Very few elements of enrollment practices from my time are still used today. Back in the nineties, college fairs were common, and your best source of information for out-of-state colleges was a guide found in a bookstore. Websites were still in their infancy, and all enrollment communications happened via postal mail and phone calls. Most of the lifting was being done by the students. Twenty-five years later, the tide has completely turned. Enrollment marketing is now a highly competitive field, with mostly private institutions having well-thought customer journeys and finely-tuned messaging funnels.
Multiple Channels One Desired Outcome
There is no one change but multiple changes that omnichannel marketing has brought to higher education enrollment, and these continue to grow and evolve. One of the most significant changes entails using customer relationship management (CRM) software to process and manage communications with prospective students as they go through the admissions process.
CRMs receive their information from mobile applications and websites. Often the data is sourced from Common App, a digital service that allows students to apply to multiple universities simultaneously. Other sources include university admissions websites and in-person events.
Despite all the digital innovation, in-person experiences are precious; in fact, the 2019 State of College Admissions Report by the National Association for College Admission Counseling states that email, campus visits, and the university websites are the top 3 factors that colleges attribute the most importance in freshmen recruitment strategies. However, social media places 8th, that number has likely gone up since the pandemic forced college recruiters to conduct a lot of their work on Instagram. For example, @joinfiu and @fiujawhara complement in-person experiences (campus tours and college fairs) with social media interactions that allow for additional communication.
No longer casting a wide net, but custom messages with intent
Omnichannel marketing is something with the right message. All the data we can gather through various channels allows us to deliver more relevant messaging via email, social media placements, and postal mail. Admissions marketing messaging can be much more personalized and targeted. We don’t speak about a degree or the future; we now talk of the major; marketing materials have images of specific departments and student life recommendations based on the field of interest.
Looking Ahead
As artificial intelligence (A.I.) technologies take more prominence, we will see the current marketing personalization levels achieve even higher levels of customization. Future prospective students will be subject to custom customer journeys, content variations, messages, and tailor-made experiences. Even if enrollment journeys remain similar, all journeys will be unique. The universities will mold themselves to the student versus the other way around. The challenge for higher education will remain the same; will it adapt fast enough? Or will other education modalities move more quickly and capture leads more quickly? Will rankings, school spirit, and reputation be a strong enough sales card? I know that a large part of our industry has been in a comfort zone for some time now, and we are ripe for disruption.
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