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Insights Blog
Higher Ed Trends, Strategies, and Solutions
Text Strategy


One Year of Text Secret Shopping Revealed on "Mission Admissions" podcast🎙️
After a year of secret shopping as a student and parent, I uncovered what most colleges get wrong about text messaging. Generic, one-off blasts don’t build trust—thoughtful, timely, personalized texts do. In this episode, we explore what works, what doesn’t, and how to make SMS a real relationship builder.

Laura Rudolph
Sep 181 min read


7 Tips for Crafting Great Text Messages (From a Year of Secret Shopping)
This year, I gave my cell number to 26 colleges as part of my annual secret shopping experiment. The results? 77% texted me as a student, but none texted me as a parent. In this blog, I share real examples of what colleges are sending, what’s working (and what’s not), and simple rewrites that turn one-way announcements into real conversations.

Laura Rudolph
Sep 99 min read


It's Time to Stop Saying Parents Matter and Start Showing It
We say it all the time: “Parents are important,” but how often do our actions actually reflect that? Walk through specific, tangible strategies for making parents feel seen, heard and empowered to help their student say yes.

Laura Rudolph
Jun 254 min read


Parents Text Back: Why SMS Is the Secret Weapon in Your Yield Strategy
At my last institution, we had a real challenge: students just weren’t completing their enrollment forms. Counselors were calling, emails were going out daily, and portal reminders were non-stop—but nothing seemed to move the needle.
That’s when I had a moment of clarity—what if the key wasn't reaching out to the student, but their parent?

Laura Rudolph
May 223 min read
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