Online education, for academic and upskilling purposes, has seen tremendous growth in the last few years. Changing paradigms for future job markets and career disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic have been the major driving factors.
Well-established EdTech companies are exponentially expanding, and new players are mushrooming up at astonishing speeds. With the competition heating up, attracting fresh subscribers to sign up for the courses and encouraging them to stay on with unique learning opportunities is the biggest challenge today.
Email continues to hold its position as the most dependable and proven communication channel with the maximum ROI. So, it is not surprising that EdTech marketers favor email campaigns to drive new sign-ups and maintain loyalty in their subscriber base.
We bring you 8 tested and proven email campaigns in EdTech marketing that will boost course sign-ups by driving second purchases and encouraging repeat engagements from your learners.
1. Offer an enticing discount to your existing learners to sign up for other courses
Focusing on the existing subscribers and encouraging them to sign up for more courses with you is one of the foremost options that you should explore. Since the learners are already familiar with the setup, processes, and interactions, they would be favorably disposed to trying out more courses from you.
In the email below, Coursera is offering its learners as much as 70% off on its professional certificate programs. With the short but convincing program benefits, the brand encourages its subscribers to join other courses presented as an opportunity to achieve new life and career goals.
Source: Inbox
2. Use subscriber segmentation to offer matching interest recommendations
Recommendations that are relevant and match the learners’ interests have the highest potential to convert. Email campaigns allow you to segment the learners’ according to their likes and send tailor-made recommendations that they will find appealing.
In the email below, UDEMY showcases a collection of recommended courses based on subscriber insights. These recommendations, featured under the “My Courses” collection of the learners, are sure to resonate well and encourage sign-ups.
Source: Inbox
3. Suggest narrowed down courses that are profile-specific for higher learning
Courses that offer concise and selective higher qualifications are always a huge draw among those looking for a short route to enhance their work and academic credentials. Focus on the learners’ profile to offer the best choices for mastering their individual subjects.
In the email below, MIT offers a few micro-masters programs specific to their learners’ current academic route. Dubbed as micro-master programs, these are essentially deep-dive courses in a narrow learning spectrum that is highly relevant to the subscriber.
Source: Inbox
4. Reach out to focused learner groups created on the basis of qualification levels
Choose targeted groups whose individuals are at a particular academic level and would do well to reach a milestone qualification like a degree or post-grad certification. Include the tangible benefits your course has in terms of academic credits or considerations at college and university levels.
In the email below, edX specifically addresses adults with some or no college experience that are looking to advance their career. It offers the learners real college credit that serves as a pathway to a full bachelor’s degree in relevant subjects that matter to their careers.
Source: Inbox
5. Showcase higher degree programs that impart in-demand skills and create career credentials
Programs offering enhancement of skills that are currently sought after are favorites, especially among those that look for career-enhancing credentials. Such programs could be complete in themselves, or could be a stepping stone towards a higher qualification.
In the email below, the University of Michigan offers smaller program courses that complete a segment of a full master’s degree. The programs have a short tenure of about 6 months and focus on building in-demand skills and related managerial capabilities.
Source: Inbox
6. Share inspiring testimonials that resonate well with the learners (MITx)
The power of testimonials is as effective in education as in any other field. While course testimonials are common place, inspirational content from your past students would instantly connect with your learners. It could be in the form of study tips, effective practices, learning methods etc. shared from real-life experiences of the learners.
In the email below, MIT uses the power of testimonial through a communication titled, “Four simple steps for success in your next online course.” It gives center stage to a student that shares the steps she took to go from “never completing an online course despite trying many times” to “completing hundreds of hours coursework to earn MIT credentials.”
Source: Inbox
7. Build up excitement in advance for courses that would be beginning soon
Curtain raisers or teasers help to set up anticipatory expectations and create needs in the near future. Communicating the upcoming courses would also help the learners to prepare in advance, make provisions for time and budgets, and plan their study schedules accordingly.
In the email below, UDEMY talks to its subscribers about its summer programs coming up soon. Apart from emphasizing the short duration of the courses, it also validates the course credentials by presenting some of the impressive employers of its ex-students.
Source: Inbox
8. Leverage the learners’ needs to specialize for academic and career advancement
In terms of academic credentials or career advancement, specialization is the order of the day. Careful curation of learning opportunities in specialization courses that is sent to the right kind of learners would ensure maximum conversions. Use the insights derived from email metric analysis to create the right mix of recommendations and recipients to put your course out in front.
In the email below, Coursera invites learners to choose from a focused sequence of three or more courses; it encourages them to master the series and advance their careers. Each series includes hands-on projects that are specific to the specific area of specialization and carries a certification of completion
Wrapping up
Email should be your channel of choice for driving second purchases from the existing subscribers of your courses. As the ideal one-to-one communication, emails help you leverage learners’ familiarity with your platform and their confidence in your pedagogy for encouraging new signups. Emails also offer you the advantage of segmentation and AI-based insights to plan and execute a very effective email campaign.
Track, monitor, analyze, predict, segment, test, and offer intuitive suggestions are just a few of the capabilities that email brings to your EdTech marketing strategy. You can encourage maximum second-time signups for your learning programs by communicating them in the best possible manner – saying the right thing at the right time to the right kind of learner.
If you are looking to tap into the advantages of email with a fresh campaign or improve your existing EdTech marketing email strategy, please connect with us. Our Netcore experts’ team would be happy to share their experience and expertise as world leaders in email campaigns.
