It’s time to rethink how your university’s enrollment team is utilizing student search next fall in the wake of COVID-19.

As a higher ed community, we are constantly asked to adjust to a rapidly changing landscape and settle into a new normal. Through all of the initial chaos and change brought about by COVID-19, some silver linings have emerged. In a very short period of time, admission offices across the US shifted tours, events, and information sessions online. As we adjust our focus to identifying right-fit prospective students, a fall without standardized tests and with limited travel brings with it an opportunity to re-think business as usual.

Institutions that have historically relied on Search as a central part of their enrollment strategies must now diversify lead sources to avoid suffering from a decrease in available names caused by canceled test dates and a surge in test-optional admissions policies. Additionally, refocus on intentional, budget-friendly nurture campaigns that generate peer-to-peer word of mouth referrals and deepen connections between students and institutions.  RaiseMe can supplement search efforts with sustainable, student-centered growth of your prospect pool.

RaiseMe for Supplemental & Dynamic Leads

RaiseMe can support your Search efforts now and in the future as a steady, self-renewing source to supplement standardized test names. RaiseMe students indicate interest in your institution by following you on the platform. RaiseMe college partners can leverage their active micro-scholarship programs to engage student followers.

Unlike the static snapshot provided by traditional search names, RaiseMe student followers update their academic interests and contact data, providing a dynamic source of information for you that changes as students’ interests, achievements, and activities evolve.

• Our research shows that in a given month, between 1,000 and 2,000 students update their street addresses, and thousands of students update their emails.
• Updated data yields more successful engagement email campaigns for colleges, and ensures that your valuable print materials are actually received.  

Drive Peer Referrals with RaiseMe

On RaiseMe, students receive encouraging nudges as pop-ups and push notifications when they add college-ready achievements (like registering for an honors class) to their profiles. Similarly, students receive nudges — and micro-scholarships from most of our partners — when they refer a friend. Educators have free access to our platform where they can see the achievements students have entered and personally congratulate them on their hard work. All of that creates an exciting experience for high schoolers who are eager to share with their friends the colleges they’ve discovered (and the path to affording a post-secondary education).

RaiseMe Enables Personalized Communication

With access to contact information, intended major, extracurricular activities, GPA, test scores, and more, college partners can identify and engage high school students earlier in high school and in a personal and constructive way. The neutrality of RaiseMe’s platform appeals to marketing-savvy Gen Z students who demand authenticity and expect institutions to learn about them before sending information. Students want to know that they represent your institution’s ideal student in some way.

RaiseMe as a Strong Call to Action

RaiseMe can be used as a call to action in your campaigns with search vendors or in non-responder campaigns from previously run search phases. With a call-to-action around scholarships and aid, you can address what students are most concerned about: paying for college.

Other than a college’s website, results from financial aid or scholarship calculators were the most influential information resources for prospective students. But what if students do not find your scholarship calculator or do not realize that they will not pay the sticker price? That’s where RaiseMe comes in: we help students understand very early in high school that scholarships are available and we direct prospective students to your website and calculators.

RaiseMe enables you to be proactive about addressing misconceptions about the cost of college. Messaging centered around RaiseMe micro-scholarships can be an effective way to reduce anxiety about the cost of higher education and allow students to continuously engage with your institution.

Questions?

Contact RaiseMe’s partnerships team to speak with someone about how your team can reimagine student search this fall.