How to Increase the Effectiveness of Direct Mail for Higher Education

College enrollments have been declining over the past 10+ years – and the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated these declines. In 2022, 1.2 million fewer young adults (ages 18 to 24) were enrolled in college. That means many colleges and universities across the country are facing fewer applicants interested in attending and lower student enrollment numbers.

Higher education institutions are under pressure to boost enrollment. Historically, the on-campus visit is a key driver of a prospect’s interest in attending a given college. During the pandemic, however, some schools created an “online campus visit” designed to get students and parents interested in their institutions – without needing to visit the campus in person. In other words, a college or university’s website became a pivotal part of the recruitment process.

An innovative, omnichannel approach

“CampaignMail2.0 can help higher education institutions increase enrollment by pairing online engagement with the direct mail channel,” said Jason Martin, vice president of business development for The YGS Group. “It’s hard to overstate just how much this can supercharge an organization’s direct mail marketing.”

Here is how that looked for one university in the Midwest that recently deployed CampaignMail2.0 to create an omnichannel solution:

• The university initiated a 30-day integrated direct mail marketing campaign that incorporated two mailings
• The direct mail campaign also used seven CampaignMail2.0 technologies: SocialMatch, Mail Tracking, Informed Delivery®, Call Tracking, Online Follow-Up Social Media Follow-Up, and LEADMatch.
• With LEADMatch technology, the university was able to identify visitors’ postal addresses, enabling them to engage interested potential students via direct mail retargeting.
• The university’s admissions department called the potential students who received a mailing and went to the website, but did not schedule a visit.
• Thanks to LEADMatch, the university had a whopping 25 percent response rate from direct mail retargeting

Overall, with this omnichannel approach using CampaignMail2.0, this university:

• Increased their web traffic by 20 percent
• Saw the number of applications received increase by 12 percent
• Boosted the number of enrollment deposits made by students planning to attend by 53 percent

At YGS Print Solutions, a proud company of The YGS Group, we’re experts at CampaignMail2.0. Contact YGS Print Solutions for more information about putting this powerful tool to work for your organization.