By Jeremy Tiers, Vice President of Admissions Services
3 minute read
One of the biggest concerns right now for admissions and enrollment marketing leaders is ‘melt’.
My first piece of advice is to review all the communications you send to deposited or committed students and their families. Are they completely transactional and full of a laundry list of next steps?
If you answered yes, a change is necessary if you want to minimize or eliminate melt.
Just because a student has made their decision doesn’t mean all the anxiety disappears. Most students still want and need help managing the upcoming transition.
Here are some additional tips, proven strategies, and things to think about that will help you do that:
- If you handoff your communications to another department on campus, does the handoff feel disjointed and impersonal or clear and helpful?
- Your communication flow to this group of students should be a combination of emails and text messages.
- Besides outlining singular next steps, your emails should reiterate your school’s strongest value points, as well as the most relevant topics – both from the current student point of view. Examples could include what it’s like to live on campus or be a commuter; getting involved in clubs and organizations; fun things about your school’s location off campus; what students think about their classes and professors; and tips for adjusting to college level learning or dealing with being homesick.
- Text messaging should be utilized for important reminders (dates, deadlines, and events), alerting students to emails they may have missed or missing items, and as a way to gauge how they’re feeling about things like moving away from home and starting college. Give your incoming students opportunities to engage by asking direct questions like, “What are you most excited about when it comes to being a student here?” Or, “How are you feeling about moving away from home?”
- When it comes to completing important forms and documents, do your best to spread those out as much as possible. Delivering a long checklist all at once is not the preference for the majority of students. That tends to create more anxiety.
- In terms of frequency, three or four messages per month is sufficient.
- Find ways to connect your soon-to-be new students to your campus community. Social media, in particular Instagram, is a great way to introduce and show them some of the people, places, activities, and events that make your college or university’s student experience fun and enjoyable. You can also virtually connect everyone on different platforms by hosting games or competitions. The goal is to create additional opportunities for them to meet some of their future classmates (without having to come to campus for an event or registration day) and start to feel more comfortable with their new home away from home.
- Personalized communication to the parent(s) or guardian(s) is essential. Email should be your primary medium, and your content should focus on many of the same topics I mentioned earlier but from a parent or guardian point of view. You’ll also want to reinforce key value points related to financial aid, the ROI of your school’s degree, and safety. From a frequency standpoint, communicating once or twice a month with this group is sufficient. Lastly, find ways to connect them with other parents and guardians (i.e. social media groups or online events).
If you found this article helpful, please forward it to someone else on your campus who could also benefit from reading it. You can also encourage them to subscribe to my newsletter.