Ruffalo Noel Levitz

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E-expectations 2015: What 10 years of Research Has Told Us About College E-Recruitment

Stephanie Geyer, Ruffalo Noel Levitz Lance Merker, OmniUpdate

Tweeting? #eexpect #eduweb15

What were we curious about in 2005? Were students online? Just 49% said they were using the internet

at least once every day. Did they use college websites? 72% had used college websites

Can we call them on their cell phones? 58% said NO!

Can we send them text messages? 56% said NO! (Wait until you see what they

say now….)

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Methodology, Demographics and General Attitudes

Web

Social Media

E-mail

Interactive Resources

Celebrating 10 Years of Great Data to Make the Right Decisions

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1 Methodology, Demographics and General Attitudes 3052 High School Juniors and Seniors 1526 from each class 95% confidence interval; +/- 3% margin NRCCUA list source 25% from each of four US regions 50% female/50% male

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Demographic Details Class of 2015 (Seniors) 27% first generation GPA:

A+ to A-: 45.4% B+ to B-: 52.1% C+ to C-: 2.01% Lower than C-: .4%

Race/Ethnicity: Native American: 2.1% Asian: 6.9% African-American: 8.6% Hispanic: 13% Middle Eastern: .6% Caucasian: 42.8%

Class of 2016 (Juniors) 24.8% first generation GPA:

A+ to A-: 56.1% B+ to B-: 40.1% C+ to C-: 3.5% Lower than C-: .3%

Race/Ethnicity: Native American: 3.7% Asian: 7.9% African-American: 10.7% Hispanic: 17.2% Middle Eastern: 1.3% Caucasian: 55.5%

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Demographic Details—2 Class of 2015 (Seniors) College type:

Private: 33.5% State/Public: 94.2% Community/Junior: 8.2% Vo-Tech: 6.3%

Will participate in sports: 50% Location of student:

Rural: 21.5% Urban: 28.1% Town: 16.3% Suburban: 34.1%

Class of 2016 (Juniors) College type:

Private: 51% State/Public: 90.5% Community/Junior: 12.3% Vo-Tech: 8.3%

Will participate in sports: 66% Location of student:

Rural: 18.9% Urban: 28.7% Town: 15.9% Suburban: 36.4%

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Enrollment Stage Juniors

Inactive: 3.8%

Prospect: 48.8%

Inquiry: 49.6%

Applied: 1.1%

Accepted: 1.7%

Inactive: 1.3%

Prospect: 3.5%

Inquiry: 5.9%

Applied: 3.7%

Accepted: 85.5%

Seniors

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How do they find answers to their questions?

57.60%

13% 7.40%

14.40%

70.50%

6.80% 3.50%

12.30%

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%

Website Call admissions Call hs counselor E-mail admissions

Seniors Juniors

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College web sites influence interest the most 1-5 scale, top two box % shown

32.70%

80%

36.10% 33.40% 30.50% 38.20%

77.30%

36.30% 44.20%

29.70%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Print Collegewebsite

Magazinerankings

Collegeplanning site

entries

Other

Seniors Juniors

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2 Web Sites

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Nearly all find reliable information on your websites Similar results in 2014

98.20%

1.80%

97.30%

2.70% 0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Agree: I find reliable information on college websites Disagree: I find reliable information on college websites

Seniors Juniors

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Your website has an effect on their perception of your school 11% increase from the 2014 study

78%

22%

77.10%

22.90%

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

College or university websites make a difference inmy perceptions of the school

My perceptions of a school have no relation to itswebsite

Seniors Juniors

How did they find a school online? (2009) Google or other search engine using the

school’s name—41% College planning sites—38% Google/search, other keywords—35% URL from a print piece—13% NCAA or other athletic site—5% MySpace or Facebook—3%

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Search engines lead the way to your website

46.80%

86.30%

45.70%

22.50%

23.00%

16.70%

28.70%

88.60%

53.70%

25.30%

18.00%

31.60%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

I know the url

Search engine

Link from e-mail

URL in print

Bookmarked

College planning site

JuniorsSeniors

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Branded search is most common 86.3% of seniors and 88.6% of juniors use search to find school sites

90.10%

49.20%

32.90%

21.70%

34.20%

86.20%

58.60%

46.40%

32.60%

44.00%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Name of the school

School AND major

Program name

Program and location

Desired location

Juniors Seniors

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Top Content Targets for Your Website If you were to look at a specific college site right now, what would you look for?

18.70%

38.30%

29.50%

9.70%

2.80%

21.12%

43.300%

24.200%

5.800% 4.600%

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%50%

Enrollment (appprocess, admissionsevents, counselor

contacts, RFI)

Academics (programlisting, details, rankings)

Money (cost,scholarships)

Life (residence, student,athletics)

Wayfinding (location,directions)

Seniors Juniors

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Top 10 Most Interesting Links: 10. Athletics (S: 9.1%/J: 13.7%) 9. Students (S: 11.3%/J12.0%) 8. Logo (S: 11.8%/J: 13.0% 7. About (S: 11.8%/J: 12.4%) 6. Program Requirements (S: 15.3%/J: 20.5%) 5. Campus & Community (S: 16.8%/J: 17.8%) 4. Application Requirements (S: 20.9%/J: 25.7%) 3. Academics (S: 24.0%/J: 33.0%) 2. Degree Details (S: 28.1%/J: 29.1%) 1. Admissions & Aid (S: 29.6%/J: 32.8%)

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What demonstrates value in your website content? 72.8% of seniors and 64% of juniors said they’ve found evidence

60.10%

28.10%

39.20%

73%

49.90%

29%

45.70%

57.50%

22%

38.80%

75.30%

45.20%

22.60%

44.80%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Testimonials/Quotes Faculty profiles Program videos Job placement stats Grad schoolplacement stats

Accreditation details Program rankings

Seniors Juniors

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Which images are most interesting to prospective students?

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Group 1 Photos

Aerial: (74.8% selected quad in next set) 66.9% seniors 66.4% juniors Classroom: 10.4% seniors 10.9% juniors Under tree: 22.8% seniors 22.7% juniors

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Group 2 Photos

On the Quad: (74.4% selected aerial shot in previous set) 65.2% seniors 67.3% juniors

Study Group: 25.6% seniors 23.1% juniors Cafeteria Chat 9.2% seniors 9.6% juniors

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Consistent percentage viewing college sites on mobile About 40% of students use mobile devices to view any website “all the time”

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

71% 69% 71% 69%

2015 Juniors 2015 Seniors 2014 Seniors 2013 Seniors

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69% of seniors and 65% of juniors viewed a college site on a mobile device within a week of taking the survey

26%

43%

24%

6% 1%

2015 Seniors Any Mobile Visit

Earliertoday

Within past7 days

Within pastmonth

21%

44%

25%

8% 2%

2015 Juniors Any Mobile Visit

Earlier today

Within past7 days

Within pastmonth

Within pastthreemonths

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Mobile use of forms: increases in completing RFI and visit forms; decrease in completing online applications

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Requestinformation

Campus visitregistration

Open houseregistration

Applicationfor

admission

Classregistration

Costcalculator

Scholarshipcalculator

Online eventregistration

2015 Seniors 2014 Seniors 2015 Juniors

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3 Social Media

What were we curious about in 2006? Have you used MySpace or Facebook to

connect with current students? 33% said yes

Have they looked for a school-specific page on MySpace or Facebook? 20% had done so, just 35% of those who

had not said they would like to Do they have their own profile on MySpace

or LiveJournal? 31% had done so, 33% said they would like

to

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Seniors find college social media more reliable Small increase comparing 2014 and 2015 seniors (7%)

60.60%

39.40% 47.70% 52.30%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Agree: I find reliable info through college social media Disagree: I find reliable info through college social media

Seniors Juniors

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YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram lead Social Media Sites Used at Least Once/Week

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%

Seniors JuniorsAlso: Srs. Jrs. YikYak 4.60% 3.20% Storify 4.30% 3.10% LinkedIn 3.60% 3.40% None 3.00% 3.70% Other 3.00% 3.50% St. Up. 1.70% 1.20%

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Facebook, Google+ and Vine use decreased Comparing 2014 and 2015 Seniors

0.40%

-4.20%

15.60%

3.50% 6.20%

-4.60%

7.80%

-5.00%

3.70% 5.20% 4.60%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

YouTube Facebook Snapchat Instagram Twitter Google+ Pinterest Vine Tumblr iFunny Reddit

2015 Seniors 2014 Seniors Difference

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Social Media Best for Researching Colleges

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Facebook YouTube Twitter Google+ Instagram None

Seniors Juniors

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Comparing Use vs. Best for Learning About College All responders

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%

Most Used Best for College Research

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Engagement with Facebook 65.4% of seniors (51.4% in 2014) and 44.2% of juniors have looked at a college or university Facebook page

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Clicked like Joined a group Added acomment

None

SeniorsJuniors

35.7% 2014

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Twitter Use: (45.70% of seniors and 42.10% of juniors use Twitter at least once per week) Do you follow any Twitter feeds from a college or university?

29.9% Seniors Down from 37% in 2014

22.1% Juniors

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YouTube Use Detail 73.5% of seniors and 74.6% of juniors use YouTube at least once/week

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%

Viewed acollege

channel page

Subscribed toa channel

Viewedvideos linkedfrom a college

site

Viewedvideos

embedded insocial media

Nothing

Seniors Juniors

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4 E-Mail

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Seniors slightly more confident than juniors in reliability of e-mails from colleges and universities Similar results for 2014 seniors

86.70%

13.30%

80.60%

19.40%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Agree: I find reliable information in emails from colleges Disagree: I find reliable information in emails from colleges

Seniors Juniors

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They are still using e-mail and they will open your messages…eventually!

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Uses e-mailat least

once/week

Gives emailwhen

requested

Opens amessage

from schoolof interest

Opens amessage

fromunknown

school

2015 Seniors2014 SeniorsJuniors

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They will hang onto your e-mail! Look at long term open rates on your campaigns

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Save ininbox

Put in afolder

Forward toanotheraccount

Forward tofamily

Print it Delete it Nothing

2015 Seniors 2014 Seniors Juniors

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Checking e-mail on their smartphones? Nearly two-thirds of seniors and juniors are checking daily, many multiple times

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Never Less thanonce/month

A fewtimes/month

Once/week Few times/week At leastonce/day

More thanonce/day

2015 Seniors 2014 Seniors Juniors

62% are checking email on their mobile device at least

once a day!

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5 Interactive Resources

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Text Messages Seniors receiving more texts than juniors Willing to allow text messages?

Seniors: 73.4%, up from 52.7% in 2014 Juniors: 69.6% up from 44% in 2005

Have received text messages? Seniors: 28.5%, about the same as last year.

Individual—32.9% General—36.2% Both—30.9%

Juniors: 10.2% Individual—24.7% General—45.2% Both—30.1%

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Paid interactive marketing presents new opportunities to reach prospects and engage inquiries, especially juniors!

Have clicked on a paid ad: Seniors—34.3%, compared to 31% in 2014 Juniors—43.4%

10% more likely to have visited a college

Facebook page 10% more likely to have viewed a college site

on a mobile device 10% more likely to use online chat 10% more likely to be open to text messages 10% more likely to give an e-mail address 17% more likely to open an e-mail from an

unknown school

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Google the most likely venue for their ad clicks Facebook is the next most likely resource

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

Googlesearch

Bing search Yahoosearch

A differentsearchengine

Facebook Other

2015 Seniors2014 Seniors2013 SeniorsJuniors

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Paid ads are attracting newcomers and possibly students already in your inquiry and application pools

48.20% 61.90%

29.60%

54% 67.50%

15%

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

I had never heardof the school

before

Alreadyconsidering

Planning toattend

2015 SeniorsJuniors

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Reflections and Recommendations

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1 The questions stay the same, the channels have expanded Use the right resources to convey the right messages to the right students, whenever they want to receive them.

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2 Your website is the hub Are you connecting all of the spokes? Have you made the site an efficient self-service resource? (Hint: focus on information architecture, content and search engine optimization)

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3 Are you measuring? How might your students be different? What is happening with your population in terms of mobile adoption? How are your social media channels supporting engagement goals?

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4 Go beyond “click, read, leave” How do your digital resources encourage engagement? Do you have effective calls-to-action in place that match market and stage?

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5 SEO is a way of life, not a luxury They are using Google to find you. Are you helping them get to your preferred landing pages?

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6 Content Strategy should take up most of your time How can you keep your site content fresh and engaging? How can you advance relevance and support SEO? How can you integrate, syndicate and renew your content through all appropriate channels?

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7 Deliver a comprehensive visual depiction of your campus and people Deliver images that provide a sense of place, location context AND three under tree!

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8 Mobile Users Cannot Be Ignored Get your website, e-mail messages and landing pages into responsive templates. Now. And check those forms on mobile!

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9 Focus on the most relevant and expected channels Be sure your website content strategy is connected with your social media resources. Measure! Experiment! Measure!

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10 Try new stuff Text messaging. It’s time. Landing pages to support e-mail. Are you using them? .

What should we be asking next?

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Stephanie Geyer, Noel-Levitz Voice: (303) 594-0370 Email: stephanie-geyer@noellevitz.com @StephGeyer Lance Merker, OmniUpdate Voice: (805) 484-9400 Email: lance@omniupdate.com @LanceMerker

Please use #eexpect when tweeting about E-expectations or to share question ideas