Although college students are often thought of as being constrained financially — and this is often true — there is money in marketing to them. However, it can often help to acknowledge that their money usually has to be spent on other things. In 2019, college students had $376 billion in spending power.
That’s why many organizations that market to students provide some sort of discount. To prevent people from taking advantage of this, student verification can really help.
Even better, the verification process can help with customer acquisition. Here’s precisely how that works, in a few different ways.
It’s Noninvasive
Although it might seem that asking someone to verify themselves as a legitimate student could be a huge turn-off due to the invasive nature of some verification, that’s not true! Students don’t have to provide any personal information except their name and an education email, and school.
You don’t need to ask them for anything more like a date of birth, financial information, or social security number. Once they’ve completed the process once, they’ll be more relaxed about doing it in the future.
It’s a good idea to be upfront about everything you’re asking for on the initial page and not make the process extremely drawn out. Adding fields that don’t really matter in terms of the verification may have the opposite effect of the intended acquisition and turn people off.
It’s Inviting
The nature of having to verify themselves implies that the marketing locked behind the process is exclusive and provides a worthwhile offer or discount. That’s going to make them want to fill it out rather than go ahead and pay for it elsewhere on a website that doesn’t require any verification.
Marketing Becomes Easier
When a student has verified themselves, they have to provide their email. It’s easy to then send student marketing offers to that email (assuming they opt into such things), reminding them of new products.
If their verification expires, it’s also much easier to remind them in their mailbox that they need to re-verify themselves rather than letting a customer go.
It’s also possible to personalize offers. For example, if the offer is in a certain area, then it can be sent to students at certain schools, or if it’s a niche product or service, it can be sent to specialist schools. The possibilities are endless depending on exactly what you offer, but always worth considering.
Following Up
If a student begins the verification process but doesn’t complete it (like forgetting to click the link in the email), it’s easy to follow up and remind them.
After completing their verification, this may get them thinking about a product they failed to purchase because they got distracted or looked at other things on offer.
Without an email provided through student verification or another method, it’s very difficult to follow up with an abandoned purchase. You may even choose to offer a further discount in these emails to really entice the person into completing the process, as is common to do. This will get them coming back for more.
Student Verification Doesn’t Have to Be a Hassle
The main lesson to learn from this is that student verification doesn’t have to be an arduous process that prevents people from making a purchase. In fact, student verification can actually help with customer acquisition in more ways than one and keep loyal buyers coming back for more.
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