First, a confession: Like that weird kid in junior high who actually liked throwing up on roller coasters, we’re among the odd few who find conducting focus groups with high school students to be a thrilling endeavor. Since much of our work entails finding ways to communicate with this audience in compelling and meaningful ways, these opportunities to meet with students face-to-face and hear their opinions firsthand always energize us and get our wheels turning.

Our most recent series of high school focus groups led to some especially interesting take-aways, particularly related to students’ communication preferences when hearing from colleges and universities. Perhaps surprisingly—in today’s world of tweeting, texting and tethering—students expressed an appreciation for some decidedly “low tech” forms of recruitment communication:

• “During the fall, a lot of colleges will come in here to meet. I thought that was a lot more helpful than them just sending me a card or something.”
• “There’s even some schools that call. That helps, too.”
• “Sending mail to someone is a lot more personal [than email]. It means someone had to take the time to lick the envelope.”
• “I like letters better than email.”
• “I like getting a call better. They actually have to dial.”
• “I don’t like email. I’d prefer something handwritten.” 

As several of these comments suggest, this appreciation for “basic” communication tools stems not from any aversion to technology, but from a desire to be recognized and treated as an individual—not to mention the desire to be “wooed.” Another student described a substantial, perfect-bound book she received from a liberal arts college, recalling, “They sent me this really pretty book, with all these pictures. It was so pretty. It made me feel special.”

These comments suggest to us that while mass marketing is obviously unavoidable in higher education recruitment today, prospective students are very aware of—and respond positively to—communication efforts that make them feel “special” or as though they’re being treated as an individual. And even if these “personalized” activities aren’t practical during the wide-mouthed, early stages of the recruitment funnel, institutions can still take care to add a personal touch to mass marketing efforts (offering the name, photo and email address of a student’s admissions counselor in a mass email, for instance). Then, for certain high-potential prospects, more traditional activities like phone calls, high school visits and hand-written notes may have significant positive outcomes in terms of yield.