Pomona College produced a Phonecast in April of 2012 to deepen relationships and strengthen engagement among a group of regular-decision admits.
Pomona’s domestic, regular-decision-admit pool was divided into two groups. Both groups received Pomona’s standard yield communication, while one group’s parents also received a Phonecast.
- The Phonecast was promoted to the test group of 419 parents of admitted students
- Ninety-six percent of those who answered the Phonecast call opted-in to participate for an average of 28 minutes
- Pomona analyzed overall deposits and found the students whose parents had participated in the Phonecast yielded at a rate 50% better than their overall regular-decision yield rate
“We definitely were able to better engage families that participated in the Phonecast, which had a noticeable impact on yield,” said Seth Allen, Vice President and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at Pomona College, “and we received very positive feedback from those who participated.”
Phonecasts feature a notable speaker, like a current student, Dean or President, and begin with an outbound call to thousands (dialed in minutes). Everyone who answers is connected into the live event, which then functions like a radio call-in show. Admission staff can pre-screen and choose participants to ask live-voice question of the speaker(s); Phonecasts also allow the speaker to pose questions to participants, who can answer via a keypad polling feature. Individual data about participation and poll responses is captured for client follow-up.