While the wheels of the student recruitment campaigns are turning, the number of e-mail addresses collected is often disappointing.
Below, I’m sharing four reasons that often at the root of this lack of results.
Reason 1: non-mobile friendly website
Many University websites don’t display well on mobile phones. Sometimes it’s an inconvenience. In extreme cases, it’s not even possible to submit an enquiry while viewing the site on mobile.
Especially if you are running campaigns on Facebook and Instagram, you can expect much of the generated traffic to viewing the website from their mobile. So roll out the carpet for these mobile visitors. They are just as serious a prospect as people who visit the website from their desktop.
Have a quick look at your site with your mobile phone. Is it hard to navigate or enquire?
Reason 2: No compelling reason to enquire
I don’t give out my e-mail address unless I get something in return. I trust it’s the same for you. So think. Why would students leave their e-mail addresses on your website? You can easily double the enquiry rate by offering something in return.
And it doesn’t have to be anything major. Here are some examples of what you could offer:
- A free drink or meal at the next event (no need to get fancy, a free sandwich or soup will probably do)
- Access to a webinar, video or report
- Notifications when new grants are open for application
- Early invitations for events
Many schools already give incentives to their list members. But are these benefits spelled out at the point where prospective students are asked to opt in? Be very explicit about what’s in it for them.
Reason 3: It’s too hard to enquire
Overly complex enquiry forms can be a massive barrier to collecting e-mail addresses.
It’s tempting to ask many questions, such as: “What course are you interested in?”, “How did you find out about us?” and so on.
The problem with this is that each extra form field makes more people lose interest. You will never get to know these people, because they didn’t complete the form.
So make the enquiry form as simple as possible by sticking to the essentials: Name, e-mail, optional phone number.
There are ways to collect more information in the background, or at a later stage, when the prospect has warmed up. Use them, or risk not getting an enquiry in the first place.
Reason 4: Uncertainty about how the data will be used
Are you providing enough reassurance for prospective students to make a leap of faith and give you their e-mail address?
A simple statement below the enquiry form may be all that is needed to get 20% more enquiries.
For example:
We will only send you relevant updates about [school / course]. You can opt out of these updates at any time. We hate spam as much as you do and will never share your details with third parties.
In short
For prospective students, choosing their college and degree is a multi step process. That’s why it’s important for Universities to be in touch through e-mail starting from an early stage.
Yet many schools miss out on getting up to four times more enquiries from their existing campaigns due to relatively minor issues with their enquiry forms, as outlined above.
If one or more of these reasons apply to your school, fixing the issues is going to go a long way in capturing a large chunk of enquiries you’re missing out on today.