Weathering the Storm

Challenge

Already challenged by aging systems and processes, the University of Houston’s admissions department was further challenged when Hurricane Harvey hit the city. Applications and campus visits were well below its goal and the previous years’ benchmarks as students weren’t able to think about college when recovering from the natural disaster’s toll on their families and homes. The University of Houston team knew that they had their best chance at still reaching their enrollment goals if they could work quickly with a reliable partner who had proven success.

Solution

Encoura quickly came alongside the University of Houston as their partner to support the enrollment team with student connections and marketing strategy following the storm. The university needed a way to connect with students who were no longer in high schools and who needed support personally.

Together, Houston and Encoura identified students most likely to enroll and reached out to these students and their families digitally to combat the images frightening them of the storm and remind them of the promising future that awaited them at the university.