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Integrated Prospect Communication Plan Toolkit

Minimize melt by coordinating outbound student communications

Institutions rarely centralize a communication plan that coordinates the various emails, texts, calls, and letters reaching students after their deposit. An uncoordinated communication stream during this critical time period from deposit to matriculation creates a subpar enrollment experience, which contributes to summer melt and lower yield.

This toolkit helps enrollment managers create and deliver a positive enrollment experience by coordinating communications across their institution. It guides readers through a four-phase process to create an integrated communication plan, from securing campus buy-in for change to implementing a post-deposit communication plan. While the toolkit covers communications across the entire enrollment funnel, auditing communications sent after deposit and through matriculation is of utmost importance as they directly affect final yield.

Phase 1: Laying the groundwork

In this phase, enrollment managers secure buy-in from campus leadership for a comprehensive audit of all outbound student communications. They also consider the scope of the audit and the personnel necessary to make it successful. The vice president of enrollment management and the steering committee are required participants in this phase.

Step 1: Integrated Communications Business Case Template

The Integrated Communications Business Case Template outlines a business case to convey to stakeholders the need for a Communication Audit and an integrated communication plan.

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Step 2: Integrated Communications Committee Selection

Integrated Communications Committee Selection offers advice for developing committees responsible for implementing the Communication Audit, and for writing and sustaining the resulting communication plan.

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Phase 2: Conducting the audit workshop

In this second phase, enrollment managers prepare and execute the communication audit workshop, and lay the groundwork for a campus-wide integrated communication plan. The participants required for this phase are members of the cross-functional planning committee.

Step 1: Persona Development Guide, Sample, and Template

The Persona Development Guide, Sample, and Template describes how to design a “persona” of the institution’s core student segment, which can help ground the communication audit in the student’s perspective.

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Step 2: Communication Audit Workshop Outline

The Communication Audit Workshop Outline outlines the steps for conducting a communication audit workshop that will create a visual depiction of the outbound communication flow, as experienced by students.

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Step 3: Guidance for Determining Value of Communications

This step provides guidance for sorting through all communications remaining after the communication audit to identify the ones that provide the most value to students.

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Step 4: Guidelines for Prototyping an Integrated Prospect Communications Plan

The Guidelines for Prototyping an Integrated Prospect Communications Plan gives advice for creating a draft of an integrated communication plan.

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Phase 3: Enhancing audit-approved communications

After the audit, Phase 3 comprises a closer look at communications that will go out to students and parents, editing them for value and readability. Participants from the content enhancement committee are required for this phase.

Step 1: Editorial Checklist

The Editorial Checklist provides a checklist to ensure that all communications are intentionally designed for students, easy to understand, and aligned with institutional goals.

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Step 2: Clear Writing Exercises

Our Clear Writing Exercises outline steps for revising communications for clarity and removing jargon.

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Phase 4: Implementing the new communications plan

Phase 4 finalizes the integrated prospect communications plan and provides guidance on implementation in order to drive adoption of the plan by campus stakeholders. The particpants required for this phase are the cross-functional communication planning committee and the steering committee.

Step 1: Guidelines for Finalizing the Integrated Prospect Communications Plan

Our Guidelines for Finalizing the Integrated Prospect Communications Plan describes how to create an integrated schedule of communications using the Communication Inventory Template, and discusses mechanisms for sustaining the plan.

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Step 2: Guidance for Driving Plan Adoption

Guidance for Driving Plan Adoption provides advice for presenting the plan across campus to drive adoption.

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Tool appendices

Appendix A: The Gunning Fog Index

Developed in the 1950s by Robert Gunning, the Gunning Fog Index is a measure of readability that estimates the reading level required to understand a passage. The index uses an algorithm based on the number of words in the passage, the number of words in each sentence, and the number of “complex words”—words that have three or more syllables, not including proper nouns.

Appendix B: Student advice on occasions to text

EAB’s Enrollment Services division surveyed 8,515 college-bound high school students in the summer of 2015 to find out how they gathered college information and how they preferred to receive communication. We created a chart that shows the percentage of surveyed students who felt that each occasion was an appropriate reason for an institution to send them a text message.

Appendix C: 20 tips for texting students

This list of tips for texting students was compiled by experts at Signal Vine, a text-messaging provider that works with many colleges, school districts, and community-based organizations nationwide. These tips are intended to provide additional context for practitioners when devising text-messaging calendars, schedules, and content.

Appendix D: Text message examples for key decision moments

View this list of text message examples to get ideas for own student text communications. The examples span a variety of key decision moments, from inviting students for a campus tour to reminding students of upcoming deadlines.

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Audit student communications across all departments

To streamline communications sent during the critical time period between deposit and matriculation, institutions should audit student communications across all departments. The first step is to inventory the cumulative assortment of outgoing emails, letters, or phone calls in order to uncover duplicated or contradictory messages. Download the template to get started.

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