Best Practices in Enrollment White Paper

Best Practices in Enrollment Marketing Management

www.EducationDynamics.com/Find-Students

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Best Practices in Enrollment

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Best Practices in Enrollment Marketing Management

Table of Contents

Introduction ....................................................................................II

Executive Summary ....... ..................................................................1

Best Practices

1: Seek ‘Educated’ Prospects ..... ................................................4

2: Choose Quality Over Quantity...... ............................................4

3: Take Only What You Can Eat ..... ..............................................6

4: Understand Your Customers and Their Needs ..... ......................6

5: Choose Your Battles (and the Right Weapons) ..... ....................7

6: Make Important Resources Available Online .... ......................10

7: Use Your Website to Support Your Marketing Efforts ... ............10

8: Close the Loop ... ..................................................................11

9: Consider the Other Factors Affecting Conversion Rates ... ........12

10: It’s All About Relationships ... ................................................13

Conclusion .... ...............................................................................14

Appendix A: Data from the EducationDynamics eLearning Index........15

Appendix B: Best Practices at Work.................................................16

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Introduction

In 2009, 2.1 million students pursued a fully online degree program. That represents more than 10 percent of all higher education enrollments in the United States, and reflects a doubling of the number of students enrolled in such study since 2004. Perhaps more important for future planning is that the Sloan Consortium predicts 4 million students (likely to be 20 percent of all higher education enrollments) will enroll in fully online programs in 2014 or before.

Attracting and enrolling students in online programs has become a competitive game, requiring strategy, skill and persistence. Those who have been playing the game for a while know which obstacles to avoid and the best practices to apply, although some have learned the hard way, primarily from their own mistakes and miscon-ceptions. These strategies extend throughout the lifecycle of the student acquisition process, from lead generation (e.g. garnering initial interest) through “closing the deal” and enrolling a student. This paper is designed to share the knowledge and experience gained from veterans in the field of online student acquisition through the eyes and ears of EducationDynamics, a pioneer in online marketing services for the post-secondary market. The information presented in this paper was gathered by tracking the behavior of prospec-tive students from one of EducationDynamics’ premier student resources, eLearners.com.

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Executive SummaryMore of Marketing Budget Moving Online

As the growth in online education has accelerated, so too has the use of the Web as the most popular medium for prospective students to research their educational options. In turn, online lead generation has become one of the most measurable and effective ways for colleges and universities to find and attract prospective students. In fact, some of the institutions surveyed by EducationDynamics that are experienced in online marketing have indicated that they are generating upwards of 80 percent of their leads (in some cases more) entirely online. This contrasts with the broader population of schools, many of which are still concentrating much of their marketing efforts on traditional media. In a recent EducationDynamics survey, 60 percent of not-for-profit universities surveyed indicated they spend up to 20 percent of their marketing budgets online, but the majority (76 percent) indicated they intended to increase that expenditure in the coming year. Still, this stand in sharp contrast to for-profit colleges which often allocate 70 to 95 percent of their direct marketing budgets to online activities and initiatives.

Are You Competing for Students?

In short, yes! In the past, most students used fairly well-known and straight-forward criteria for selecting schools. Geography was among the most important considerations – particularly for adult students. Others included curriculum, prestige of the school and cost. While many of those criteria remain today, in the world of online education, universities must recognize that the criteria students use to evaluate their options have evolved. For example, geography, while still important, is no longer as significant a consideration as it was in the past, since virtual classrooms obviate its importance. Further, a large percentage of any given institutions online students live in the area, but are drawn to the convenience of online education. And to the working adult, a

“… with most successful colleges and universities reporting a lead-to-enrollment timeframe of 40 to 60 days or less.”

convenient, flexible classroom schedule offered by one college or university may ultimately have more value than the prestige of another institution he or she might otherwise attend.

Additionally, the “marketing cycle,” i.e. the time span that starts when individuals decides to continue their education and ends when they enroll in a school, is far more compressed in the online education arena, with most successful colleges and universities reporting a lead-to-enrollment timeframe of 40 to 60 days or less. What does this mean for colleges and universities? Consider that the average prospective student requests information from about four higher education institutions before making a decision. The university with the most aggressive marketing program will have contacted the individual, sent him or her information, answered any questions, walked the person through an application, and possibly enrolled the person before the least aggressive college has made initial contact.

So what methods are the most successful institutions using to obtain the most qualified leads? When they receive a lead, how do these institutions respond to the lead — in what format and frequency? These are some of the questions that will be addressed in this paper. It will concisely and practically provide some proven best practices that will help those just getting started as well as those who have been marketing for a while, but are still looking for a competitive edge.

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Objectives

This paper may be used as a reference to industry best practices in enrollment marketing management. This is defined as management of the process that is undertaken to attract and transform a prospective student, or “lead,” into an enrolled student.

After a review of this document, you will better understand:

• How to qualify and prioritize a lead

• Effective communication procedures and practices

• Success factors during the application process

• Other factors affecting conversion rates of inquiries into enrollments

• Examples of enrollment management strategies in practice

It is important to keep in mind that this is a compendium of best practices from the institutions with which EducationDynamics has had the pleasure to work, comprised of approximately 70 percent not-for-profit and 30 percent for-profit institutions, and from research EducationDynamics has conducted. These recommendations must be considered in the context of your own institution’s processes, procedures, needs and resource limitations.

Note: For the purposes of this paper, a “lead,” or inquiry, is any individual who has requested more information from your institution by providing detailed contact information. Leads may be purchased outright, or obtained as a result of offline marketing efforts, paid search campaigns, directory listings, banner advertising, prospects visiting your school’s website, etc. The important point is that all direct marketing campaigns, if implemented properly, will ultimately result in a “lead,” though as you will learn, all leads are not created equal. Accordingly, this paper assumes that your school has an active lead generation program in place.

Overview of the Process

Prospective students follow a fairly standard progression as they move towards enrollment: general interest in online education, research/discovery of post secondary institutions and programs, decision to apply to one or more schools and decision to enroll in a program. At any point along this progression, a prospective student interested in your programs can fall off and become an enrollment at another institution. Understanding each of these phases and the importance of effective enrollment management during this process is a key element to the success of your efforts. This paper addresses the steps and processes applicable to recruiting beginning when a prospective student has requested information from your institution, though as the reader will see, it also addresses strategies to ensure the “right” individuals are requesting information.

The Qualification Process

Generating leads is the first step in the enrollment process. The number of leads a university generates is often a function of the marketing budget and enrollment goals. But having a large number of leads to pursue, even at a low unit cost-per-lead, is not necessarily the optimal method of achieving enrollments. The reason? The cost of following up with a lead is often as high as, or higher than, the cost of acquiring the lead.

Not All Leads Are Created Equal

Aside from institutional factors (e.g., your program type, cost and some of the other factors discussed above), the quality of a lead is often determined by factors not connected to the school or its programs.

The quality of a lead is typically driven by the combination of a) the mindset of the individual and b) the process that individual followed prior to inquiring. Through prospective student activity on eLearners.com, EducationDynamics has developed the Lead Source Quality Matrix (next page) to help communicate this concept. On the horizontal

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or “Traffic Source” axis, a spectrum exists, ranging from what we deem “Active Users,” those who are actively seeking information about online education, to “Passive Users,” those who were not necessarily looking for online education opportunities, but were perhaps not averse to considering them. Often the source of your leads is a strong determinant of where a user falls on this axis. For example, if your institution were to buy a mailing list of names, it is unlikely that most of these “leads” were actively seeking information. Similarly, a prospective student who filled out a lead form because he or she was promised a free iPod or a “$10 Off Your Next Purchase” coupon, would likely fall into the “Passive User” category.

On the other hand, someone who was actively looking would tend to be more highly qualified. For example, this person might have done a Google search for “Accredited Online Degrees” as a first step in the process.

The vertical, or “User Experience Axis,” describes the type and depth of information a person received before inquiring. When users receive less information, they are more inclined to inquire, because they have many unanswered questions. However, this will often result in a higher volume of less qualified leads. We refer to these as “Uninformed Leads.” For example, if a master’s in Civil Engineering program requires an individual to have a PE license, individuals who are informed of this requirement and realize that they do not meet it will not waste your time or theirs by inquiring.

Additionally, when prospective students are given more choices, they will ultimately make a more informed decision. For example, a lead looking for a Criminal Justice degree who viewed only two programs would make a less informed decision than one who viewed 12 programs. We refer to these as “Informed Leads.” This relates to the forthcoming Best Practice #1: an educated prospective student is a more qualified prospective student.

So why don’t all colleges and universities exclusively generate “Active Users/Informed Leads?” Well, they probably would if they could. However, the universe of these leads is somewhat limited, and the competition for them is fierce. As a result, they typically require higher cost-per-lead payouts to obtain and even then are not always available in the quantity desired. Some higher education institutions have addressed this by focusing improvements on their enrollment management process, essentially allowing them to cost-effectively work leads that fall into other categories. This being said, very few institutions have been able to find success in working the “Passive/Uninformed” leads regularly. Marketers are cautioned to avoid leads in this category. There are many of these available, and they are inexpensive, but the back-end costs are extremely high.

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Best Practice #1: Seek “Educated” Prospective Students

If your prospective students have little or no information provided to them before inquiring, they are more likely to request information to gather more details. On the surface, this may seem like a good method to generate interest. The unfortunate consequence of this is that you may pay for leads that are not well qualified and that will ultimately convert into enrollments at an unacceptably low rate. By ensuring that your prospective students have sufficiently educated themselves about your institution and programs before inquiring about them, you are taking the most important step in qualification. Here are just a few ways to do this:

• Attheminimum,makesurethatanyvendorfromwhichyouacquireleads,regardlessofthemedia,has advertised your institution and programs specifically by name and to a targeted audience. Prospective students who are interested in “general information about online education,” forexample,areusuallynotwellqualified.

• Makesurethatthepublishersorvendorsyouhavehiredtocollectleadsforyouadequatelyrepresentyouruniversityandyourprograms.Providingonlythename(and/orlogo)ofyourinstitution,orthenameofyourprogram(s)withlittleotherinformationmayprovidebrandingopportunities,butitwilllikely result in a higher volume of less qualified leads.

• Beawarethatyourneedswillevolveovertimeasyoulearnmoreaboutcharacteristicsofaqualifiedlead. Identifying pre-qualifying factors that contribute to success in conversions is critical. Work with leadvendors thatcanmeetyour initial requirements,andmakeupdates toyourprograms,lead collection process and forms as needed.

• Ensure thatadvertisersdonot incentivizeuserswithspecialpromotionsor sweepstakes tofillout forms. Leads who provided their contact information because they thought they were going to receive a free iPod are incredibly unqualified.

A somewhat unintuitive exception to the guideline of providing more information is that, occasionally, a college or university may prefer to withhold certain information from a prospective student until the he or she becomes a lead. For example, some higher education institutions whose tuition and fees are far above the average would prefer not to share this information with prospective students until the prospective student becomes a lead, because they would like the opportunity to discuss fees in the same context as financial aid opportunities.

Best Practice #2: Choose Quality Over Quantity

Best Practice #1 pertains to how much information you should ensure the potential student receives before becoming a lead. Best Practice #2 focuses on how much information your organization needs to collect as part of the inquiry process. It is important that you ask sufficient qualifying questions on your inquiry forms to help filter those prospects who do not meet your institutions’ requirements and qualifications to avoid wasting time on unqualified prospective students. For example, you may wish to reject students requesting information on master’s programs who have not yet completed their bachelor’s degree. Or you may have found that a particular type of student does not convert to enrollments well (e.g., international students, students under 20 years of age, etc.). You can use your inquiry forms to filter these prospective students and ensure that only more qualified leads move through the process.

That being said, you need to determine the appropriate number, types and restrictiveness of questions on your inquiry form, as every additional question you add reduces

“You can use your inquiry forms to filter these prospective students and ensure that only the more qualified leads move through the process.”

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the probability of someone completing an inquiry form. For example, you may find that it’s “nice to know” the gender of a prospect, or would like a person’s home, work and mobile phone numbers, or even the individual’s employer, but many prospective students find they are uncomfortable providing such detailed information prior to initial contact. Try to limit your inquiry form questions to only those essential for preliminary screening and making initial contact with the potential student. Other information can be obtained during the follow-up process.

With all this in mind, it is important to realize that if you are buying inquiries on a cost-per-lead basis, as you add constraints/filters to your forms, you will probably pay more for each lead. For example, if you ask a vendor to accept inquiries only from prospective students aged 23 and over, you may be asked to pay 15 percent more per lead, as 15 percent of that vendor’s potential audience will be excluded from inquiring. Expect that your total aggregate direct expense for lead acquisition will likely be no less with higher qualified leads, but that the benefit you will obtain is achieved during the subsequent enrollment management process, as your “back-end” requirements will be lower.

Example:

A) You purchase leads from an education search portal. You add questions on your inquiry form that filter those prospective students who have statistically converted into enrollments at a lower rate. As a result, you receive 50 highly qualified leads at $40/lead, costing $2,000. They enroll at a rate of six percent, or three total enrollments.

B) You purchase leads from a career site, specifically individuals who have expressed a general interest in education. You have a very simple inquiry form and add no filters or restrictions to your forms. You receive 200 lower quality leads at $10/lead, costing $2,000. They enroll at a rate of 1.5 percent, or three total enrollments.

Both lead marketing efforts yielded an outcome of three enrollments. Should you be indifferent? The answer, in most cases, is no. Example A is preferred by most schools.

Why? The lead cost is only one factor associated with creating an enrollment. The cost of applying your limited resources to these leads must also be considered. Each of these leads requires some level of follow-up on your part. Other costs incurred include initial and subsequent phone contact, brochure/CD-ROM preparation and mailing, and two-way email correspondence, among other activities that have direct and indirect costs. So even though the direct cost associated with acquiring the leads is comparable in Examples A and B, and the end result of three enrollments is the same, the total costs in example B can clearly be far more expensive.

How much more expensive? Unfortunately, though measurable, many colleges and universities do not measure accurately or even at all. In a survey conducted by EducationDynamics in conjunction with the Aslanian Group, only 24 percent of the individuals responsible for the marketing of their university’s programs responded that they actually knew their average cost-per-start (total cost including direct and indirect costs). Keeping an accurate tab on the costs related to acquiring a student is critical to your decision-making process.

For most institutions with limited resources, it is easy to see why fewer, higher quality leads are a great way to maximize the efficient use of your internal resources while achieving the highest enrollment rates possible.

“Keeping an accurate tab on the costs related to acquiring a student is critical to your decision-making process.”

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Best Practice #3: Take Only What You Can Eat

Before jumping into lead acquisition, it is critical to determine the level of marketing activity your institution has the capacity to handle. How many enrollments do you want? How many enrollment counselors do you have? How many prospective students can those enrollment counselors actually manage in a day, a week, a month? Are those enrollment counselors prepared to sell?

In the highly competitive market for students, enrollment personnel must not only be responsive, but must be prepared to quickly and easily address the questions that prospective students may pose. Today, many institutions respond to a prospective student the very same day they inquire. The institution that reaches a lead first has a measurable advantage in converting him or her to a student. Most colleges and universities experienced in enrollment management consider a lead to be “cold” (not worthy of aggressive pursuit) if initial contact has not been made within seven days of inquiry. If your organization has, for example, only two enrollment managers, you should arrange to generate enough leads to keep them busy. But if you generate more than they can handle, they will be unable to keep up with the pace, and you will ultimately have paid for leads that prove unworkable.

Best Practice #4: Understand Your Customers and Their Needs

Prospective students interested in online education are becoming more knowledgeable about the range and perceived quality of online offerings available. Institutions face a much more discriminating audience. This more competitive and complex environment is forcing institutions to pay greater attention to positioning and differentiation. The important questions to ask yourself are:

• Whatmakesourofferingdifferentfromtheotherinstitutionsofferingasimilarprogram?

• Howmuchdoesthatpointofdifferentiationmattertotheprospectivestudent?

• Whatisthemosteffectivewaytocommunicateourpointsofdifferentiation?

• Howcanwemosteffectivelymotivateindividualswithfactual,yetpersuasiveinformation?

To address a particular prospective student’s needs, it is important to understand their typical motivations, as well as the factors they tend to consider when selecting a college or university. Most prospective students fall into one of four “camps” of motivation, particularly if they are adult learners. They tend to be seeking:

• Careeradvancement

• Careerchange

• Personalenrichment

• Regulatoryorworkplacejobcompliance

Within each of these categories, the factors that prospective students consider will vary, but usually include:

• Cost(tuition/books/fees)

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• Availabilityandformoffinancialaid

• Accreditation

• Scheduleflexibility

• Reputationofschool

• Numberofcalendarstartsperyear

• Curriculumdeliverymethod

• Credittransferpolicy

• Requirementsforcompletion

• Requiredcampusattendance

• Easeofprocess

Tailoring your message to address these motivations and accentuating areas where your institution stands out can be instrumental in attracting qualified leads. Many marketing services companies will help you with your messaging and assist you with the design of Web landing pages as part of their lead acquisition services, but when your institution ultimately follows-up with an inquiry, it is important to determine very quickly which attributes are most important to the prospective student, and then address those specific needs.

Best Practice #5: Choose Your Battles (and the Right Weapons)

This practice deals with the concept of prioritizing leads, and employing distinct tactical methods of following up with them. There are a number of methods of communicating with prospective students, and a good communications strategy will employ one or a combination of several of these.

Prioritization

An important aspect in designing follow-up procedures is to understand how to internally qualify or rank incoming inquiries. This is important because depending on the number of leads you generate, you likely do not want to apply the same enrollment marketing strategy to all of your leads. Best practices mandate that higher qualified, or “hot,” leads follow a different path than others.

The manner in which a student has learned about your higher education institution can be a great predictor as to where they are in the decision-making process and how interested they truly are in your institution. Often this information, along with an initial contact, will help you properly “bucket” your leads into the appropriate process.

For example, a prospective student that has visited your website or an education portal and has specifically requested information from your institution calls for a more intense, close-contact response, including phone interaction and possibly the mailing of printed materials. Contrast this to a list of names your institution may have purchased, none of whom has specific familiarity with or an expressed interest in your programs. These individuals may only merit an introductory email until further interest is expressed.

“In today’s digital age, prospective students want fast responses, as well as the knowledge that they are perceived as valuable and unique customer...”

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Follow-up channels

The methods used to communicate with inquiries fall into four primary categories: telephone, email, printed material and “other” methods including on-site live chat, discussion forums, etc. Awareness of these communication methods is not revolutionary, but the efficient and effective use and interactivity of them is a science few have mastered. In today’s digital age, prospective students want fast responses as well as the knowledge that they are perceived as a valuable and unique customer to the institution, not merely a name or number.

Telephone. Many colleges and universities that have had success in generating enrollments will call the prospective student either immediately after an inquiry is generated or within the first 24 hours after generation. This is an effective way to welcome the prospective student and acknowledge the need for customized assistance. It also provides an opportunity to gauge the interest of the prospective student, which will dictate his or her classification (hot, warm, cool, not interested) and appropriate follow-up procedures. Other institutions simply use the call as a means to introduce themselves, verify a prospective student’s email and postal address, and determine if there are any preliminary questions that need to be answered. It is often a good idea to prepare scripts for enrollment personnel, so you can ensure that you gather the appropriate data to make future interactions meaningful and productive. A classic mistake that many universities make is to mail an information packet to the prospective students and then wait for the prospective student to take the next step. It is critical that direct, two-way contact be made with the individual, either before information is sent, immediately after or both.

Email. Successful email follow-up has several components: timeliness of delivery, customization of message, useful links, effective call to action and deliverability.

Customization — With email being the least expensive and easiest form of communication, institutions that use tools to automate the process based on known variables (program of interest, student’s name, inquiry source, etc.) have an advantage over those who use non-sophisticated forms of email. Any system you use should be able to pull information from your lead data and allow you to customize a response with little manual effort.

Timeliness — Ideally, an email welcoming the prospective student by name and providing several links to help continue researching important information about the institution and programs is generated immediately when an inquiry is added to the database. Then, at a pre-determined interval, follow-up emails will help sustain a relationship with that lead. Ideally, this process should be automated to minimize the amount of manual labor and time required.

Useful links — Important links to contain in email communications include: 1) a continually updated FAQ section of the university’s website, 2) an online application (for future reference), 3) the university’s online education section and/or specific programs and 4) links to any “community” features such as blogs and Web forums.

Call to Action — Always help prospective students understand the next steps in the process. At a minimum, provide them with a phone number they can call to communicate with a real person if they have any questions, as well as links to an online application.

Deliverability — Even the most effective email communication is worthless if it never reaches its intended recipient. The proliferation of unsolicited email has resulted in SPAM filtering systems that will often “throw the baby out with the bathwater.” It is very possible that the emails you send, if not consistent with legal and proper delivery practices, will end up in someone’s junk

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“Communicating with a prospective student at the right time with the right message is a combination of art and science.”

email folder and never be seen. Worse yet, your email server can be mistaken as a source of SPAM, affecting all emails sent from it, not just your marketing emails. There are many resources written on the topic of building successful email marketing campaigns. Readers should consult http://www.spam.org/info/Spam_Best_Practices.htm or other widely available online resources.

Print. Though it can be costly and slower, some prospective students desire printed material to review at their leisure. Indeed, printed materials often have a powerful influence over a prospective student’s decision-making process. However, due to the high production and labor costs associated with preparing and shipping printed materials, this form of response should also be reserved for those leads that have been identified in your process as higher quality or higher probability enrollments. An alternative for those that are not considered highly qualified, but who still desire printed materials, is to publish your marketing materials electronically in PDF format and have it available on the institution’s website. If using this method, email can be sent along with a link to the PDF document in place of mailed material. But do not make the mistake of assuming that a beautiful brochure in the form of a PDF is a substitute for printed materials. The fact is, most individuals ultimately print these materials at home, and when they do, your well-designed color brochure will likely not appear nearly as nice as you intended.

Other methods. There are other methods of follow-up that can help educate prospective students and move them closer to the application phase. Online open houses, “webinars” or chat sessions, for example, are great ways for prospective students to speak directly to professors and admission staff. Typically, a two to three percent invitation-to-attendance rate is achieved and should be taken into consideration when staffing such events as one person can only handle between 15 and 25 students at one time. This method isn’t optimal as a stand-alone option, but can be beneficial as an added form of follow-up and information sharing. Much the way “triggers” are used to automate telephone, print and email notification, they can also be used to help your school automate the process of communicating open houses and other similar activities with prospective students.

Communicating with a prospective student at the right time with the right message is a combination of art and science. It is helpful to map out a logical and effective follow-up strategy that can be deployed and tested over time. How will you communicate with a lead in the first 24 hours? How about during those critical first three to seven days? Scheduling which emails, physical mail and calls are going to be integrated into your follow up campaign upfront will make your enrollment managers much more effective.

As you implement that schedule, it is important to test various combinations of outreach to determine which provides the best return on investment. Does a post card on the third day increase your enrollments by any margin? These are the kinds of questions you will want to ask yourself (and answer through analysis) as you proceed. There are companies that offer tested and proven communications programs, EducationDynamics’ own Enrollment and Retention Services provides software that monitors, manages and measures prospective students’ levels of engagement throughout the enrollment process to increase conversion.

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Best Practice #6: Make Important Resources Available Online

The Application

Making an online application available improves the chances of moving an inquiry to the next stage of the enrollment process. In some cases, your call counselors may be able to walk the prospective student through an application on the first call.

Remember that getting a prospective student to an application is not the last step. Make sure the applicant successfully fills out the application and respond to the student as soon as possible.

With outsourced applications or an in-house system that does not help prospective students through sticking points, your application completion rate will not be as high as it could be. Any issues a lead has while completing the application can be turned into relationship-building exercises. Deploy a “smart” online application, which allows you to monitor your prospective students’ progress and help when necessary. For example, a good online application system will notify a counselor whenever an application has been started and then abandoned prior to completion. Apropos to this, make sure you provide a mechanism that allows the prospective student to fill out some of the application, and then come back later to complete it if necessary. This is especially important if you are using a long application.

Once the application is complete, a quick review and determination (accept/reject) on your end is a key factor in enrolling the student. Depending on the program, it’s likely that the prospective student might complete applications at multiple institutions. All other factors being equal, the college or university that provides the fastest turn-around stands a better chance of enrolling the prospective student.

Other Resources

Making other resources available online also improves your chances of converting a lead. Organizations implementing best practices in this area will make resources available, including applications for financial aid, credit transfer requests and even course directories and syllabi. In order of priority, resources that help the prospective student understand the experience are important, but should be considered secondary to resources that will help the prospective student move through the decision-making and enrollment process quickly and efficiently.

Best Practice # 7: Use Your Website to Support Your Marketing Efforts

Many universities have difficulty leveraging their websites for direct marketing purposes. This usually happens for one or more reasons:

• The marketing staff does not have control over the website or its content• The university’s website is extensive, supporting a wide range of constituents, including prospective students, existing students, alumniand others• The programs being marketed, as well as relevant resources, are scattered (e.g., acrossdepartmentalwebsitesor sub-pages), andmorethan likely lack consistency in messaging and information.

“Then you can optimize and allocate more budget where your cost per enrollment is lowest, and less budget where cost per enrollment is highest.”

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It is for this reason that many marketing departments choose not to send paid traffic (such as paid search engine traffic) to their institutions’ websites. There are simply too many opportunities for a prospective student to get “lost.”

Notwithstanding the above, an institution’s website can be used to support the marketing function, primarily if its use is advocated after a lead has been generated. Once an enrollment counselor has made direct contact with a prospective student and obtained an understanding of the prospective student’s specific needs, the counselor can refer him or her to individual pages on the site that are of specific help, including information about the program, information on financial aid, information on credit transfer or student blogs and discussion forums. A prospective student trying to find these items on your website unassisted may have difficulty. But with the help of your admissions staff, it becomes a breeze. Also, you do not have to worry about the prospec-tive student getting “distracted” or lost, because you have already established contact.

Best Practice # 8: Close the Loop

Inevitably some of your leads will convert into enrollments, and others won’t. No marketing channel or process will convert 100 percent of your leads into enrollments. But by carefully examining the characteristics of those who do convert, you can optimize your recruitment program, placing more effort and budget into areas that have proven successful. One of the easiest analyses you can perform is a review of the performance of your lead sources. For example, you may employ several unique marketing channels to generate inquiries, and several vendors within each channel. These may include paid search engines, email, display advertising and cost-per-lead marketing. By comparing the enrollment rate and cost-per-channel, you can determine an average cost-per-enrollment for each channel and vendor. Then, you can optimize and allocate more budget where your cost per enrollment is lowest, and less budget where cost per enrollment is highest. The two simple examples below demonstrate this approach:

Example 1: Paid Search ChannelAssume:• 1,000 paid search clicks to your website at a cost of $4 per click• 10 percent of these clicks become leads (100 leads)• 6 percent of these leads ultimately become enrollments (6 enrollments)

Totals:• Total Cost = 1,000 clicks x $4 = $4,000• Total Enrollments = 6• Cost Per Enrollment = $4,000/6 = $667.00

Example 2: Cost-Per-Lead ChannelAssume:• 150 leads generated at a cost of $40 per lead• 8 percent of these leads ultimately become enrollments (12 enrollments)

Totals:• Total Cost = 150 leads x $40 = $6,000• Total Enrollments = 12• Cost Per Enrollment = $6,000/12 = $500

As you can see, by calculating a cost per enrollment, you can compare two distinctly different marketing channels, as well as multiple vendors within a channel. In truth, the more accurate analysis is a little more involved, as you must consider indirect costs as well, which may include campaign setup and follow-up costs (mailing, phone, etc). Nevertheless, one can easily see how a relative comparison of marketing channels can be used to optimize a recruiting effort.

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Best Practice # 9: Consider the Other Factors Affecting Conversion Rates

Despite your best efforts in enrollment marketing management, there are often factors you have less control over that contribute to any one institution’s success rate in building enrollments. Although many of these may be outside of the enrollment manager’s control, it is important to note them here, as knowledge of these may be beneficial. Among the most significant are:

• The type and uniqueness of programs being offered• University factors (branding/awareness, tuition rates, delivery format, loan or finance options,

quality of instructors, speed of application approval, program start dates, accreditation)• The competitive strategy of other institutions

Type and Uniqueness of Programs Offered

The type of program offered can impact conversion rates due to the number of higher education institutions offering similar programs. Put simply, more “popular” programs (for example, an online M.B.A.) tend to be offered by more colleges and universities. This leads to a dilution of students applying to available programs. We have found that institutions offering programs in new areas where even limited demand exists, or target highly-specialized concentrations within popular programs (for example, an Information Systems Degree with a concentration in Internet Security), will have less competition for potential students, thus increasing the likelihood of higher conversions. Universities should consistently evaluate their programs and consider the deployment of unique programs and specializations. EducationDynamics has utilized its in-quiry data to create a research tool known as the EducationDynamics eLearning Index®. From anonymous aggregated data collected from the hundreds of thousands of students who visit eLearners.com each month, the EducationDynamics eLearning Index provides insight into student interest and demand, market saturation and online education trends. Appendix A contains some examples drawn from the EducationDynamics eLearning Index that illustrate changing demand in the marketplace.

Institution Factors

Institution factors are those that are specific to each college and university, which the enrollment manager can seldom influence. However, if any of these factors work in your institution’s favor, a good marketing or enrollment manager can use them to differentiate your university to a prospective student.

Brand Recognition — Universities with higher brand-name recognition will tend to attract more interest at a lower cost than institutions with less “brand” awareness. Prospective students may convert to enrollments at a higher rate at a “well-known” institution, because a level of implicit trust exists thanks to brand awareness. Remember that often brand recognition has been achieved at a very high cost over a long period of time, and this cost can’t easily be allocated on a per-student basis.

Tuition and Fees — Another important factor is the price of your program versus other com-peting colleges and universities. From an enrollment management perspective, it is worth taking the time to research your competitors and be able to explain to prospective students why your programs might cost more (e.g., state of the art delivery systems, 24-hour ac-cess to courseware, loan and financing options, etc.), as well as ensure that any discussion around tuition and fees includes information about financial aid availability.

Instructors — Your instructors, their credibility and their credentials can play a significant role in

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influencing leads. Their availability to prospective students to answer questions as part of the enrollment process can provide a competitive advantage to your school.

Accreditation — Accreditation is of critical importance to many higher education students. Many in the education world deem regional accreditation to be more prestigious than na-tional accreditation. But most students don’t know the difference. So if your institution has regional accreditation, it might be worth providing an explanation of the difference to a pro-spective student. To those prospective students seeking other than a higher education de-gree, including certificate programs and stand-alone coursework, accreditation may not be as critical.

Calendar — Institutions that offer rolling start dates (many start dates throughout the year) and quick application approval/denial are often able to capitalize on prospective students’ initial enthusiasm and thus convert at a higher rate. For example, a prospective student who finally decides to take the plunge into furthering his or her education may be more influenced by a university that has rolling eight-week starts than one that has only two or three semester starts per year.

Competitive Strategy of Other Schools

Even if the programs you offer directly compete with a limited number of institutions, success is not guaranteed. Other universities might have more significant budgets allocated to acquiring new students or more effective processes in place for converting leads to enrollments. Other organizations may “tolerate” a higher cost-per-enrollment than your institution, creating further competitive barriers. If your programs compete with other colleges and universities’, it is more important than ever that you try to restrict your inquiries to only the most adequately pre-qualified.

Best Practice # 10: It’s All About Relationships

It takes a tremendous amount of work – and money – to garner interest in your programs and translate that interest into an enrolled student. The key is to ensure that you are not welcoming them in the front door just to have them crawl out the window. It is critical to manage the entire lifecycle of a student from lead to graduate, particularly an online student who may not have the physical support that comes with a campus-based education. Throughout the student lifecycle, there are continuous “windows of vulnerability” that must be overcome. Solid communications efforts can ensure that a lead and a student remain engaged throughout the process. If you have historical retention data for your programs, evaluate the data to determine points of weakness. For example, most institutions see a student drop off rate in the first year. Knowing that will allow you to put together a first-year retention program that monitors and manages student engagement.

Today, there are a tremendous number of communications tools available to build and maintain relationships with students from online communities, such as Facebook, to regular email correspondences, to blogs that enable students to express and find themselves in your community. Again, these retention tools can be developed by your institution or bought off the shelf from organizations that have spent the time and effort to build proven programs, such as EducationDynamics’ Enrollment and Retention Services.

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ConclusionThe key to successfully matriculating students is having a well devised and precisely executed enrollment campaign. Your responsiveness, awareness of prospective students’ needs and the crucial impressions left at each touch-point with them can ultimately affect those prospective students’ decision to apply to and enroll at your school. Throughout this document, we have outlined best practices in recruiting used by some of today’s leading educational institutions. Many of these practices can be applied through the proper planning and execution of marketing (lead generation) campaigns, combined with a well planned and timed enrollment management strategy – all of which should be supported by powerful enabling technologies. Insti-tutions that adopt best practices and dedicate a sufficient level of internal resources can achieve great success on their own. Appendix B provides examples of best practices in action for three of EducationDynamics’ clients.

In many cases, colleges and universities do not have the human resources, technology or know-how to execute on lead generation and conversion ac-tivities effectively. In these cases, outsourcing of key activities may be the best course of action. Fortunately, in response to demand, a wide variety of a la carte and turnkey service providers exist, including organizations focused on lead generation, outsourced call centers and marketing communications services and technologies, among others. In a survey conducted through eLearners.com at an Aslanian Group conference, 88 percent of those re-sponding to the question indicated a likelihood of outsourcing part of or all of their enrollment process. Whether outsourcing or building the enrollment management competency on campus, it is critical to take the time to sur-vey the post secondary enrollment management landscape to define best practices for your institution, and to avoid the potential pitfalls.

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Appendix A

Data from the EducationDynamics eLearning Index

Table 1: eLearning Index Ranking by Subject

Subject 2010 2011Bachelor’s in Psychology 2 1Master’s in Counseling 1 2Master’s in Psychology 3 3Bachelor’s in Business Administration 4 4Master’s in Nursing 5 5Associate’s in Early Childhood Education 8 6Master’s in Special Education 15 7Bachelor’s in Early Childhood Education 9 8Associate’s in Religion -- 9Master’s in Health Administration 11 10

For both 2010 and 2011, it is clear that online degree programs in the field of psychology are in high demand – at both the Bachelor’s and Master’s levels. Bachelor’s of Business Administration have also consistently remained in high demand. The largest year-to-year growth was seen in the Associate’s in Religion degree. In 2010, this degree was not among the “top 20” online degrees; however, in 2011, it is the ninth most popular degree. Demand for online Master’s programs in Special Education have also seen significant year-to-year growth, having advanced from number 15 to number seven.

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Among all four degree levels, online Master’s degrees were in highest demand – representing nearly 38 percent of all inquiries on eLearners.com in 2010. This is closely followed by online Bachelor’s degrees, which represent nearly 32 percent of demand in 2010. Interestingly, although by some accounts Associate’s degrees comprise the largest currently available collection of online degrees, there is even greater demand online degree programs at the Bachelor’s and Master’s levels – representing an opportunity for every institution able to mount new online degree programs at these levels.

Appendix B

Best Practices at Work

The following presents an overview of several actual higher education institutions, the programs they offer, the enrollment management methods they are using and the enrollment success they have achieved. Please note that all of these colleges and universitieis use computer-based enrollment management solutions to implement their respective strategies.

Institution ARegionally accredited Higher Education Instituion offering bachelor’s and master’s level programs; expensively priced public institution with high brand awareness.

Enrollment management process: This university uses a “nine points of contact” method of following up with students. Once an inquiry is received in-house, an email is automatically generated and/or material is sent. De-pending on the success or failure of the first call, a mix of calls and emails is initiated. If after nine contacts the prospective student has not enrolled, he or

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she is grouped into another category and then receives periodic emails from the school notifying him or her of upcoming events, changes and news. Note that this institution is in the process of assigning different classifications to its inquiries based on interest level and will soon begin deeper customization with messaging applicable to each group.

Institution BState-recognized, non-accredited Higher Education Institution offering online certificate, bachelor’s and master’s-level programs; aggressively priced private for-profit institution with medium brand awareness.

Enrollment management process: Immediate “welcome” email to inquiry assigning a counselor (with contact info) and also containing links to an online application, live chat with an advisor and a link to online catalog (no material mailed). All prospective students are called within three days of inquiry receipt. After the call, inquiries are assigned a follow up “level” that triggers one of several follow-up paths; for example:

a) If “hot” they will be called again at a time suitable to the student; printed material will be sent on request in addition to links to downloadable (PDF) information.b) If “cool” they will be emailed again in one week, then monthly for a period of one year.

Institution CAccredited Higher Education Institution offering online certificates, bachelor’s- and master’s-level programs; moderately priced private for-profit institution with high brand awareness.

Enrollment management process: Because the institution has high brand awareness, it typically receives thousands of unqualified inquiries per month. The organization segregates leads by lead source, using historical conversion rates to classify sources as “high,” “medium” or “low.” Focusing on the “high” category, the institution sends an immediate welcome email, mails a packet of information within two business days and calls the prospective student within five days (unless the prospective student responds sooner to the written materials or email). For the “‘medium priority” group, the institution focuses on an aggressive email campaign sending up to four emails within the first two weeks, as well as mailing a single, full-color postcard. In each email there is a call to action with links to the organization’s website and application form. “Medium” candidates are provided with links to .pdf versions of the institution’s printed materials. Those in the “low” category also receive email communications, and can only request written materials by first speaking directly to an enrollment advisor. If prospective students from any of the lower two tiers were to show significant interest, they would be moved to the higher qualified group where they would receive the same type of communication strategy as those in the “high” category.

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If you have any questions about this white paper, EducationDynamics’ Web properties eLearners.com and EarnMyDegree.com and/or additional best practices in enrollment

management, please contact Howard Mandel at 201.377.3020 or [email protected].

About EducationDynamics

EducationDynamics is the proven leader in helping higher education institutions find, enroll and retain students. For over a decade, we’ve proudly served the postsecondary community by working diligently with schools to solve critical challenges and achieve organizational goals. Our mission is to help colleges and universities meet and exceed their recruitment, enrollment, and retention objectives by guiding students through their higher education experience and assisting educational administrators advance their institution. We have worked hard to earn and maintain our industry leadership through a deeply-rooted philosophy of serving our partners best by serving students first. This commitment has been at the heart of our success since we began and continues today as we support more than 1,200 colleges and universities nationwide.

About eLearners.com®

The eLearners.com website is one of several high visibility, high-quality prospecting tools offered by EducationDynamics. Since 1999, eLearners.com has been successfully connecting learners to online education, including online degree and certificate programs, specialized career training and a variety of online courses. For prospective students, eLearners.com provides a powerful search engine for users to find thousands of online program offerings, as well as educational evaluation tools and financial aid resources. For colleges and universities, the eLearners.com website offers a low-cost, performance-based method to provide national exposure and increase enrollments in their programs. For more information on eLearners.com, visit http://www.eLearners.com.

About EarnMyDegree.com

EarnMyDegree.com is a network of leading websites that connects prospective students with colleges, universities and online learning programs. Established in 2003, EarnMyDegree.com serves as a one-stop directory for undergraduate and advanced degrees, as well as professional certificates in a variety of fields from business to healthcare to technology. EarnMyDegree.com’s team of marketing experts, designers and copywriters have a proven track record for optimizing marketing campaign results to increase qualified leads. To learn more, visit http://www.EarnMyDegree.com.

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If you have any questions about this white paper, EducationDynamics and/or additional best practices in enrollment management, please contact:

Howard MandelExecutive Vice President of Sales

5 Marine View Plaza, Suite 212Hoboken, NJ 07030Phone: 201.377.3020Fax: [email protected]

www.EducationDynamics.com/Find-Students

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www.EducationDynamics.com© 2011 EducationDynamics. All rights reserved.