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!