The approach
Seven emails, up to three calls, two texts. Email reaches everyone. Calls go only to the highest-intent and to veterans, where a short conversation genuinely helps. Every message points at the same next action: the application.
The cadence
Front-loaded where intent is highest, then spaced out. Conditional touches drop the moment someone engages, so the median person receives far fewer than the full twelve.
Their top-matched school and program, the direct application, the fee, the honest time cost. Peak intent, and the click becomes the signal we measure everything against.
Real reported earnings and debt for their exact program at their exact school. Hard to find anywhere else, and impossible for a competitor to fake.
Not a case for aid, a task list. The federal ID first because it takes days to verify, then the aid form with their school code, then the real net price.
For the highest-intent and for veterans who haven't clicked yet: a short walk through the aid form, or the specific benefit they've earned, ending with the link texted to them.
One tap into a live AI college advisor that already knows their school and program, or a reply we answer. Doubles as the check on whether their school has actually called yet.
Most people accept whichever schools were pre-ticked. If the first has gone quiet, a better-fitting partner is a real second chance, not a second best.
Transcripts are the step that quietly stalls most adult learners, and the school does not help until after you apply. We tell them what to gather and which piece is slow.
Not a recap. Their live status: school, program, what's outstanding, next start date. The one to forward to whoever the decision waits on.
What it looks like
This is the day-two email, rendered from data we already hold. The earnings figure is a reported median for that program at that school, not an estimate.
Hi Maria,
You are weighing an Online Bachelor's in Finance at University of Maryland Global Campus. Here is the part that is hard to find anywhere else.
People who finished that program report a median of $57,557 a year, one year out. Median debt for it is $18,308, so you can weigh both sides.
A bachelor's in Oklahoma runs a median of $11,811 a year after aid, and pays back in about 3.7 years.
Those are reported figures for people who actually finished, not projections. If you matched with more than one school, they are worth comparing side by side.
Start my applicationSophie, Vaia College Guidance · Unsubscribe
Generated content. Names and figures shown are from a sample lead.
Why it's ours to send
The reason this is not just another nudge is that every specific line comes from something only we hold: what they studied, where they live, the job they just applied for, and whether they served.
Program-specific outcomes. Real earnings and debt for their exact program at their exact school, so the numbers are comparison-grade rather than marketing.
The benefit they've earned. For veterans and military families, the specific entitlement named correctly, including the transcript that turns service training into college credit.
Their own next job. The role one rung above the one they just applied for, and whether it asks for the degree they're considering, drawn from our own live job board.
The paperwork nobody owns. Transcripts and the federal aid ID, the two steps that stall adult learners, walked in the order that keeps them moving.
Channels
The workhorse. Carries all seven steps and every personalized figure, timed to US daytime rather than overnight.
Short, transactional nudges and the one-tap check-in that tells us whether the school has been in touch.
For the highest-intent and for veterans, a short call that walks the aid form or the benefit, then texts the link.
A live college advisor and a personal application tracker, so "ask anything" and "where you stand" are real places, not just emails.
How we keep it honest
We never predict an aid amount. Where we haven't verified a school's fee or code, that line simply doesn't appear. A shorter email always beats a wrong one.
Earnings come from official reported medians. Implausible or declining figures are suppressed rather than dressed up, because a bad number argues against the very degree we're helping with.
Every lead is already being worked by two colleges. Engagement thins our track automatically, a reply pauses it, and a "yes, they called" stops the overlap.
An unsubscribe anywhere stops everything, everywhere, immediately. Consent is verified per person before a single message sends.
Any partner college counts. We can tell someone plainly we don't mind which they choose, and mean it, which is the whole reason the advice is trusted.
Knowing if it works
Enrollment data comes back slowly, if at all, so we build our own signal ladder from the first message: application clicks, aid-form starts, a one-tap "has your school called yet," and a day-30 "did you apply." Every one is cut by intent, by concern, and by school, so we learn which segments deserve a phone call and which are best left to email.
None of it depends on the partner returning data. When they do share outcome counts, it calibrates everything and turns a blind window into a measured one.
The shape of the win
We don't compete with the colleges' outreach. We make the lead we already handed them more likely to enroll, at no cost to them.
A better-converting lead should be worth more. This turns the quiet half of the funnel into the half we understand best, helps the person actually get where they said they wanted to go, and gives every partner in the chain a stronger number to point at.