Today’s admissions teams face several challenges, including a shrinking pool of traditional applicants known as the enrollment cliff. As fewer and fewer high school graduates pursue higher education immediately after high school, it’s crucial to engage the ones who do, using platforms and strategies that resonate most with their demographic.
Gen Z lives on their phones, making texting a more preferred channel than email. SMS messages are more accessible, more personal, and more likely for students to actually open and read, with unbeatable 98% open rates.
However, the content and timing of your recruitment text messages will make a major difference in their success. Let’s explore how to effectively leverage SMS for higher ed recruitment.
Develop an SMS outreach strategy
First, you need a strategy for how you’ll use SMS to boost enrollment. What kind of messages will you send to prospective students? Which recruitment efforts could SMS support, and how will you fit them into your existing communications?
Follow these steps to build a solid foundation for your mobile engagement strategy:
- Determine your communication goals. Identify whether the priority is increasing campus tour registrations, boosting application completion rates, or simply answering prospects’ questions quickly. Set specific targets based on your biggest recruitment challenges and goals.
- Outline ways to collect opt-ins. Prospective students must explicitly consent to receive texts from your university to comply with texting regulations and maintain their trust. Consider how and where you can secure opt-ins, such as a pop-up on your website, checkboxes on event registration forms, social media posts with keywords they can text in, and QR code flyers.
- Segment your audience. Once prospects opt in, divide your list based on factors like academic interests, location, or stage in the application process to ensure every message is highly relevant to the recipient. For instance, you might send different deadline reminders to in-state and out-of-state applicants.
- Draft initial recruitment messages. Considering your core goals for SMS, start writing short text message templates that you can personalize for common communications like application deadline alerts. Make sure every message identifies your university as the sender and includes an opt-out option like “STOP2END” or “Text STOP to opt out.”
Think about how texts will interact with your other outreach channels, too. For instance, you might pair information-heavy emails with short text reminders, or use social media posts to promote opting in to SMS.
Integrate texting software with your CRM
Once you’ve considered your strategy, choose an application-to-person (A2P) texting platform to automate personalized texts at scale. Dedicated SMS software makes it easy to send both bulk texts and one-to-one messages, with robust automation features that increase personalization and streamline outreach.
However, this platform must integrate with your CRM to leverage your existing data and get a full, centralized view of the student journey.
When your SMS software and CRM are connected, every outbound text and inbound reply gets logged directly in prospective student profiles. This way, any admissions team member with access can see past conversations and use that context to deepen relationships. You can set up automations that trigger personalized texts when prospects register for events or download brochures, all while maintaining data privacy.
Keep in mind that while many SMS solutions say that they integrate with top CRMs, you’ll get more tailored features and support if you choose software that’s built specifically for your database platform. For instance, universities working out of Salesforce should prioritize higher education texting apps uniquely designed for Salesforce.
Send automated text surveys to gather insights
Don’t limit your texting strategy to outbound messages—two-way SMS conversations are great ways to collect valuable information from prospects that you can use to better support their application and enrollment processes. While prospective students can respond to any of your messages with questions, you’re more likely to get responses with quick, automated surveys.
Mogli’s SMS automation guide explains that you can typically create two types of text surveys:
- Linear surveys send a set string of the same questions in the same order each time. You might use these surveys for simple asks, like “How did you hear about our school?” and “What’s your top priority when selecting a college?”
- Branching surveys use automated logic to send the most relevant follow-up questions based on each person’s answers. This allows you to get more specific details and connect students with the right resources via links to your university’s website.
You can collect all kinds of useful data from these surveys. For instance, you can ask about intended majors, housing preferences, or extracurricular interests to better tailor future outreach. Or, automatically text short surveys after campus visits and virtual info sessions.
No matter what, your software should automatically log response data in individual student profiles, giving you the full picture of each prospect and their unique interests.
Personalize communication for diverse student groups
Just like students expect personalized learning experiences, applicants expect your communications to fit their unique needs, backgrounds, and interests. Make sure your admissions texts can adapt to a wide variety of student groups, especially non-traditional candidates.
Create tailored recruitment messages for specific segments like:
- High school seniors: These messages might focus on campus culture, dorm life, and foundational academic advising to tap into their excitement about college and ease their transitions from high school.
- Adult learners: Adjust the timing, tone, and content of texts to accommodate working professionals who are interested in returning to school or seeking continuing education. Highlight your school’s flexibility and career development resources for these prospects.
- Transfer students: Send specific, targeted information regarding credit transfer evaluations and specialized orientation sessions. Be mindful of different application timelines and connect them with relevant advisors sooner rather than later.
These personalized messages ensure that every applicant feels understood and valued by your institution. To make communications even more relevant, assign dedicated admissions counselors to monitor replies from specific student segments so conversations remain consistent. Building a recognizable, one-on-one rapport with a single staff member can significantly increase an applicant’s likelihood of enrolling.
With these tips, you can create a well-planned text messaging strategy that cuts through the noise and engages Gen Z prospects. As you get started, test different send times and message formats to discover what gets the highest response rates. Then, refine your approach based on performance data to ensure your recruitment communications stay as relevant and compelling as possible.
