Increase Student Signups With Faster Call And Text Follow Up

Summary

Summary:

• With college enrollment down 6.5%, the window to engage a prospective student is just 5 minutes before your chances of connecting drop dramatically.

• Text messaging is the most effective outreach channel with a 98% open rate, far surpassing email's 22% effectiveness.

• To succeed, admissions teams must leverage CRM data for personalization, call students at strategic times, and offer a frictionless appointment scheduling process.

• AI-powered tools like Havana automate instant, multi-channel follow-up and appointment scheduling, ensuring no lead is ever lost.

You've spent months developing the perfect marketing campaign to attract prospective students. Your website looks amazing, your program offerings are competitive, and your ad spend is driving a steady stream of inquiries. But when a hot lead comes in at 2 PM on a Tuesday, it sits untouched in a shared inbox until Thursday morning—by which time that excited prospective student has already committed to your competitor.

Sounds familiar? You're not alone. In today's competitive higher education landscape, where enrollment has dropped by 6.5% overall, slow follow-up processes are silently killing your recruitment efforts.

The New Reality of Student Recruitment: Why Speed and Channel Matter

The harsh truth: you have minutes, not days, to capture a prospective student's interest. According to research from Higher Education Marketing, the magic window for follow-up is just 5 minutes. After that, your chances of connecting with that prospect drop dramatically.

Why does speed matter so much? Today's students are digital natives who expect instant gratification. They're also navigating a complex decision-making process with multiple schools competing for their attention.

The demographics of higher education are also shifting rapidly:

• A projected 3.1% fewer high school graduates by 2030 means a smaller traditional applicant pool (HigherEdDive)

• 37% of undergraduates are over 25, highlighting the rise of non-traditional students with different needs and communication preferences (Modern Campus)

• 59% of college students are women, indicating a need to understand and address declining male enrollment (Georgetown University)

These changing demographics demand a more sophisticated, rapid-response approach to student recruitment. And when it comes to communication channels, text messaging has emerged as the clear winner:

• Text messages have a nearly 98% open rate, compared to just 22% for emails.

• 95% of text messages are read within the first 3 minutes of being received.

This data makes it clear: if you're not using text messaging as part of your follow-up strategy, you're missing a massive opportunity to connect with prospective students where they're most receptive.

Actionable Strategies for High-Impact Phone Follow-Up

While texting is powerful, don't underestimate the impact of a well-executed phone call. Here's how to make your calls count:

1. Use a CRM Platform

Manual tracking of prospective students is a recipe for disaster. As one professor noted on Reddit, students were even "editing the doc to take appointments from each other, or to just add appointment times that they'd like" when using shared spreadsheets for scheduling (Reddit Source).

A proper CRM system allows you to:

• Track every interaction with prospects

• Set reminders for follow-up calls

• Create templated responses that can be quickly personalized

• Analyze which follow-up strategies are most effective

While a CRM is essential for organization, an AI-powered recruitment tool like Havana can supercharge your efforts by automating the outreach and follow-up process entirely, ensuring no lead is left behind.

2. Call Often & at the Right Times

Follow-up isn't a one-and-done proposition. Higher Education Marketing recommends calling potential students multiple times a day for several days. Be strategic about timing:

• Consider time zones when calling international students

• Be aware of cultural differences (calling late may be acceptable in Brazil but intrusive in the Netherlands)

• Track when you get the best response rates and adjust accordingly

3. Follow Up in the Student's Native Language

For international recruitment, this tip is golden. Having staff who can communicate in the prospect's native language creates instant rapport and demonstrates your institution's commitment to diversity and inclusion. For teams that lack multilingual staff, AI assistants like Havana can engage students in over 20 languages with a natural, human-like voice, overcoming language barriers instantly.

Research from MoveHub shows that language proficiency varies widely by region. Training your team to at least greet students in their native language can make a powerful first impression.

4. Be Informed & Direct

When you call, have the student's information at your fingertips:

• Their initial query

• Programs they've expressed interest in

• Any previous interactions

• Notes on their specific concerns or questions

Keep the call focused and concise, and always follow up with an email summarizing your conversation. This multi-channel approach reinforces your message and gives students a reference point.

5. Make the Call About the Student

Personalization is key. Use the student's name, reference specific details from their inquiry, and focus on how your institution can help them achieve their goals—not just on selling your programs.

Provide your direct contact information so they can reach you easily with follow-up questions. This creates a sense of personal connection that mass emails can never achieve.

Mastering Text Message (SMS) Nurturing for Modern Students

Text messaging shouldn't be treated as just another broadcast channel. According to Ellison Ellery, effective SMS outreach requires a conversational mindset, not a campaign mentality.

Research published in ScienceDirect confirms what many admissions professionals have suspected: generic text advising often fails, but personalized messaging can significantly impact college enrollment behaviors. The study's key recommendations for effective text advising include:

1. Collaborate with local entities to provide outreach from trusted individuals

2. Align messages with existing college-going supports

3. Use student-level data to customize messages for better engagement and relevance

Here are high-impact content ideas for your text message strategy:

• Short video introductions from faculty or staff members

• Notifications about upcoming campus activities, webinars, or virtual tours

• Critical reminders for application deadlines and financial aid opportunities

• Links to student success stories and testimonials

• Value propositions that highlight your institution's unique strengths

Remember that texting should be a two-way conversation. Train your admissions staff to respond quickly to incoming messages, and make sure they have the resources to answer common questions or schedule appointments on the spot.

From Follow-Up to Sign-Up: Creating a Frictionless Scheduling Experience

Even the most effective follow-up call or text will fail if the next step—scheduling a meeting—is too complicated. This is where many institutions drop the ball.

In a popular Reddit thread, professors and administrators shared their frustrations with manual scheduling systems. One user noted that "students editing the doc to take appointments from each other" was a common problem with shared spreadsheets (Reddit Source).

The solution? An integrated system that combines communication with scheduling, creating a seamless experience from first contact to a booked meeting.

Integrated AI Assistants: The All-in-One Solution

The most powerful approach is to use a tool that doesn't just schedule but also handles the outreach that leads to the appointment. AI-powered student recruitment tools like Havana automate the entire follow-up process via call, text, and email.

When a student expresses interest, Havana's AI can qualify them, answer their initial questions, and then automatically offer a scheduling link to book a meeting directly on an advisor's calendar. This eliminates the manual back-and-forth and captures student intent at its peak.

Standalone Scheduling Tools

For teams not yet ready for a fully automated solution, standalone scheduling tools can still reduce friction. Popular options like Calendly, Google Calendar Appointments, and Appointlet allow you to share a link where students can book available slots. While effective for scheduling, they don't solve the initial challenge of rapid, multi-touch follow-up.

LMS Integration

If your institution uses Moodle or Canvas, check their built-in schedulers for coordinating with currently enrolled students. As one professor advised, "If you're talking about office hours or other appointments for a particular class, Moodle and Canvas both have built-in schedulers."

The ultimate goal is to create a workflow where a prospective student receives a text message with a direct scheduling link: "Great to hear you're interested in our engineering program! You can book a 15-minute chat with an advisor here: [Scheduling Link]."

The Path Forward: Speed, Personalization, and Seamless Process

In today's competitive higher education landscape, the institutions that thrive will be those that adapt to new student expectations and communication preferences. The formula for success is clear:

1. Respond quickly: Aim for that crucial 5-minute window whenever possible

2. Personalize every interaction: Use your CRM data to make messages relevant

3. Leverage text messaging: Meet students on their preferred communication channel

4. Eliminate scheduling friction: Make it easy to move from interest to action

By implementing faster call and text follow-up strategies with seamless scheduling integration, you can significantly increase your student signups and gain an edge in the increasingly competitive higher education marketplace.

The technology and tactics are available. The question is: Will your institution be among the first to fully embrace them, or will you watch as more agile competitors capture the attention—and enrollment—of your prospective students?

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is fast follow-up so important in student recruitment?

Fast follow-up is crucial because the window to capture a prospective student's interest is extremely short—often just five minutes. After this brief period, the likelihood of connecting with the prospect drops significantly. Today's students are digital natives who expect immediate responses and are often considering multiple institutions simultaneously. Slow responses can result in losing that student to a competitor who was quicker to engage.

What is the most effective channel to contact prospective students?

Text messaging (SMS) is the most effective channel for reaching prospective students, boasting a nearly 98% open rate. While email open rates linger around 22%, texts are read almost immediately, with 95% being read within three minutes. However, a multi-channel approach that combines texting with well-timed, personal phone calls is the most powerful strategy to build rapport and guide students through the application process.

How can our institution manage a high volume of student inquiries efficiently?

The most efficient way to manage a high volume of inquiries is by using a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform or an AI-powered recruitment tool. Manual methods like spreadsheets are prone to errors and delays. A CRM helps track interactions, set reminders, and personalize communication. For maximum efficiency, an AI-powered tool like Havana can automate the entire outreach and follow-up process, ensuring every lead is contacted promptly and no prospect falls through the cracks.

How can we make scheduling meetings with advisors easier for students?

You can make scheduling easier by using integrated scheduling tools that allow students to book a meeting with a single click, directly from a text message or email. Avoid manual back-and-forth scheduling. Tools like Calendly or integrated AI assistants like Havana can connect directly to an advisor's calendar. This creates a frictionless experience, allowing students to book a time that works for them the moment they are most engaged, significantly increasing the chances of a successful connection.

What makes a text message nurturing campaign successful?

A successful text message campaign relies on personalization, two-way conversation, and providing value beyond simple reminders. Instead of generic broadcasts, use student-level data to customize messages. Share valuable content like short video introductions from faculty, links to student testimonials, or notifications about virtual tours. Most importantly, treat texting as a conversational tool and ensure your staff is trained to respond quickly to replies.

How can we effectively recruit international students?

To effectively recruit international students, communicate with them in their native language and be mindful of cultural norms and time zones. Communicating in a prospect's native language builds immediate trust and shows a genuine commitment to inclusion. If your staff is not multilingual, AI assistants can bridge this gap by engaging students in multiple languages. Additionally, be strategic about when you call, respecting different time zones and cultural expectations regarding communication times.