Complete Guide to Higher Education Email Marketing

The world of higher education is fascinating, full of diverse and demanding audiences ranging from tech-savvy Gen Z students to accomplished faculty members and the ever-proud alums. However, the enrollment game is getting fierce, and recruiting teams are turning to marketers for advice on how to break through the noise. To engage with such a broad spectrum of audiences and improve outreach, institutions have turned to one powerful tool: email marketing.

Building an email list: Your first step to success

Where do you start when you think about email marketing for colleges? We recommend the first step be constructing your email list, so you know who you're communicating to before you begin to develop the email. One way to collect email addresses is a landing page, which can offer valuable content, event registration, or course materials in exchange for a sign-up. Your institution's website is also an excellent resource: use callouts to highlight the benefits of joining your list, create pages with blog posts or course descriptions with a simple sign-up form, and leverage social media channels to encourage followers to sign up.

The power of segmentation: Personalize and engage

Once you have a robust email list, it's time to divide and conquer. Segmenting your email list lets you target specific groups with relevant content, keeping engagement high and helping build stronger relationships. Prospective students might enjoy emails about admission procedures and application tips, current students might prefer updates about campus events and academic deadlines, and alums could be interested in reunion news or ways to give back. Define your segmentation criteria based on your communication goals, since splitting your list the same way for every message may not always be necessary.

It's personal: Customizing emails for higher engagement

Personalization is often shown by using the recipient's name; studies show that email subject lines personalized with a name have as much as 50% higher open rates. But personalization is so much more than that; it's about understanding subscribers' needs, interests, and goals, from dynamic content that changes based on a recipient's profile to triggered emails sent based on specific actions.

Entertain the eyes: Using images and videos

Audiences enjoy visual elements in communications. Images and videos have been found to drive up to 650% more engagement than a simple text-only message. Emails covered in chunky text can be tedious to read, but adding images or videos helps break up the text and makes it more digestible, while also offering glimpses into campus life, showcasing success stories, and highlighting events.

Automation and AI: Taking efficiency to the next level

Technology advancements continue to improve the effectiveness of email marketing. With automation and artificial intelligence, it's now possible to send emails at more optimal times, analyze data for valuable insights, and personalize content with minimal effort. Automation helps you plan and schedule emails to send when they're most likely to be opened, while AI can analyze behavioral data and even help create personalized emails at scale.

Keep testing: The road to continuous improvement

The success of your university email marketing strategy relies on your willingness to monitor and test your campaigns regularly. A/B testing helps determine what works best for your audience, whether that's different subject lines, calls to action, layouts, or send times. Monitoring performance through analytics gives you insight into open, click-through, and conversion rates, guiding you toward better results over time.

Mobile-friendly: A necessity, not an option

In today's modern campus environment, mobile-friendliness isn't just nice to have, it's necessary. Nearly half of all emails are now opened on mobile devices, and this trend continues to grow. If your email doesn't display well on a mobile device, you risk a poor user experience that can lead to lower engagement.

Email design: The secret to increasing engagement

Design plays a crucial role in how your emails are perceived. A well-designed email can capture the recipient's attention, keep them engaged, and guide them toward taking your desired action. Think carefully about how you use layout, typography, color, and visuals, since it all matters for capturing attention and ensuring readability. Industry-specific templates designed for higher education can make this task easier.

Finding the right email builder for higher education

While email design tools are abundant, not all are cut out for the unique demands of higher education email marketing. One large public university, with over 14,500 students and 1,700 faculty and staff, needed a tool that allowed them to establish consistent branding, save resources, and ensure data privacy and security. An agnostic, easy-to-customize email builder let their decentralized teams effortlessly create captivating email designs across departments.