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Increase Private School Enrollment with These 5 Email Cadences

As a private school admissions officer, your primary responsibility is to get more potential families to enroll their children in your institution. While there are many ways to attract new students, leveraging email marketing is one of the most effective methods in today's digital age.

Email sales cadence is the art of crafting a set of automated emails that are sent to your prospective families, designed to be compelling and informative in order to nurture them through the sales funnel. In this blog post, we will discuss how a private school can effectively use an email sales cadence to walk a potential family through the sales funnel.

Understanding the Sales Funnel

Before walking your potential family through the sales funnel, you need to understand it first. Depending on your institution, the sales funnel for your private school may vary. In most cases, the funnel stages include leading with awareness, consideration, decision, and, finally, enrollment. Once you know the funnel stages of your private school, you can then develop targeted and compelling content to cater to each stage. Typically, prospective families who are at the awareness stage of the funnel will be interested in general information about your school. 

Those who are at the consideration stage would want to learn about the programs, features, reviews, and such. Families who are at the decision stage would want to learn about the application process, admission requirements, and deadlines. And for those at the enrollment stage, they would want to know about financial aid, scholarships and lastly, to complete the enrollment process. Once you've understood which content to distribute at each funnel stage, you can then start the email sales cadence.

Creating Compelling Emails

Within the email sales cadence, your emails should be designed to match each funnel stage. Each email in the series is unique and specific to the stage of the prospect; you should adjust the content of the email accordingly. A compelling subject line is crucial. Use attention-grabbing lines and taglines to encourage the recipient to open the email. Furthermore, ensure that your emails provide valuable content, such as personalized recommendations or a list of frequently asked questions relevant to your institution. For videos - add a feature of promoting campus life, teacher and student interaction, and personalized student experience at your institution. Creating personalized emails can increase the open rate and response rate by a massive percentage.

Scheduling Cadences

A successful email sales cadence requires effective cadence scheduling. Set a cadence to follow up with prospects after every few days to a week. Giving too much or too little attention at different stages of the sales funnel can quickly kill the interest of a prospect. Writing personalized emails requires a few days to a week, and scheduling the next email concisely between each email can help retain the interest and trust of the prospect.

Measuring and Optimizing

Once you have launched the email sales cadence, you can track and measure how the campaign is performing. Keep track of how many emails were opened, click-through rates, and engagements of the campaign. Analyzing the data will help identify things that need improvement, and you can then optimize the emails in the cadence accordingly. If a particular email within the cadence is not getting the result you expected, analyze the content, and seek ways to improve it.

Last but not least – Consider Automating the Cadence

Using automation software can significantly simplify the process of creating and launching the email sale cadence. Most modern marketing automation platforms offer an all-in-one solution to lead nurturing, segmentation, contact information management, reports, and integration into other supporting systems.

Private School Email Cadence Examples

In the examples below, we are using our example school, Greenfield Academy. It is important to customize the email wherever possible using the parent and student names.

General Email

Subject: [Student's Name] at Greenfield Academy

Dear [First name],

Greetings from Greenfield Academy! We are thrilled to have the opportunity to introduce ourselves to you and [Student's Name]. As an admissions officer, I am here to guide you through the admissions process and answer any questions you may have about us.

When looking at Greenfield Academy, ask [Student's Name]:

  • What does [Student's Name] love learning about?
  • What are [Student's Name]'s favorite activities?
  • Would [Student's Name] enjoy learning a second language?
  • What is most essential for you to, [parent first name], when looking for a school for [Student's Name]?

At Greenfield Academy, we pride ourselves on providing a top-tier education that fosters personal growth, academic achievement, and community involvement. Our dedicated team of educators is committed to creating a safe and supportive environment where students can thrive. 

We offer a comprehensive curriculum that emphasizes creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration. Our classes are designed to challenge and inspire students, encouraging them to pursue their passions and develop the skills necessary to succeed in the 21st century. 

We also value extracurricular activities and offer a range of programs that allow students to explore their interests and build leadership skills. From athletics to arts, our extracurriculars are designed to complement our academic program and promote well-rounded students. 

In addition, we prioritize diversity and inclusivity in everything we do. Our community is made up of students from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, and we celebrate the unique perspectives that each student brings to our school. 

If you are interested in learning more about Greenfield Academy, I invite you to schedule a visit to our campus. We would be happy to give you a tour and answer any questions you may have about our admissions process. 

Thank you for considering Greenfield Academy for your family. We hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

Admissions Officer at Greenfield Academy

Conclusion

Crafting a personalized email sales cadence requires understanding your sales funnel and crafting targeted emails for every stage. With the right approach, scheduling, and automation, you can get students and parents to enroll in your private school. Use the comprehensive guide discussed above to create a personalized email sales cadence that brings in new families. Make sure you have a strong value proposition for your institution, create a personal touch to your emails, align the email cadence with the sales funnel stage, measure and optimize the campaign, and most importantly, use automation software for effective tracking and execution.

If you need help optimizing your private school email sales cadences or help in general marketing your k-12 private school, reach out to me. I am here to help you and your school increase enrollment year after year.

Image of the author - Adam Bennett

Written By: Adam Bennett |  Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Adam is the president and founder of Cube Creative Design and specializes in private school marketing. Since starting the business in 2005, he has created individual relationships with clients in Western North Carolina and across the United States. He places great value on the needs, expectations, and goals of the client.