Are you ready to make your recruitment emails more compelling? Email is still one of the best methods for connecting with prospective students because it is simple and direct. In a single click, you can share your message with hundreds or thousands of targeted students. The trouble with sending emails is that it’s hard to stand out. Young people receive dozens of emails in a day, so how can your recruitment messages cut through the noise and entice students to click?
It may seem impossible to make your higher institution stand out in a sea of emails, but we promise it’s not. Here are a few ways to make your recruitment emails more enticing.
Segment Your Audiences
Students say that personalization is a huge factor when determining whether or not to open an email. If the email appears to be a cookie-cutter message sent to a group of students, they won’t be as motivated to open it. Even though students know that colleges are sending thousands of emails to prospective students, they don’t want to feel like a number.
The best way to personalize your emails is by segmenting your audiences. This way, you can target smaller groups of students with personalized content. Some of the ways to segment your audience include:
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Where they are in the enrollment process
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Where they live
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What programs they are interested in
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What type of student they are (full-time, part-time, transfer)
Provide Value to the Reader
Today’s inboxes are overflowing with messages, and the last thing you want is for your email to end up in the trash can. When creating content for emails – text, images, links, headlines – be sure that it provides value to the student.
For example, you wouldn’t send an email about your engineering program to students interested in your nursing program. Instead, you might send them an infographic on the top 10 careers in nursing or a direct link to the nursing page on your website. When it comes to potential students early in the funnel, checklists, top 10s, and step-by-step guides perform well.
Choose a Responsive Email Design
The majority of students will probably open your email on their smartphones, so be sure that it’s optimized for mobile devices. However, don’t ignore how your email looks on other devices, including desktops. It’s common for prospects to engage with colleges and universities on a number of channels, which means that the same student could open your email on their smartphone and their computer. To ensure a seamless experience for all users, choose a responsive email design.
Use Email Analytics and Split Testing
There are always ways to improve your email campaigns, and by tracking email analytics, you can find out where these improvements need to be made. Pay attention to key metrics such as opens, clicks, forwards, conversions, and browsing of your website.
Look for trends to determine what’s working well and what’s not. For example, maybe your email had a lot of open rates (which means you wrote a compelling headline) but the conversions were low. Was your CTA not compelling enough? Did your email not load properly? Use A/B testing to see what elements need changing.
Recruitment emails help you reach your audience in a personalized, targeted manner. Don’t be afraid to make your emails enticing with irresistible headlines and fascinating content. This is how your emails will stand out from the crowd and appeal to a wider audience.
