual student’s financial situation.

[Although they weren’t part of our study, MIT has a really in-depth calculator here]

As part of our ongoing research at Spectrum, we’ve perused just over 3,000 emails from college and university admission offices. This post is #2 in an ongoing series that describe how you can avoid email pitfalls and establish best practices.

This week’s pitfall: the email that has 275 people in the “to” line.

With the advent of relatively inexpensive applications that allow you to make emails personal and relevant, I thought the late 90s practice of  “bulk” email was dead. I was soberly mistaken.

Not only does putting everyone’s address in the “to” line a huge violation of privacy, it also communicates to a prospective students that he or she is just another name on a list (i.e. not special).

And in fact, it makes you look like a spammer.

This week’s best practice: an email from a faculty member in the major indicated by the prospective student.

The email I’m referencing was simply designed—just one photo and text. In the first paragraph the prof introduced herself and provided a link to the department website.

In the second paragraph she described what set the program apart in no more than 40 words (with  real value, not generic “challenging classes” stuff, but a “this is what we do differently” statement).

In the last paragraph, she included an 800 number, her personal office number, and a link to the campus virtual tour. She signed the email with her actual email address.

Sure, the email was automated, but it didn’t try to hide the fact that it was either. More importantly the email presented a variety of ways for a prospect to (1) learn more about the program, (2) learn how the program is different, and (3) contact a real person other than an admission rep.

I realize that it may have been tough to get the already overworked faculty to get on board. But in the end, I think it’s worth it.

Do any of your institutions send emails from faculty members? Was it difficult to get them to buy in? Please Share!

-Andrew

As part of our ongoing research at Spectrum, I’ve looked at just under 3,000 emails that colleges and universities send out as part of their admission tracks.

Some have great, eye-catching design and powerful messaging.

Others use bad clip art from the late 90s.

My plan is to provide an observation about the emails from time to time to describe how you can avoid some communicative pitfalls and establish some best practices.

This week’s pitfall: The Apply Now!!!! email. Many of the emails we reviewed contained the sole message “Apply Now!” Nothing else about the institution, just “get your app in, and do it now.” Even if your deadline is coming up, these messages are the electronic equivalent of running out of your admission office, finding the nearest stranger and screaming “HEY YOU SHOULD APPLY!”

Apply Now emails don’t build long-term relationships with students because they don’t acknowledge your relationship with your prospective students. They don’t communicate the value of your institution. Instead they interrupt and make you seem a little desperate.

This week’s best practice: The Relevant and Timely email. One college we’re working with sent an email about how a four-year education can help ensure job security in tough economic times, specifically as it related to each prospective student’s indicated major.

Relevant and Timely emails are able to address the specific relationship you have with a prospect (in our example, their respective majors). They’re able also to use a current event that’s most likely on  your prospect’s mind and connect it with the unique value your institution has to offer. Once you’ve engaged a student, they’re much more likely to take your application request seriously.