Recent testing from MARKETview shows that students who click or scan an email are 20x more likely to apply. So how can you be sure your email copy is effectively engaging and recruiting college-bound readers? This question is even tougher to answer since today’s students were raised on social media — which makes it difficult to get and hold their attention.
In this post, we’ll touch on three ways to maximize your time and resources by crafting emails that resonate with students, courtesy of Two Ocean Education Partners, the enrollment marketing services division of MARKETview.
1. Be Specific, not Vague
Compare these two sentences:
Discover new planets alongside NASA scientists — you’ll do research as an undergrad with some of the nation’s top scientific organizations.
versus
Work on research projects as an undergraduate with some of the nation’s top scientific organizations.
Which one grabbed your attention the most? It’s clear to see how much more appealing the details are in the first sentence. It creates a vivid picture of something attention grabbing and interesting that the reader could be doing as a college student. Illustrating specific examples of unique offerings at your school helps to pique student interest and set you apart from peer institutions.
2. Use Active Links
Getting your audience to engage with the links in your emails is key, so focus on making the links in your emails enticing. The best way to accomplish that is to ensure they’re active and actionable, meaning they describe an action and outcome for the reader when they click:
- Find your internship
- Explore our campus
These links encourage the reader to act: ‘find’ and ‘explore’; while also tying in the perks of internships and campus visit opportunities. Framing your links in this way helps your reader understand a tangible benefit of clicking, thus encouraging them to do so.
3. Stay Student-Centric
One of the most common mistakes in email campaigns is talking too much about yourself instead of focusing on what’s in it for the student … the marketing adage for this is WIIFM (What’s In It For Me). You want to tell readers how great your school is, but talking too much about yourself is not engaging. Take this sentence for example:
Our university offers high-level internships and research to all our undergraduate students.
We’re telling students about what we offer, but it’s not clear how that offer will benefit them. Instead, flip the construction using more ‘you’ language to help students imagine themselves taking advantage of that benefit:
No matter your area of study, you’ll take part in high-level internships and research as an undergraduate student.
This construction puts the student at the forefront — and helps the reader picture life at your school. You’re still hyping up what your school offers while also keeping focus on the student, increasing the likelihood of continued engagement with your content.
We sourced these tips from our marketing services division, Two Ocean. Using the critical elements uncovered by the MARKETview platform, Two Ocean strategically engages the students that matter most to achieving each institution’s specific goals. If your goal is to engage your prospects on a deeper level, try implementing some of these strategies into your own marketing.
Interested in enrollment marketing that more deeply engages students and parents? Two Ocean takes advantage of custom multi-channel programs for Student Search, Application Marketing, and Deposit/Yield Marketing. Check out Two Ocean to learn more or schedule a MARKETview demo right now.