By the time students are ready to enroll in a college program, they’ve already had a considerable amount of time to form their opinions. Higher education institutions must take measures to understand how students make enrollment decisions so that they can better market to them.
In the summer of 2022, Spark 451, a Jenzabar Company, conducted its latest annual survey to uncover what graduating high school seniors think about the college selection process. The class of 2026 College Bound Survey includes responses from over 4,000 students across the United States and touches on a wide variety of informative topics such as students’ social media habits, marketing preferences, reflections on the college search process, and the major factors influencing their enrollment decisions. Findings also show how Covid19 impacted students’ enrollment decisions as the field enters its third academic year following the pandemic.
Below are the report’s findings on student’s social media and technology preferences as well as their marketing and communication preferences, detailed below.
Social Media Habits & Technology Preferences
- A majority of survey respondents indicate that they spend at least one hour a day on social media, and half report spending more than three hours a day.
- 60% of the respondents say that they “rarely post, but consistently view” social media posts.
- 89% of respondents use iPhones, and about 30% of students said they used a voice assistant in their college search. As in previous surveys, Siri remained far more popular than Alexa or Google Home.
- College and university websites were the most popular resources for students seeking information about their preferred institutions, closely followed by Collegeboard.com, search engines, and social media.
- Instagram and YouTube were the top social media channels recent high school grads reported utilizing throughout their college search process, and 36% of students say they used Tiktok, up from 23% last year.
- Only 20% of students share photos of their acceptance letters on social media, down from 30% in previous years
Admissions offices can use the data to help direct admissions efforts, such as creating video content to promote their school and provide information for prospective students or putting together aesthetically attractive acceptance packets that may prompt more students to post.
Marketing & Communication Preferences
- 84% of students began their college search process the summer entering junior year or later
- 95% said email is the preferred method of communication, 27% did not open emails because they looked generic and not personalized.
- Email and texting were the top two outbound communication methods students preferred during their college search
- 55% of students said they opened an email because it was from a school that interested them, and 56% said they did not open an email because they had never heard of the institution or the subject line did not catch their attention.
- Most students report being open to receiving texts from a school after they inquire or apply.
When it comes to marketing and communication, the survey results reaffirm that personalized touch points are highly effective as prospective students make their decisions. Personalized letters were the preferred printed marketing touch points by most college-bound students, followed closely by personalized brochures and brief brochures with images. The last ranked marketing items were in-depth view books and oversized postcards
“The results certainly can help institutions better plan their marketing dollars for optimized ROI,” said Steve Kerge, Co-Founder of Spark451 and Vice President of Enrollment Marketing at Jenzabar. “As an example, there are some institutions spending resources on high school freshmen, when the data shows that they would have a greater impact focusing spending on students during the summer entering their junior year or the fall of their junior year.”
Admissions teams need to find the sweet spot to market to prospective students and survey results such as the data provided from the 2026 College Bound Survey can help them make informed decisions.