The more I work to expand the footprint of this higher education blog and the consulting business, the more I am involved in testing various ways to keep a growing number of higher education admissions, marketing and student service professionals engaged in valuable content.
In my work, I've found 4 terms to avoid in email because they come across as "salesy,"
and using them reduces my response rates. In looking back, I've found they are used just as commonly in higher ed recruitment emails.
I've now included these terms in my email training sessions with clients and will share them with you here. Admissions and recruitment professionals should eliminate these terms from individual, as well as mass and automated email messages.
Reaching out
We all know that when we (especially the admissions folks) are reaching out, it's because we want to know if a prospect is moving ahead in the enrollment process. But we "reach out" because we don't want to be so bold to directly ask the prospect - "what are your plans?"
Following up
Do friends and close acquaintances use that word when communicating with each other? Not often. Who uses this term the most? Sales people - who need to get sales. David Khim wrote a good post on this at the Sidekick blog.
Checking in
Now, we check-in because we've lost contact with a prospect. Is she/he still interested? Well, the best way to find out is to "check-in." Wrong. Checking in is a process we do at hotels and conferences. Who else checks-in? Check-in again with #2 for the answer. When a sales person emails you to check-in, what is your response?
Mine is usually a subtle and soft, "ughhh." What if your prospects had the same reaction?
Love
I'd just love to have everyone in higher ed admissions and recruitment read this blog post. Really? Would I truly LOVE that? Having my readership grow that significantly would certainly help my Google Analytics stats look great this month, but I'm not sure what else would make me so happy that I would truly feel that level of affection.
In recruitment, we are trying to build trust and rapport, and it's similar to those days when you first start dating someone. You remember those days - when you are slowly opening up to each other. How careful were you to NOT use the 'L' word for the first several months in your relationship? There's a reason for it.
If you would "love" to see Suzanne enroll at your college, and you tell her that, will she really believe it? If you were going out on a first date, and ended by telling her you loved her, how would she perceive you? Clingy, desperate, needy?
You don't want to be that person in the dating relationship, and you don't want to be that person in the recruiting relationship.
Truth be told, this post was initially written as, "three terms to avoid" using, and then I read author Jill Konrath's post about the term. When I went back to the emails I received during the secret shopper study, I found that "love" was the second most used of these four terms in the 2nd and 3rd direct emails I received from counselors. So, I've included it.
There's a fine line in communicating with a prospect. The key is to avoid appearing pushy and desperate. And that's why these terms should be outlawed in our work.