As everyone looks to maximize marketing efforts and get more clarity about ROI per channel, it’s becoming painfully clear that a lead is only as good as the subsequent follow-up.
In order to assess how this plays out for business school recruitment, I signed up for the QS World MBA Tour stop in NYC on January 22. I put in an honest profile, which would have shown me as a pretty well-qualified candidate (albeit on the older side!), expressing my interests as an entrepreneur and marketing professional.
When I asked them what the “playing field” looked like, Zoya Zaitseva and Aled Owens from QS said that all exhibiting schools have access to the QS MBA Outreach tool as soon as they register for the fair. This tool includes event demographics, trend data, and candidate information. Exhibiting schools are allowed to get in touch with the candidates up to two times, starting two weeks before the fair – and are allowed to send multiple versions of each email to different segments.
What follows below is not scientific research, and my observations will be based on both my feelings as a prospect, as well as my knowledge of what we’ve seen work and not work so well for our clients and colleagues.
What did I like?
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Hult Business School did an incredible job of making their messages brief, personal, and mobile-friendly.
>> Ideas to borrow: Use larger fonts and less text, add images of the representatives, focus on just one or two key messages, and one or two calls to action.
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Boston University knows how to write like a human! Little phrases like “Let’s stay in touch”, “Don’t be shy”, or “What lies ahead will astound you” made me feel like these were real people who actually wanted to help.
>> Ideas to borrow: Avoid overly formal language and pretend you’re writing for one person who is both excited and nervous about the next step in their life.
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IESE, IE, and NYIT all invited me to additional events in NYC, which hopefully means that they know that this is where I live and work.
>> Ideas to borrow: One of the easiest ways to segment is by geography, and inviting candidates to local open houses or events is a basic recruitment practice that’s not always followed.
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London Business School sent lovely embedded videos in their short, attractive emails.
>> Ideas to borrow: It’s so difficult to resist clicking on a “play” button when I see it right there in the email, the image for the video is attractive, and there’s a great quote right below it, piquing my interest.
Where did I see room for improvement?
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Almost no one sent anything related to my actual profile I completed out when registering.
>> Solution: I know it’s tough to customize and segment emails, but for the prospect, it doesn’t feel great when you take the time to share that you love marketing but that fact is never acknowledged. If a LOT of programs around the world sound the same (and they do), I need to know why your program is right for me. Me, Megan. Not me, “anonymous candidate”.
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The school where I completed my master’s degree didn’t acknowledge me as an alum.
>> Solution: It’s almost impossible to tie data across entire institutions, but the more you can, the better able you’ll be to treat your alumni as special guests at fairs.
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I only received around 20 emails in total since January, and fewer than 5 programs wrote me more than once.
>> Solution: Emails for programs that match my profile aren’t spam – they’re more than welcome in my inbox! Sending emails before and after – and for long after – a fair is critical to the success of this effort. (The one caveat here is that all the schools may been carefully filtering me out based on my profile, which would also be totally fine, but I suspect that’s not the case.)
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So many of the emails I did receive could’ve been written about any program at any business school. I found myself often bored and confused!
>> Solution: If I really need to decide between various offerings – or even whose booth I want to stop by at – writing things about your “rich mix of elective offerings”, “longstanding reputation for quality”, or “hands-on, tech-savvy” programs will not help you stand out. Keeping your messages short and super focused automatically helps trim the fat and avoids overwhelming the reader.
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The editor in me cried at some of the odd errors in formatting and typos.
>> Solution: It’s great to write like a human – and humans make mistakes. But make sure that someone (who is good at proofreading) checks such messaging so as to avoid weird errors that may make your institution seem less professional and desirable.
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Many emails started at the end. Let’s get to know each other before you ask me to apply!
>> Solution: If you’re getting a student at the end of the “sales cycle”, they are happy to have a direct link to apply. If a student is attending a fair in January and your deadline isn’t for months, they are probably still in the exploratory phase. Focus your messages during this phase on convincing and connecting.
I know that the relatively low volume of emails and lack of personalization is probably directly tied to how busy all of the schools were and are. Because all of the initial communications came via the QS tool, it’s difficult to say how different this would have looked if I’d made it to the fair and signed up at specific booths (it was snowed out!).
The truth is that you can stand out in the crowd with your emails – and signing up yourself as a prospect programs that are at least somewhat interesting to you personally is a great way to get a sense of how these communications feel to your prospects, and show you how your competitors are talking to theirs!
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About the author:
Megan Brenn-White is Founder of The Brenn-White Group, a NYC-based agency providing branding, marketing, staff training, and editorial services that help higher ed organizations connect more effectively with international audiences. Megan has served as Deputy Director of DAAD New York (responsible for marketing the German higher education system in North America) and Director for International Partnerships at Parsons School of Design, as well as holding senior positions in global marketing and content at Bolt.com, iAgora.com, and E*TRADE. She has presented and published widely on topics related to international higher education marketing, branding, and internationalization.