Imagine you are excited to go to a friend’s wedding. You found out they’re engaged, and instead of receiving thoughtful save-the-dates and invitations, you’re bombarded with SMS texts, phone calls, and reminders to RSVP. You aren’t treated like a guest; instead, you are a number who needs to make a decision right now.
This is how your accepted students feel when you prioritize tech over them.
Avoiding overuse of tech, treating all admitted students similarly regardless of their deposit, and celebrating your current ambassadors will set you apart from competing institutions.
Your yield strategy is one of the most crucial marketing tools you have for student enrollment. It’s exciting to send out admittance letters, but many students have received multiple offers and now have to choose which school and which future they want to pursue.
It’s up to you to stand out.
1. Don’t let your tech outweigh your community building
One quick Google search and you’ll be flooded with the latest tools and marketing automations to connect and engage with your accepted or deposited students. While these tools are useful and create efficiencies, they don’t replace the strategy behind community and relationships.
Students are not enrolling in your university because of the quickness of your reminders or the ease of your invitations to orientation. They enroll because they want to attend your institution. They (and likely their families) have chosen you for their specific reasons—your yield strategy has to include convincing them that choosing you is the best option not only for their next four years, but for their entire future.
No pressure, of course.
When we focus too much on the shiny technology and not on the experience the student is having at the orientation, or the info session, or the campus tour, we run the risk of losing them to another university. Putting too much stock into the tech of it all eliminates the crucial community-building needed to steward enrollment decisions.
2. Don’t assume deposited students will enroll
Another big mistake enrollment marketers make is the assumption that a deposit equals an enrollment. Increasingly, students who make a deposit do so to all schools in their shortlist. This strategy ensures their placement, ensures they’re likely to get a first-hand experience in campus life, and ensures you’ll pay attention to them.
It does not ensure they will become enrolled students come the start of the fall semester (or whenever they applied to enroll).
Conversely, focusing all your time and attention on deposited students can create systems of inequality, unknowingly. Maybe, some students’ families don’t have the means to make deposits in every one of their short-listed schools, so instead, they are patiently waiting and assessing which is the right fit for them.
The best approach would be to treat admitted and deposited students as the same. Engage them, build the community and vision they want to see for themselves, and don’t put all your eggs in the deposited student’s basket.
3. Don’t overlook your alumni and student ambassadors
All great strategic enrollment marketers know that your alumni and current students can be your biggest ambassadors to ensure student matriculation after admittance letters are sent. But one thing to avoid is assuming alumni and students want to help you recruit more students.
Understanding where and when to thank your current communities is key. Keeping them happy will undoubtedly trickle down to happier, more authentic experiences for your accepted students to make their decision.
So, engaging your current ambassadors to host “day in the life,” videos, campus tours, buddy programs, and all is a great yield strategy to deploy—but overlook their generosity and enthusiasm at your peril. Keep celebrating them through appreciation events, handwritten letters, and gifts.
Create a yield strategy for better results.
Ready to take the next steps?
The seasoned higher ed professionals at Mighty Citizen have crafted a simple, comprehensive template for planning, executing, and evaluating your next yield strategy campaign.
Access more free tools and resources to help your higher ed and enrollment marketing stand out.
