How to Prompt and Motivate Small Actions by Your Prospective Students

Several of your prospective students may not be ready to inquire or engage with a counselor, but they may be willing to tell you what areas of study they are considering for a major. How do you nudge them into taking a small action? And how should you reward them for doing so?

This challenge covered in Capture Higher Ed’s recent white paper, 6 Essential Practices for Maximizing Inquiry Generation. Here are a few ways you can encourage your potential future students to take the next step.

  • Dynamic Content: Deliver automated, personalized, 1:1 messaging — when students want it — that address interests learned from past visits. Example: Use toasters and popovers to ask for small actions like, “Would you like to receive a viewbook?” or “Register for a virtual tour!”Students
  • Triggered Emails: Send behavior-based, one-off emails that are sent automatically based on a visitor’s action on and interaction with your website and other digital assets. Example: If a senior non-applicant visits more than two Admissions pages, you could send them a triggered email with more information on the admissions process and ask them to apply.
  • Digital Advertising: Drive inquiries with a complete digital marketing plan that includes search engine marketing; digital display marketing; customized social media advertising; social, web, and email retargeting; interactive and video ads; and focused landing pages that allow you to influence and encourage prospective students to take important next steps.
  • Progressive Identification (PID) Forms: These interactive and dynamic forms not only help identify prospective students they are also great for simple prompts. Example: Serve PID forms with questions like, “Would you prefer an email or a call as a form a receiving info from us?” Or ask, “Can we text you? If yes, what’s the best # for us to reach you?”
New Capture White Paper

As you embark on the new enrollment cycle, generating maximum inquiries from high-intent prospective students is paramount to meeting your goals. Capture’s new white paper, 6 Essential Practices for Maximizing Inquiry Generation, offers strategies and advice that will give your inquiry generation campaigns, efforts, and outreach a much-needed boost in this competitive recruitment climate. Download the white paper here.

By Kevin Hyde, Senior Content Manager, Capture Higher Ed