Automate communications for every open day and taster day, with ease

A reusable email flow per activity type makes it easy to guide every prospective student with care. You set the fixed communication in advance and adapt the content and practical details for each activity. This ensures a taster day receives the same care and attention as a major open day, with less repetitive work for your team.

An open day requires a complete communication plan. Yet, a taster day often raises the very same questions. Has my registration been successful? Where do I need to go? Do I need to prepare anything? And who can I contact afterwards?

While attendance numbers may vary, the need for clarity remains the same. That is why it pays to set up activity communication as a repeatable process. To do this, you don't need to make every activity identical.

What Activity Automation does

Activity Automation is the Hippocampus feature that lets you set up and reuse a campaign for each activity type. Think of an open day, taster day or online information session. The product page details templates and scheduled communications such as confirmations, reminders and feedback surveys. View Activity Automation.

The creative and content decisions remain entirely with your team. What information helps someone beforehand? What is an appropriate next step? And which differences between courses are relevant? A well-designed flow captures these choices, so colleagues do not have to reinvent them for the next activity.

Determine what is fixed and what needs to be flexible

Start with one activity type that occurs regularly. A taster day is a practical starting point: recognisable, straightforward and often organised by various academic departments.

Split the communication into a fixed part and a variable part. The fixed structure outlines which messages are needed and for what purpose. The variable part contains the specific details belonging to a particular activity.

This division also helps with management. The central team can refine the wording of an explanation without having to handle all the course-specific details. Meanwhile, the academic department can adjust the programme without needing to design a new communication structure from scratch.

Build the flow around the visitor's questions

The example below is a starting point for a taster day. The suggested timing is a proposal for testing, not a proven, definitive sending frequency.

Immediately after registration: confirm registration for the activity and provide the key practical details. Make it clear where they can ask a question or make a change.

A few days before: explain what they will experience. A concrete outline of a lecture or task provides more reassurance than simply promising an inspiring afternoon.

Shortly before the visit: make arrival easy. Repeat only the information needed at that moment, such as the entrance, arrival time and contact person.

Afterwards: tailor this to their attendance and needs. A visitor may want to compare courses further; someone who could not make it might benefit more from an alternative date. Work out these paths based on reliable attendance tracking and your setup's capabilities.

You do not automatically have to send more messages. If a confirmation email already contains all the necessary information and the visit is tomorrow, an extra preparation email may well be unnecessary.

Test the exceptions too

A flow is only truly reliable when it works outside the ideal scenario. Therefore, do not just test a standard registration, but also a late registration, a cancellation and a changed location. Check what someone receives if they have signed up for two activities.

Agree on who updates the details and who checks the accompanying communication. An active template can still contain outdated activity details. Before launching, have a colleague go through the entire process as if they were a prospective student, checking all links and how it displays on a mobile phone.

After the first few activities, look out for recurring questions. If visitors constantly call about the entrance, the directions need to be clearer. If a follow-up email often prompts specific queries, ensure someone is assigned to answer those responses. Automation helps with sending; the conversation requires an owner.

How this benefits the prospective student

Thoughtful communication makes the next step clear. The prospective student knows what to expect, can prepare and finds an appropriate next step afterwards. That is the value of a solid process, even when an activity only has a limited number of attendees.

This approach varies by activity. After a broad open day, someone might still want to compare multiple courses. After a taster day, they might be left with a specific question about daily student life. A reusable structure must leave room for that difference.

Start with one solid foundation

Choose one recurring activity type, work out the communication and test it with the colleagues who will be using it. Use these initial experiences to improve the foundation. After that, expand to other activities.

This is how you move from setting things up from scratch every time to a way of working that the whole team can build upon. With less manual effort and more room for the questions that deserve personal attention.

Would you like to set this up for your activities? See how Activity Automation works.