Case Study: Florida Southern College boosts enrollment with Mongoose texting

How Florida Southern College Builds Relationships with Texting

Florida Southern College, a private institution in Lakeland, Florida, struggled to reach prospective students and parents in a highly competitive recruiting market with declining enrollment and limited call capacity. To overcome these communication barriers, the college partnered with Mongoose and used its Cadence texting platform to supplement legacy channels like email, phone, and mail.

With Mongoose, Florida Southern built a texting strategy focused on reminders, notifications, and two-way conversations that helped students take action. The impact was clear: texting drove much higher engagement than email, with a 98% open rate and 45% response rate versus 20% and 6%, and students who texted with the college were admitted at more than a 10% higher rate. More text exchanges also correlated with stronger outcomes, with accept-to-deposit yield rising to 57% for 50–100 exchanges and 67% for 100+ exchanges.

Florida Southern College

Joe Madigan

Director of Recruitment Outreach