Maybe many people still think that email marketing is only for sales team members and marketers. This is not the case at all, email marketing is currently the cornerstone of all digital communication and students are no exception to this rule.
Email marketing to college students involves crafting tailored and engaging messages to reach this specific demographic. Given their heavy reliance on digital communication, college students are receptive to email marketing campaigns that offer value, such as discounts, promotions, or relevant content.
In fact, college students need email marketing even more to open their way to reach universities for study programs that have the best facilities including campus, funding, and teaching staff. It is very important to have the correct e-mail address of professors of different universities for direct negotiations about funding and it can lead to higher engagement, higher application rates, and a more vibrant campus community. In this blog, I want to talk about the importance of email marketing to college students and introduce you to an excellent tool for this.
The Importance of Email Marketing in Higher Education
In fact, email marketing is very important for both students and colleges and post-secondary education institutions. In this way, students can have better and more effective interactions with university professors, and institutions and universities can reach students more easily and have more effective engagement with them. Unlike other communication channels of universities, such as websites, pages and accounts of virtual networks, and even advertisements of universities, email marketing provides the possibility of direct, personalized, and convenient communication with students.
Universities can inform the right people through email marketing about the latest updates of the university, including new funds, study programs, research programs, etc., and of course, develop their communication with them.
Understanding College Students as Email Recipients
As a student, it may have happened to you that you open your e-mail and see lots of new e-mails in the inbox. To be honest, when I was a student, I would only glance at them to make sure I didn’t receive any important emails and delete the rest. In fact, students are bombarded with different emails on a daily basis, that is why they are very selective about the content they are going to pay attention to. That’s why in order to send an email to this group, you must personalize it.
Email content is not supposed to be completely official, it should be relevant, engaging, and valuable to break through the clutter of their inboxes. In addition, you are not going to send only attractive content to college students, but you should use it to strengthen your relationship with them.
Crafting Effective Email Marketing Campaigns
The first thing that determines whether the student or professor as the recipient of the email will open it or ignore it is the subject line. The subject line should be short, attractive, and, of course, written in a way that fits the interests of the recipient of the email. This professional subject line can play a significant role in increasing its opening rate, which is one of the important points of email marketing.
In the next step, we have to consider whether the student or professor or any other person opens it as the recipient of the email, does the content of the email show what you promised in the subject line? It should be noted that in campaigns that are related to education, the content should be valuable, such as new programs, scholarship opportunities, or campus events. You should also note that students are bored of reading long texts, their books are long enough, so you should write concisely and usefully, try to make the email visually attractive, and of course, don’t forget the CTA. A good call to action can tell your audience what to do next.
Measuring the Success of Email Marketing Efforts
Well, you launched a campaign and now you want to measure its success, how should you do this? There are many metrics for this. such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. These metrics tell you how engaging the emails you sent were, whether the recipients interacted with the content, and what strategies you can use to improve the results. A/B testing different email elements, such as the subject line, content, and CTA, can also give you some data to work better with your audience.
Best Practices in Email Marketing to College Students
As we have said so far, email marketing is no longer only for businesses and has entered the higher education sector. However, this can be challenging due to the target audience structure of higher education email marketing. That’s why I want to tell you eight golden tips to make this path easier.
1. Segment and automate your emails:
Customer segmentation marketing strategy can help you a lot in this section. Segment the audience and send them targeted messages based on their interests.
2. Add personalization:
Be sure to personalize the emails. This personalization can include the recipient’s name and preferences.
3. Be smart with your From field:
It may be hard to believe, but the sender’s field can have a great impact on the opening rate of emails. Clever use of group names or prominent figures can definitely increase the chances of your emails being opened and read by your target audience.
4. Align email strategies across multiple departments:
Talking about various divisions, it is crucial to establish coherence among all departments within your university—a task that can prove challenging. However, harmonizing email marketing strategies, at a minimum, will facilitate clear, efficient, and unambiguous communication with prospective students, current students, and alumni. Pay particular attention to your email schedules. Ensure that you do not bombard a single contact with three separate emails within three consecutive days.
Consistency in branding and messaging is equally vital. Your messages will resonate more with the audience and have a greater impact if your branding aligns with their expectations.
5. Design your emails for all devices:
be careful, students are mostly of the Gen Z or millennial generation, maybe it is easier to focus on campaigns that are focused on desktops, but smartphones are part of students’ bodies and you cannot use this device Ignore the On average, Gen Zers interact with five screens per day, while millennials typically engage with three screens. These screens include desktop computers, televisions, smartphones, laptops, and tablets, each with a specific purpose for students. So please design your e-mail for other devices as well.
CUFinder Academic Engine
Another port, another world. This engine was so important for CUFinder that we separated it from the enrichment and prospecting engine. You can now subscribe to search for academic leads specially. We ask if you are a student or a professor since the data and services you need can differ in each role. When you sign into your account as a student, you see two different engines: “Professor Search” and “University Search.”
In the “Professor Search” section, you can use different filters to get very detailed contact information and personal data of that professor in your mind. The filters are:
- Name
- University
- Country
- Continent
- Research Interest
- HR Index
- Email Status
These filters help you find exactly the professor you are looking for to talk about your research, cooperation, funding for higher education, etc.
The other section, “University Search,” also uses different filters.
- University
- Country
- Continent
- Country Rank
- World Rank
When you type a university name, you can see different data on that very university, like the university, global information, university features, university membership, degree level, and professors (with their position in the university). You can see if the university has funds or not. If you are allowed to work outside or not, if it has campus and so many other data just by one click. CUFinder can be your best chance to get a perfect higher education, so what are you waiting for?
Conclusion
Email marketing to college students is a dynamic and powerful strategy for higher education institutions. By understanding this demographic’s unique characteristics and preferences, colleges and universities can craft email marketing campaigns that resonate, engage, and inspire.
Through personalized content, compelling subject lines, and data-driven strategies, email marketing remains an effective tool in the higher education marketing toolkit. As digital communication continues to evolve, so will the stratepractices of email marketing, offering endless possibilities for connecting with and captivating the next generation of students.
Related Questions
How do you write an email to a university student?
Your email subject line should be very attractive, in the first line you should greet them politely “Dear [Name]”. Make sure that the content of the email should be brief and to the point. Use short paragraphs, call to action, and don’t forget visual content.
What kind of marketing works best with students on college campuses?
The marketing that has the most impact on this segment includes digital and social media campaigns, participation of influencers and interactive challenges of events on campuses, student discounts, visual campaigns, etc. can be the best type of marketing with students on college campuses. be
What is the best day to send emails to college students?
As with LinkedIn campaigns, the middle of the week, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, is the best time to send emails to students. Avoid Mondays and weekends. Mid-morning or early afternoon is ideal.
How is email useful to students?
I can give many reasons why email is vital for students. Email can be their communication bridge with universities and, of course, different professors. Students can use e-mail to be informed about the latest updates and university information, and it also provides them with the possibility of direct communication with professors.