St. Cloud State University – a regional comprehensive university in St. Cloud, Minnesota – wanted to increase enrollment for their wealth of graduate offerings made up of 60 graduate programs and more than 90 graduate degree options. With limited staffing, however, the school lacked the resources to actively expand their graduate recruitment process.

“We had very ambitious goals for growing our graduate enrollment, but our small staff made those difficult to execute,” explained Sean Pitzer, Associate Director of Graduate Admissions at St. Cloud State. “Ultimately, we wanted systems in place that would work for us rather than us working for the systems.”

Since partnering with Enrollment Marketing by Liaison in 2020, St. Cloud State has grown their incoming graduate class by more than 170 students and achieved a record high enrollment of over 1,800 graduate students. The school is on track to outdo this historic enrollment number for the upcoming 2022 school year.

Big Impact

Pitzer had one key goal in mind as he began to collaborate with the Liaison team: develop automated, ongoing, and targeted email campaigns across the entire admission cycle. With Liaison’s easy-to-use Enrollment Marketing Platform (EMP) and extensive support from Client Success experts, he accomplished that goal. In fact, St. Cloud State increased their email communication from 3,000 total emails over the course of three years to over 100,000 within just eight months of implementing EMP.

Pitzer shared, “Before Liaison, our marketing outreach was primarily for admitted students in the form of an admission offer letter. EMP has allowed us to proactively communicate with students – at every stage of the funnel – on a schedule. We have rolling and fixed admissions, so the system gives us the ability to strategically segment communications based on our different audiences.”

Through EMP communications, St. Cloud State can more quickly and efficiently prepare prospective students for next steps, including registering for any required graduate interviews and surveying arrival information for incoming international students.

In addition to email campaigns, St. Cloud State was able to add text messages and print collateral to its graduate communication plan by leveraging Liaison’s Enrollment Marketing Creative Team of copywriters, designers, and production specialists. St. Cloud’s print pieces now include a drive-to-apply postcard and a yield-based poster with an accompanying admission letter.

“We hadn’t done any kind of enrollment marketing mailing for graduates in at least 10 years. The print element brings back the excitement of getting a real, physical acceptance letter in the mail. It also serves to build a greater sense of belonging, especially for our online graduate students who may never get a chance to visit our campus in person,” Pitzer said.

Pitzer values Liaison’s enrollment marketing solution offerings for significantly streamlining St. Cloud’s recruitment process and reducing their in-house workload. In under three years, Liaison’s recruitment-based support has helped St. Cloud State to effectively automate and increase prospective outreach, communicate with the right students, track engagement, and maintain consistently high enrollment numbers.

Outcomes

• An enrollment increase of over 6% from 2020 to 2021, equating to over 170 students and resulting in historically high graduate enrollment
• 30 times more emails generated in less than a year
• On-demand print collateral, including drive-to-apply and yield mailings, thoughtfully crafted by Liaison’s in-house Enrollment Marketing Creative Team
• Reduced in-house workload while maintaining small staff budget

ABOUT ST. CLOUD STATE UNIVERSITY
Founded in 1869, St. Cloud State University is a leading comprehensive public university offering 200 undergraduate programs and 60 graduate programs. St. Cloud State has been working with Liaison since 2020.