enrollment
Prospective students receiving more e-mails from colleges
Above, new findings from Noel-Levitz’s forthcoming 2012 E-Recruiting Practices Report (to be released later this month) show that the frequency with which institutions send out bulk/blast e-mails to prospective students is generally increasing, based on a national poll of college and university admissions officials conducted this spring.
A typical prospective student now receives 18 bulk/blast e-mails from a four-year private institution, 12 from a four-year public institution, and four from a two-year public institution, based on the median response from each sector, though significant variability was again evident at the 25th and 75th percentiles, as the report will show.
Cell phone contacts increase, too. The report also shows that the popularity of cell-phone contact has continued its upward rise, as shown in the table below.
*Prior to 2012, this question read: “Do you collect cell/mobile numbers from your applicants?”
The sector that increased its collection of prospective students’ cell phone numbers most dramatically between 2010 and 2012 was two-year public institutions, climbing to 97 percent from 73 percent.
In addition, the report includes many comparisons between institutional practices and the preferences of prospective students using findings from a parallel survey this spring of 2,000 college-bound, high-school students. For example, the new findings show that while less than half of the colleges and universities polled use text messaging to communicate with prospective students, more than half of prospective students would be willing to allow a college or university admissions representative to send them text messages.
Watch for the complete report to be posted by the end of June at www.noellevitz.com. To receive a copy of the report by e-mail, visit www.noellevitz.com/Subscribe (check the box for “new trend reports and white papers sent by e-mail”).