By Jeremy Tiers, Vice President of Admissions Services
1 minute read
Email continues to be the preferred method of communication for the majority of traditional and non-traditional students during the college search process.
One of the easiest things you can do to boost engagement is to schedule your messages to be delivered when your audience is paying the most attention.
In the ongoing focus group surveys that Tudor Collegiate Strategies does with students, one of the questions we continue to ask is, “When did you usually check and read emails from colleges and universities during your search?”
Over the past 18 months (April of 2023-October 2024), more than 6,000 students have shared their thoughts:
- 16% said in the morning before school
- 13.1% said during lunch time
- 24.4% said after school
- 35.3% said in the evenings
- 11.2% said on weekends
Based on this data my recommendation is to schedule the bulk of your marketing, event, or any mass communication on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday between 3pm-8pm in the appropriate time zone.
If you’re an Admissions Counselor looking to send 1-1, personalized emails, focus more on the 3pm-5pm window local time.
One last tip: Students tell us that email serves a very specific function in their minds, and it’s not to just regurgitate the same facts and figures that are on your website and in your brochures and mailings. Instead, they want colleges and universities to provide additional context on a variety of relevant topics, especially from the current student point of view. Give them more details and then encourage engagement based on the stage they’re currently at in their process
If you’re looking for even more email tips and strategies, I’ve got you covered. Click this link to access all of the email related articles I’ve previously written.
And if you found this article helpful, please forward it to someone else on your campus who could also benefit from reading it. Sharing is caring 🙂