Increasing Applicant Engagement and Yield Through Email

Communication

2015 NAGAP Annual ConferencePresented By: Holly Acito & Sara Langston

● AAU

● Carnegie Classification: Comprehensive Doctoral

● Public Research University

● 13 Schools, 3 Campuses

● Population: 30,000 (10,000 graduate students)

Graduate EnrollmentManagement Services (GEMS) ● Central enrollment support office in a

decentralized admissions environment

● Interacts with administration, faculty, staff and students

● Staff dedicated to internal communications, coordination of external communications, data analytics and reporting, event coordination, record cleanup and maintenance

● Over 300 post-baccalaureate level degree programs

● Current Graduate Enrollment: ~10,000

Graduate School of Education (GSE)

● Centralized Admissions

● 4 academic departments

● Interactions with students, faculty, staff

● Staff dedicated to application processing, recruitment & student services, data analytics, enrollment management

● Clearinghouse for enrollment reporting and data

● Over 60 programs (Adv. Certs, Master’s, Doctoral)

● 12 Online programs

● Current Enrollment: ~1,500

Learning Objectives:

● Identify critical touch points between acceptance and enrollment

● Utilize internal resources to increase engagement and yield

● Learn how to write engaging email content

● Identify key performance indicators for email communication

Situation Analysis

● No central CRM system within UB● Central graduate application system (homegrown

system for UB)● Manual follow up - very time extensive ● Used Excel files to manage lists● Difficult to keep track of communications

(specifically because of rolling deadlines)

How could we be more timely in messaging?How could we create a communication plan that would be applicable to so many different programs?How could we be more efficient?

Objectives:

1. Reach an acceptance confirmation rate of 95% by Fall 2016

2. Increase accept-to-enroll yield by 4% by Fall 2016

Improve email performanceIncrease the number of people who confirm

acceptanceIncrease yield

Why create an email communications plan?

“Where do you tell people to send important calendar items, documents, or discussions about important topics, either for work or home? Our guess is that ‘Facebook’ wasn’t your answer. It was probably email.”

– Jason Falls, Digital Strategist and Co-author of “The Rebel’s Guide to Email Marketing”

Plan Construction

DemographicsDomestic

vs. International

BehaviorsNot Confirmed

vs. Confirmed

4 Communication PlansDomestic Not Confirmed

Domestic ConfirmedInternational Not Confirmed

International Confirmed

Plan Construction

How do we get accepted students to enroll?

Email Construction

Gather Information

Identify Calls to Action

Choose a Channel

Write Content

Set Timing

& Frequency

Launch & Measure!

Email Construction

Gather Information

Identify Calls to Action

Choose a Channel

Write Content

Set Timing

& Frequency

Launch & Measure!

Confirm Your Acceptance

Register For Classes

Activate your UB Account

Take Our Survey

Email Construction

Gather Information

Identify Calls to Action

Choose a Channel

Write Content

Set Timing

& Frequency

Launch & Measure!

Email is not dead.Of Americans age 12 and over who are active online, 94% cite email as one of their regular activities. (Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project’s Generations 2010 report)

Jay Baer, Social Media Speaker, Author and Coach, says that 58% percent of adult Americans check email first thing in the morning. (Source: MarketingSherpa 2013 Email Summit)

Email generates nearly a 2X return compared to other channels. For every dollar spent on email marketing in 2011, there was a $40.56 return. Compare that to other channels, such as search engine marketing, which is the next closest at $22.44. (Source: Direct Marketing Association and Smart Data Collective)

Email Construction

Key Attributes of Engaging Email

TrustworthyRELEVANT

Gather Information

Identify Calls to Action

Choose a Channel

Write Content

Set Timing

& Frequency

Launch & Measure!

Email Construction

Key Attributes of Engaging Email

TrustworthyRELEVANT

COORDINATED

Strategic

Gather Information

Identify Calls to Action

Choose a Channel

Write Content

Set Timing

& Frequency

Launch & Measure!

Conversational

Familiar header

Clear CTA

Consistent sender and valid address

Examples:

UB Branding

Examples:

UB Branding

Coordinated Communication

Keeping accepted students engaged without being overbearing!

What is the secret formula?

There isn’t one.

Gather Information

Identify Calls to Action

Choose a Channel

Write Content

Set Timing

& Frequency

Launch & Measure!

What do I measure?

What is “good”performance?

• Open Rate• Click Through• Bounce Rate

• Surveys• Email Responses

Gather Information

Identify Calls to Action

Choose a Channel

Write Content

Set Timing

& Frequency

Launch & Measure!

Quantitative

Qualitative

Source: Metric: Industry Average:

Mailchimp Open Rate 23.15%

Click Through 3.11%

Bounce Rate 0.71%

Constant Contact Open Rate 26.30%

Click Through 8.22%

Bounce Rate 8.16%

Silverpop Open Rate 26.2%

Click Through 5.8%

Bounce Rate 3.7%

Hobsons Open Rate 12.55% - 30.90%

Click Through 2.33% - 4.08%

Bounce Rate Unknown

Smart Insights (UK) Open Rate 19.26%

Click Through 2.26%

Bounce Rate Unknown

Inbox Swag “Thank you Sara! You have been most helpful and are great at your job!”

“Sara,

Thank you so much! I was able to log in. What is expected

of me now? I looked at my status and it already said

accepted/admitted. Is there anything additional that needs

to be completed? Again, thank you for your time.”

“Hi,

Thank you so much for working with me through this application process. I have one more questions, now that I am accepted and I have activated all the links. How do I figure out who my advisor is? I would like to register for my Spring 2015 class but I am unsure which would be the best and would like to consult with my advisor.”

Key Performance Indicators

● Acceptance Confirmation Rate● Accept-Enroll Yield● Objective is to increase Confirmation

Rate and we are

QuestionsContact Us:Holly AcitoCoordinator of Recruitment Communications & Admissions Services

Graduate Enrollment Management Serviceshollyaci@buffalo.edu

Sara LangstonAssistant Director for Student Services & Administration

Graduate School of Educationsaracala@buffalo.edu