Predicting Yield with a Holiday Gift Guide? 🎙️Listen to How It Worked.

I recently joined Talking Tactics, a podcast on the Enrollify network hosted by Dayana Kibilds, to discuss an unconventional (but wildly effective) way to predict yield: a holiday gift guide email to parents.

Yes, really.

By strategically tracking engagement with this email, we were able to identify high-likelihood deposits—and with some fine-tuning, this tactic could become an even more powerful enrollment tool.

The Concept: A Stealthy Yet Insightful Email

During my time in enrollment marketing, I experimented with a holiday gift guide email sent to parents of admitted students. The email was simple:

🎁 “Need gift ideas for your soon-to-be college student? We’ve got you covered.”

Inside, we curated a list of items that would be useful for students planning to attend our institution—think campus gear, dorm essentials, and tech recommendations.

But here’s where it got interesting.

Instead of just being a feel-good, engagement-driven email, it became a powerful predictive tool.

The Results: 70% of Clicks Translated to Deposits

By tracking which parents clicked the links, we gained valuable insight into who was actively thinking about their student’s college decision.

• Parents who clicked had students who were significantly more likely to convert.

• 70% of those who engaged went on to deposit.

• It gave us an easy way to prioritize follow-up with high-interest families.

This wasn’t just about holiday cheer—it was about leveraging behavioral signals to refine our yield strategy.

How I’d Take This Further

Now that I’m a consultant (and professionally overshare), I shared on the podcast how I’d scale this strategy even further if I were still in my previous role.

💡 A dynamic landing page instead of just an email—allowing families to browse at their own pace while giving us longer-term tracking insights.

💡 Personalized follow-up sequences for engaged parents—leveraging their interest in a non-salesy way to keep them moving toward a deposit.

💡 Segmentation by engagement level—targeting warm leads with strategic nudges like event invites or financial aid reminders.

And these are just a few! Find more in the episode.

Final Thoughts

The biggest takeaway? Creative, non-traditional tactics can uncover deep insights about student and parent intent.

Instead of waiting for families to tell us they’re serious, we can watch their behavior and adjust our strategy accordingly.

Curious to hear the full conversation? Check out Talking Tactics, Episode 41: Predicting Yield Through a Holiday Gift Guide with Laura Rudolph.

🎙️Listen Now: https://lnkd.in/eDRZQmPX

Want to build out engaging parent communications in your Slate instance? Hit me up!