Student RecruitmentCommunication Best Practices

Agenda• Overview

• Secret Shopper & Insights

• What not to do in your leads communications plan

• What should be included in your leads communications plan

• Email campaign best practices

• Closing message

• We want to see who is responding and making the most of their leads!

• In responding to leads, the goal should be to make a great first impression

o Capture the attention of students, build trust, relay relevant information, invite further

communication, and ultimately generate conversions!

The Goal of Secret Shopper

• We contacted 57 schools – 66% Canadian, and 33% International (UK & US)

• Requests were made through the profile request info on SchoolFinder.com

• Requests were made between September 6 – 10, 2017

• Two personas:

o Grade 12 student looking to begin undergraduate study in Fall 2018o Mature student looking for both undergraduate and graduate programs

• Responses were given a score out of 25, based on 5 categories: speed, personalization, content, subject line and use of graphics

• Only 22% of schools responded to info requests (13 responses)

• This means 78% of schools did not respond to a request for info!

Secret Shopper 2017

Out of those who did respond, their responses fell into two categories:

1. Those who scored in the top half had responses that were informative, timely,

clear, concise, relevant, personalized and visually appealing.

• A student receiving these responses would feel encouraged to consider these institutions as a

legitimate possibility. Ultimately, a lasting impression was made.

2. Those who scored in the bottom half had responses that were not

memorable. This included responses that were entirely plain text, not

personalized, included non-relevant information and even had errors.

• It is not enough to just respond to a lead – the response needs to have a valuable impact and

create a lasting impression.

Secret Shopper Responses

Secret Shopper Response Scores

SchoolResponse Time

(Days) Response Type Total (Out of 25) %

University of South Wales 5 Email 23 92%

Canadore College 1 Email 20 80%

Saint Mary's University 1 Email 19 76%

University of Calgary 7 Email 19 76%

University of Guelph-Humber 7 Email 17 68%

Concordia University 7 Email 17 68%

Middlesex University 6 Email 16 64%

Trios College 1 Email/3 Calls 16 64%

Thompson Rivers University 5 Email 15 60%

Vancouver Island University 4 Email 15 60%

University of Waterloo 6 Email 12 48%

Bangor University 5 Email 11 44%

Swansea University 8 Email 7 28%

Secret Shopper Insights Out of the 13 schools who responded…

• Only 23% of responses were delivered in the 1-3 day recommended time

• 62% of responses were personalized to the student (name was included)

• 38% of responses used graphics successfully (more than just logo and footer)

• 38% of responses included information specific to the program requested

It is now more important than ever to separate yourselves from your competition

What not to do…No tailored subject line

Not personalized

Plain text, not engaging

Poor Call-to-Action (CTA)

What not to do…

Not relevant information

Plain text, hard-to-read layout

Poor Call-to-Action (CTA)

You can’t afford not to go mobileNot mobile friendly

In June 2016, it was reported by Catalystthat 76% of Canadians own a smartphone.

More than 70% of readers delete an email that is not mobile optimized.• More than 55% of emails are opened

on a mobile device• Optimized emails generate 15% higher

click-through rates.

Unreadable on device

Good lead email campaign example

Adding login info to online system is a great personal touch, however, this raises security concerns

Great lead email campaign examples

Great lead email campaign examples

Students still want to be emailed

Out of 260 students polled, 70% prefer email

and 14% prefer text!

Students still want to be emailed

QS Statistics, 2017 - Link: http://www.qs.com/how-often-should-you-email-prospective-students/#post/0

Lead Communication Best PracticesIncorporate these best practices into your communications, for a winning strategy:

• Respond within 1 to 3 days: This is your opportunity to build trust and rapport with the lead, so meet their request for information in a timely manner! This will help ensure they keep you top of mind.

• Great subject line: 33% of email recipients determine whether or not to open an email based on subject line, so make sure yours stands out!o Keep it brief o Personalize ito Manage expectationso Include urgency o Make the student feel specialo Test your subject lines

Lead Communication Best PracticesIncorporate these best practices into your communications, for a winning strategy:

• Ensure content is relevant: Your response should include information about the program the lead has requested – relevant content increases click-throughs

• Personalize the email: By using personalization, you will increase click-throughs by 39%. Add the recipient’s name in the subject line and in the email content

• Strategic CTA placement: Your Call-to-Action should be a button or text link that directs a lead to a specified landing page. The fewer CTAs you have, the better, as fewer CTAs can result in 40% higher click-throughs.

• Include engaging visuals: Make leads excited about your school! Emails with images convert almost twice as well than emails without.

• Texting shouldn’t be used as your first form of communication with a prospect

• Develop an opt-in text program that gives prospective students a reason to subscribe – they will now be open to receiving text communication from you

Including texting in your comms plan

• Use texting as a personal touch point to reengage the prospect, and invite them for a phone call – a prospect will be much more open to receiving a phone call from you if they have given you permission

• A 2015 study published in the Social Science Journal, found that over a third of college students sent 100 texts a day, and checked their messages an average of 16 times per hour – you can’t afford to not involve text in your plan

Final message… respond to your leads!The leads you receive via LeadMatch™ are real students, looking for the next step

in their educational journey. If you want to successfully compete with other

schools, then you must respond to your leads.

By not responding, what message does this send to prospective students?

Build trust with students by meeting their requests in a timely manner.

We’re launching LeadPost!We have developed LeadPost to make contacting your leads easier! With LeadPost

you can have your SchoolFinder Group Leads posted automatically into your CRM

system! We will be launching soon!

Interested in learning more, or have questions?

Please contact us at info@edgeip.com

Join us at SEMM!We will be co-sponsoring the 2017 SEMM (Strategic Enrolment Marketing &

Management) Forum 2017, and we would love for you to join us here in Toronto!

The program features multiple tracks of workshops on a wide range of topics

related to marketing, enrolment management, recruitment, and retention.

Learn more, or register here: www.SEMMForum.ca

Receive $50 off of your registration by using our discount code: EDG50

Thank you!Interested in learning more, or want to have a one-on-one chat? We are here

and happy to help! Reach out to us at info@edgeip.com