There was a time not so long ago, when the “gold standard” of personalization could be achieved by merging a student’s first name into an email or using variable print data to customize certain elements of a postcard. But students have become accustomed to dynamic, highly personalized marketing experiences.
Today’s prospective students and families do not simply want personalized experiences — they expect them. As marketing becomes more complex, delivering on those expectations is becoming more difficult.
Consumer brands have long been aware that Gen Z, as digital natives who have grown up online, are even more sensitive to the quality of marketing than their parents — and they are more likely to react negatively after an impersonal experience.
For colleges and universities, today’s personalized marketing outreach may include:
- Creating dynamic website forms that pre-fill any student information already on file.
- Customizing website content and landing pages based on a student’s preferences and interests.
- Using geolocation to deliver personalized, location-specific messages.
- Inviting students to events based on their academic or extracurricular interests.
- Triggering automated reminders and follow ups based on funnel actions and admission status.
- Delivering informational content and videos based on the website content students engage with and may wish to learn more about.
Achieving personalized marketing is no small task. It requires:
Centralized marketing and student data to inform triggers, rule sets, and AI-based recommendations.
Highly skilled marketing experts to develop “personalization-ready” assets like emails, landing pages, ads, and other collateral.
Well-defined strategies for acting on that data and driving marketing performance.
Data visualization tools to monitor marketing performance in a dynamic environment, adjusting and optimizing as needed.
For many institutions, creating personalized marketing programs requires new tools, new skills, or new vendor support — but it’s an investment that promises big payoffs in the form of higher engagement rates, higher conversion rates, and higher levels of affinity and loyalty.
More importantly, personalized marketing helps build stronger relationships with prospective students. When students feel that an institution understands their individual needs and interests, they are more likely to engage with that institution and consider it a viable option for their education.
Today’s prospective students and families do not simply want personalized experiences — they expect them.
In an era where students expect customized experiences in nearly every aspect of their lives, higher education institutions must rise to the occasion. Personalized marketing is a powerful tool that can set an institution apart from its competitors, demonstrating a commitment to understanding and meeting the unique needs of each student.
Taken from the new Capture Higher Ed white paper, “The New Rules of Enrollment Marketing: The biggest trends facing higher education enrollment and marketing leaders — and what you can do about them”
