Building Recruitment Success: Strengthening Strategic Foundations Before Revamping Communications

In the face of two demograpic cliffs, institutions are seeking innovative communication strategies to better engage with prospective students. Consulting engagements like deep audits of current communications and implementation of newly designed message flow architectures can seem like a “sure thing” for improving enrollment numbers, but enhancing more foundational strategic elements is likely necessary before these moves can be completely effective.

RNL recently completed two national surveys asking students to share their preferences regarding communication. The 2024 High School Student College Planning Report organizes responses from 2,242 college-bound high school students while the 2023 Graduate Student Recruitment Report includes perceptions of 1,502 prospects at the master’s and doctoral level. These two reports represent the very latest in research on new college student communication preferences and highlight several themes representing strategic must-dos for institutions to better engage with their audiences.

Must-Do #1: Get Fast

How long can an institution or program wait to respond to new student inquiries? At the undergraduate level, 69 percent expect a response within 24 hours of inquiring. Even more staggering, 86 percent of graduate-level learners want a response within the same timeframe.

Waiting until it is too late to respond carries consequences. Fifty-eight percent of undergraduates indicate that a slow response would decrease their interest in a college, with 7 percent saying it would significantly do so. For graduate students, a total of 68 percent report that delayed responses would negatively affect their interest, and 13 percent note a significant impact.

Understanding each touchpoint in a student’s journey is crucial, particularly in the context of response times to new student inquiries. Ensuring the right people, processes, and technology are in place to meet these expectations is essential for maintaining student interest and engagement.

Strategy Consulting Solution: Student Journey Optimization

Student Journey Optimization first asks students about their relationship with you. These perspectives are then offered in a workshop setting to map and refine ways to improve the business functions used by your admissions and marketing teams. This approach helps ensure timely and effective responses to student inquiries, enhancing the overall student experience and increasing the likelihood of enrollment.

Must-Do #2: Get Personal

How much should communication be customized toward each prospect? The 2024 High School Student College Planning Report shares how high school students responded when asked how important it is to receive tailored messaging based on the following factors:

• Program-Specific Information: 96 percent expect information specific to their program of interest.
• Personalized Responses: 96 percent want answers to their specific questions.
• Recognition and Personalization: 84 percent want institutions to recognize their unique situations upon contact; 83 percent appreciate their first names being used in communications.
• Cultural and Linguistic Considerations: 83 percent value communications in their first language; 77 percent appreciate content that reflects their demographic.
• Ongoing Engagement: 60 percent value regular check-ins via calls; 54 percent like their names being used in videos.

The 2023 Graduate Student Recruitment Report shows preferences for personalizing responses in a slightly different way as respondents were asked to rank order several options. After weighting their choices, the following is a list of personalization factors in order of overall importance:

1. Use My Name in Emails/Texts: Highest score, indicating the utmost importance of personal recognition in communication.
2. Send Me Information Specific to My Program of Interest
3. Appear to Know Me and My Situation When I Make Contact
4. Share Information Reflecting My Demographic
5. Send Me Videos in Which My Name Is Used
6. Call Me Regularly to Check in on My Needs and Questions: Ranked lowest, suggesting that while some students value this, it is less preferred compared to other methods.

Identifying gaps and inefficiencies that may hinder personalized communication is vital. Prospects need to feel recognized and valued to maintain their interest and engagement throughout the enrollment process.

Strategy Consulting Solution: Organizational & Operational Assessment

An Organizational & Operational Assessment can offer recommendations for integrating data management systems to consolidate student information across different touchpoints. This integration enables the crafting of personalized messages based on accurate and comprehensive student data. By understanding the capabilities and limitations of existing systems, institutions can close gaps and address inefficiencies, ensuring that communication is customized to meet needs of students.

Must-Do #3: Get Multi-Channeled

In what ways do prospective students want to receive communication? Most future undergraduate and graduate students prefer to receive a combination of email, direct mail, telephone calls, social media app messaging, and text messaging. This means all channels should be used to ensure comprehensive coverage and maximize engagement with diverse student audiences. For example, only 1 percent of high school students “never” want an email, and only 22 percent do not want to be messaged on their personal social media accounts. The following lists all the factors with which undergraduate prefer not to be contacted:

• Email: Nearly universally accepted, with only 1 percent expressing disinterest.
• Direct Mail: Generally well-received, with only 4 percent preferring not to receive it.
• Text Messaging: Mostly accepted, with 9 percent saying they “never” want this communication type.
• Telephone Calls and Social Media Messaging: Less favored, with 22 percent preferring not to be contacted this way.

The graduate-level survey asked a similar question but, instead, prompted respondents to share which of the following channels were most preferable:

• Email: Dominates preferences with 71 percent favoring it for responses.
• Phone Calls and Text Messages: Next preferred methods, with 14 percent and 9 percent respectively.
• Social Media and Direct Mail: Least preferred, each at 3 percent.

By using email, direct mail, text messaging, telephone calls, and social media messaging, institutions can ensure comprehensive coverage and maximize engagement with diverse student audiences. However, multi-channel marketing can get expensive, especially if the return on investment (ROI) is not known. Without clear data on which channels yield the best engagement and conversion rates, institutions risk overspending on less effective methods and missing out on opportunities to connect with prospective students.

Strategy Consulting Solution: Annual Marketing & Recruitment Planning

An Annual Marketing & Recruitment Plan (AMRP) can help plan and optimize investments across various communication channels. This plan includes considerations to optimize spending and maximize ROI, making it clear where to invest more heavily in channels that yield the best engagement and conversion rates for each segment of your prospective student audience.

Bottom Line

Before implementing tools like communication audits or revamping message architectures, it is critical that institutions meet high expectations for responsiveness, personalization, and preference-based communication. Leveraging consulting solutions can ensure that strategic planning is intentional and data driven. This approach enables subsequent communication strategies to be well-founded and tailored to the specific needs and preferences of the institution’s audience, enhancing overall engagement and effectiveness.

Ask for a free consultation with us. We will help you assess your current state and develop the optimal communication approach for your unique prospective students.