Salience in Email Recruitment

Text reminders and mailed flyers with behaviorally informed messages are regularly used in public sector communication. Mass email blasts are another inexpensive option to communicate with target audiences. Evidence suggests that email recipients may have become habituated to “spam” and frequently discard these messages before they read them. Thus, email may be less effective than other communication forms because they never reach their intended audience. Little research has been completed on the efficacy of these email messages, however. This study uses a randomized controlled trial to examine which email format, a letter with university logos signed by a university official or an informational flyer with a photograph, is the more salient option when recruiting for a teacher training program designed for diverse, underrepresented students. Our findings show that emails in the form of an official letter from university officials were more effective at increasing email openings and, subsequently, clicks on the program website link compared to email messages written as flyers. Initial emails sent in the fall were less successful at driving recipients to the website than reminder emails sent later. Messages emphasizing the long-term career opportunity were more successful at pushing recipients to open the follow-up message.