In higher education admissions, the deposit stage marks a critical turning point. Excitement is high, but so is the risk of melt. At Drake University, the admissions team wanted not only to celebrate their new Bulldogs but also to find meaningful ways to strengthen commitment among deposited students. Inspired by a Magellan Promotions webinar featuring Missouri S&T’s success with a choice store, Drake decided to launch their own version of the initiative: the Bulldog Bonus.
Challenge: Elevate Personalization and Create a Trackable, High-Value Touchpoint
For several years, Drake University mailed a Drake flag to deposited students: a fun, effective, and well-loved tradition that helped build pride. But as student expectations continue to evolve, Drake saw an opportunity to enhance the experience.
Across admissions, we’ve seen a clear shift: students increasingly expect personalization at every stage of the funnel. They want to feel like their experience is tailored to them, rather than generic or one-size-fits-all.
Drake wanted a commitment experience that delivered on that expectation while also giving their admissions team a trackable, insight-rich touchpoint within their existing recruitment process. They hoped to find a solution that could:
- Deliver a more meaningful, student-driven experience
- Provide real-time participation data through Slate
- Offer insights into which deposited students were most committed to enrolling
- Run as seamlessly and automatically as possible for the admissions team
Solution
To meet these goals, Drake University partnered with Magellan Promotions to implement the Bulldog Bonus Choice Store, designed intentionally around two priorities: personalization for students and automation for the admissions team.
Drake hosted the store themselves and integrated it directly into their Slate environment. This gave students a seamless, one-step path from the admissions portal to their Bulldog Bonus selection, and Drake gained instant visibility into participation.
Magellan supported the automation by using our integration with the Slate system via a secure SFTP site and managing fulfillment. Once Drake’s Slate instance uploaded new student lists, Magellan’s team kitted and shipped orders within a week. This hands-off workflow meant the admissions team didn’t need to pull lists, place orders, or track inventory manually. Students received their celebration gifts quickly, keeping excitement high between deposit and orientation.
Students could choose from three popular Drake-branded items: a blanket, knit beanie, or flag, each mailed with a 4”x6” insert card encouraging them to show their school pride via social media:
The most popular item by far was the Drake blanket, followed by the knit beanie, with the traditional Drake flag ranking third. This reinforced the value of offering choice: while the flag had been a meaningful tradition, students clearly gravitated toward warmer, more functional items. A one-size-fits-all approach would have missed that preference entirely.
Outcome
The Bulldog Bonus generated an impressive response. Of the students who made a tuition deposit across the first-year, transfer, and Bright Scholars populations:
- 71% claimed their Bulldog Bonus item.
- Among those who claimed their item, the melt rate was just 6.8%.
- In contrast, among students who deposited but did not claim their gift, 38% melted.
While Drake recognizes that multiple factors contributed to reduced melt, this data strongly suggests that the Bulldog Bonus added value to their broader yield and melt mitigation strategy. The program not only celebrated new students but also surfaced early behavioral indicators of commitment through Slate, enabling Drake to act on them in real time.
“In today’s recruitment landscape, I am always looking for signals from our prospective and, in this case, deposited students that help us get a sense of how they feel about Drake and their likelihood to enroll. Introducing the Bulldog Bonus Choice Store and leaning into the research on how students value school-branded merch was a no-brainer. The fact that we were able to set everything up in Slate and partner with Magellan on the fulfillment process made this a very easy process for my team and me, especially during the very busy yield season. Finally, the data we are able to extrapolate, especially when comparing year-over-year results, will be invaluable as we continue to refine our recruitment and melt mitigation strategies and better align our practices with the needs and interests of today’s students.” – Joel Johnson, Ed.D., Dean of Admission, Drake University
Looking Ahead
The Bulldog Bonus became both a celebratory moment and a meaningful data signal, reinforcing students’ sense of belonging while giving the admissions team clarity on who was actively engaging. By combining personalization, quick fulfillment, and an automated Slate integration, Drake University and Magellan Promotions showed how a simple choice can do far more than delight students: it can turn early excitement into early commitment.
