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Angie Frazier-Mohr 🚢

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Angie Frazier-Mohr 🚢

I'm a HigherEd marketer and full-time workin mom. I'm here to share tips about both, with a focus on how small changes & consistency can add up to big results.

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Angie Frazier-Mohr 🚢

4y ago

Seven ways to deliver a better post-inquiry prospective student experience
Angie Frazier-Mohr 🚢

A great marketing strategy helps more right-fit students become aware of and engage with your institution’s brand, with the ultimate goal of generating more qualified prospective students to fill out a lead form. But what happens next? You can’t only rely on great top-of-the-funnel marketing to convert inquiries into applicants and enrollments.

In today’s competitive landscape, you must provide a post-inquiry experience that wows. Today's students expect it.

Here are seven tips that will help you provide a more engaging experience and convert more of your inquiries to enrolled students.

1. Meet them where they are.

There is no one-size-fits-all nurturing strategy for every type of prospective student. Use a variety of channels to follow-up, track it in your CRM, and take note of what’s working (bonus points: measure this over time to see which students prefer what types of communication channels and you can create segmented journeys). Follow up via phone, email, SMS, and retargeting campaigns.

2. Focus on the first few days.

The first week after a prospective student inquires is when they are most likely to convert. They will not necessarily enroll within that time frame, but that is the critical point in which to engage and to get them to start or complete their application. Don’t miss out on this critical opportunity for engagement. Your contact strategy should be heavier in the first week than any other week.

3. Think about their place in the journey.

If a prospect has already expressed interest by filling out a lead form, don’t send them back to your website or landing page (where they likely came from in the first place). Instead, drive them to a destination that will help them take the next step forward, whether that’s to apply, make an appointment with an Admissions Advisor, set up an account, etc.

4. Provide a path forward.

Your nurturing campaign should help prospects understand what comes next and provide a path forward. That’s the whole point. Every follow-up communication should have a call-to-action that gets them to take the desired next step. No more follow-up emails/text messages with CTA’s to ‘learn more.’ That’s the lead form’s job. 

5. Tell them what you're going to do next.

Today’s prospective student is more phone averse than ever. If you’re going to call, send an email or text that says something along the lines of “Here’s when I’m going to call you. If there is a better time, schedule it here.”

6. Personalize as much as possible.

Sometimes that’s tough if you don’t have a sophisticated set of automation and nurturing tools or if your platforms aren't connected. At the very least, address prospects by their first name and pull in the program of interest in every communication. If you do have more sophisticated tools, put them to work. Personalize the communication and messaging itself to what a prospect has told you about themselves or indicated via their actions (what they’ve clicked, explored, etc).

7. Always be testing.

Although there are tried and true strategies that work, the higher ed landscape is constantly shifting. What works today won’t necessarily work tomorrow. And as marketers, we know that even our best campaigns have opportunities for improvement. Make testing a focused effort and run A/B split tests on things like subject lines, days and times to send communication, design variations, calls-to-action, etc. Do NOT try to test more than one variable at a time or you’ll be unable to isolate what made the impact.

If your institution is struggling to convert inquiries into enrollments, focus on the post-inquiry student experience. Start with these seven strategies to boost engagement and convert more prospective students.

And let me know how they work for you!

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Angie Frazier-Mohr 🚢

4y ago

If you're looking to grow enrollment in higher education in 2022, delivering a stand-out experience to your prospective students is key. In order to do that, you need to understand what information prospects want to know most before they enroll.

Based on data collected from more than 20,000 prospective students from 2020 to 2022, here are the top five things prospective students want to know before they decide where to enroll. Make these things clear and you’ll be on your way to enrolling more students. 

These are not necessarily in order, however, the first two are by far the top two.

Tuition and fees

In Archer Education's post-lead digital experiences and follow-up nurturing, we ask the question: "What would you like to explore first?" 'Tuition and fees' is typically the top answer (although for a handful of institutions it was second). This piece of information is critical in a prospective student’s selection process, yet it is often buried, or worse, not clear on institutions’ websites. It is worth your staff’s time to go through and state the cost of every single program on each program-specific page of your website.

How and where: program pages of your website, your landing page(s), in follow-up communication.

Financing options and how to pay

It shouldn't be surprising that costs and how to pay are two of the most important pieces of information to students in their decision on where to enroll. It's the most important part of any buying decision.

How and where: This one is more nuanced in terms of where it will have the most impact because it depends on the type of program and financing options available. If you are enrolling for a certificate or program where financial aid isn't available, and/or you offer any financing options that are differentiated or that stand out, include them on your website and landing pages and make sure to highlight them. Focus on financing options in follow-up communication (a separate track dedicated to this is a great idea) and always provide a direct phone number for prospects to get answers around financing quickly.

How to apply and enroll

This is an area where quite frankly, many institutions fall short. And I get it. Clunky application and enrollment processes are often out of your control (looking at you, common app). But you can control how you clearly communicate the process and what students can expect. To make it easier to follow, break it into smaller steps, create a checklist, and/or provide visuals. There are many things you can do to make sure students aren't left feeling confused. Don't forget to remind prospects where they are and what is left to complete, as often as you can.

How and where: The key to this one is follow-up. While you should make sure your enrollment process is clear on your website, you’ll want to follow up with emails, SMS/text messages, and phone calls to remind prospects what they still need to complete.

What can I do with this degree/certificate?

Today’s prospective student is looking for value. In fact, affordability ranked in the top 3 most important attributes across all program types. However, that doesn’t just mean the program needs to be inexpensive. It means the outcome has to be worth the price tag. So help prospects understand how the degree, certificate, etc will benefit them.

How and where: Make this information data-informed if at all possible. This type of information is very specific to the student. For example, are they looking to change careers, upskill, or get their first job? If you can tailor follow-up communication about the value of your program to what you know about the student, this can be very powerful.

What is the commitment (how long will it take and how much of my time every day/week will I need to spend)?

Students are absorbing a lot of information, so highlighting as much as possible with bullet points and visuals is key. Here’s an example: Highlight "22 months" as the standout information with “to complete your degree” as the subheading. Make sure to include the daily/weekly or monthly commitment. Prospective students want to understand what it will take to be successful in the program.

How and where: Highlight this information with bullets or visuals on your website and landing pages. Include how you'll help support them in this commitment in follow-up communication.

Simple solutions for big impact

These five things might seem overly straightforward or simple. And the truth is, they are. Yet, most institutions' web properties and nurturing campaigns fail to include every one of the five. So even if you have three of the five, implement the remaining two. And make sure all five are clear and repeated often. Get started today and you'll be on your way to delivering a better experience and enrolling more students.

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Angie Frazier-Mohr 🚢

4y ago

Does email marketing work in higher ed in 2022?
Angie Frazier-Mohr 🚢

I sometimes hesitate to point out that a big percentage of my work in higher ed marketing is in the realm of email. It's a bit more glamorous than that - it runs on a very sophisticated digital experience and automation tech platform, but at the end of the day, the communication delivery is still mostly via email.

I'm hesitant because I don't want to seem out of touch. Email marketing was declared "dead" over a decade ago when paid digital and social channels started to show growth and email marketing results were leveling out.

But here it is, 2022 and we're STILL talking about email marketing: its ability to perform, but also its place within your larger marketing strategy.

In many marketers eyes, email is "so 2005". It's not cool. It's not revered.

But it IS effective. Even in 2022. And especially in higher ed.

Hubspot recently reported that 78% of marketing professionals have seen an increase in email engagement over the past year.

And the ROI of email is there too. According to McKinsey, email is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter, combined.

For one of our strategic higher ed partners, we've been able to achieve an average open rate of 63% and an average click-through rate of around 10% (averages in education are 28.5% and 4.4% respectively, according to campaign monitor) for the first two weeks of our email nurturing communication plan. The majority of those clicks are to "apply now."

Why is email such an effective tool in enrollment marketing?

One of the most effective ways to use email is to nurture prospects to become customers (or students in the case of higher ed). The decision to enroll in a course or program isn't taken lightly and the value of higher ed is being questioned like never before. The "buyers journey" can take many months and more than 1,000 digital touchpoints (according to Google) before a prospective student enrolls, which makes lead nurturing a critical factor for effective admissions and enrollment in 2022. In fact, in that same benchmark report from Campaign Monitor, education has the highest email benchmark performance rates of all industries listed.

If you want to learn more about strategies for effective prospective student nurturing, I'm planning to write a series that dives deeper into tips on execution.

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Angie Frazier-Mohr 🚢

4y ago

Three Atomic Habits That Will Make You a Better Marketer
Angie Frazier-Mohr 🚢

And who knows, maybe even a better person.

I’m a big believer in atomic habits. Small changes, done consistently over time can lead to big results. Why? One big reason is that small changes are easier to stick to than the "big" ones. And that is because they’re oftentimes much simpler. I’ve even gone so far as to create a saying (maybe more of a mantra?) to remind myself: Don’t blow it up. Just make it better.

Don't Blow It Up

We often get caught up in the idea that in order to achieve better results, we need to make radical changes. What I've learned over time is that my short-term fixes or band-aids are often more effective, and can at least serve as progress while I work on bigger changes.

With that in mind, here are three super small habits you can start today to become a better marketer.

Habit 1: Listen First

The more experienced we become, we tend to think we already know how to get results or have the answers, so we start by talking about that.

And as less experienced marketers, we often talk more out of nerves or the feeling of needing to prove ourselves.

You might think you already listen well. But start taking note of how often you start by listening. Today, observe yourself in conversations with your clients (and your team). Next, challenge yourself in every single interaction, even if you are there to explain your capabilities, results, etc to start every conversation by listening. If you must speak first, start by asking a question so you can listen.

Habit 2: Zoom Out

Seek to understand how the work you are doing fits into the bigger picture of your client’s business. Always.

Too often, we are focused solely on the specific project or area within the marketing plan that we impact, and we overlook really simple and meaningful opportunities to create a better user experience and better results.

Habit 3: Progress > Perfection

Habit three is committing to the idea that better is better. Don't wait until things are perfect before moving forward. Use those band-aids. They're there for a reason. An easy way to do this is to list the things you want to do in order of their impact. Then go back and identify the level of effort to implement. Start with high-impact/low-effort ideas and get to shipping!

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