Stop Doing These 5 Things In Your Emails

Facts: It’s becoming harder and harder to get prospective students to open an email, let alone read the entire message and take some kind of action.

If you’re looking to increase engagement it’s essential that you listen to your target audience(s) when they share various do’s and don’ts.

Today I’m going to focus on a handful of things you may need to stop doing before you hit send on your emails. Most of these are simple fixes, but one or two may require a shift in your mindset.

1. Stop sending the majority of your emails (or maybe all of them) from “The Office Of…” When students see that in the from line they say it screams this is a mass message that was just blasted out to thousands of people. Students want and expect some level of personalization. I can also tell you that survey research continues to show that for 20% of students, who an email comes from is the #1 thing that gets them to open any college related message. Always have your emails come from an actual person - it’s even better if the student is familiar with that person (i.e. their admissions counselor).

2. Stop using subject lines that sound like marketing and promotional messages. I just mentioned that 20% of students say who an email comes from is the #1 thing that gets them to open any college related message. Another 27% say the top determining factor is your subject line. “Jeremy, choose <College Name> and apply for scholarships now”, or “Come see <College Name> this summer” won’t resonate with most of Gen Z. If you want a subject line to feel personal utilize words like you or your, make it sound helpful, and/or create some curiosity. Successful examples that I’ve recently created for Top Tier college partners include, “One question for you <Student’s First or Preferred Name>, that’s it”, “What <College Name> students really like about their classes”, and “You will feel supported here”. Also, while using their first or preferred name is definitely a nice touch, be aware that the current trend among colleges and universities is to do that almost every single time. Meaning it’s less impactful when a student scrolls and sees nothing but their first or preferred name in every single subject line.

3. Stop sounding like a robot or AI. You can do that by using more contractions (ex. You’re instead of You are), and by having your tone sound and feel more casual and human. Don’t worry about being perfect, focus more on being authentic and helpful. Yes I just told you it’s okay, for example, to use the occasional run on sentence and be a little wordy.  

4. Stop making your emails so long. Attention spans continue to decrease, which means when you focus on one topic or one specific call to action you actually make it easier for the other person to absorb the information. Just like with texting, they shouldn’t have to scroll most times.  

5. Stop ending with the same language and calls to action that every other college utilizes. It may sound helpful to say “Reach out if you have any questions”, but students continue to say that a statement like that is way too open ended – questions about what? Also, instead of repeatedly pushing students to visit, apply, or submit their deposit, replace some of those with a single direct question for the reader that’s either related to the content of your email, or related to the stage they’re at in their college search. Focus on learning more about the student’s (or parent’s) feelings on a subject, or about their wants, needs, goals, and concerns.

   
   

If you found this article helpful, go ahead and forward it to someone else on your campus who could also benefit from reading it. You can also encourage them to sign up for my weekly newsletter.