Cutting Through COVID-19 Communications Overload: Which Emails Engaged Personal Librarian Students?

Abstract

When the coronavirus pandemic resulted in a move to remote learning for many in early 2020, those employed in higher education turned to email as a primary method for communicating and remaining virtually connected with college students, inadvertently clogging inboxes and potentially leading some recipients to simply move all of that carefully crafted messaging to Trash. But, what’s getting clicks despite the continued clutter?

Coordinators of an established Personal Librarian program designed around the concept of connecting students with a librarian through frequent email messaging look back at their email marketing platform and ask: What attracted attention immediately following the shift to virtual learning? What has continued to draw notice as the pandemic and its effects on higher education endure? From replies to open rates to click counts, what trends have appeared? And, most importantly, how can what has been learned during this period be applied long-term to continue to cut through the noise and encourage student engagement with library email outreach efforts?