Universities, schools, and colleges have so much information to convey to students that they often overwhelm their inboxes with information. The issue is that not all of the information is a priority to the students, and hence they find very little value in opening emails. Low open rates (if available) and low awareness are telltale signs of a poor email strategy.
Consider these following ideas or a combination. The larger your higher education community is, the harder these might be to implement. Nevertheless, it is possible with the right coordination and agreements across areas. These ideas can be applied to departments or larger university-wide settings. The larger the setting, the more the need for a dedicated staff member to manage these communications. Try being a rebel and use these ideas in your area and check if you’re email open rate improves. Your end goal is to provide an email experience that is optimized for the consumption habits and interests of the reader.
1. Standardize Subject Lines
The goal here is to have a uniform way to write subject lines. For example, you can start with a category word and then specifics. If a student needs to complete a critical task such as FAFSA, then it could look something like this: TASK – Complete FAFSA by xx/xx. Promoting an event could be EVENT – Humanities Dean Roundtable RSVP. This will help students prioritize at a glance and take action when needed.
2. Consolidating Emails
Non-critical communications could be grouped onto one email with a set maximum of information within. Call this an email digest that gets sent on an established frequency. Maybe you can theme it with upcoming events on Monday and student organizations on Tuesday. Find what best fits your needs and stick to it. For example, a daily email should not consolidate more than 10 emails that otherwise would have been sent individually. The goal is to keep the email concise and generate just enough interest so the person can click a link a read all the details on a website, event calendar, or social media.
3. Custom Email Experience
In an ideal world, students would pick which sorts of information and what frequency they’d like to receive it. Most higher education email providers don’t offer this type of solution. There are ways we can provide students to decide what they receive.
- Allow unsubscribing for non-critical or non-transactional communications.
- Curate information for specific interests by offering subscriptions to themed email lists (research news, student highlights, organizations, wellness, events, greek life, etc.)
- Don’t trap information on images. These are not searchable and are not ADA compliant.
Keep in mind…
While some of these ideas require overhauling email systems, start small and focus on small victories. University departments often copy best practices from each other, which is a way to create change at scale.
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