Higher education enrollment is a key issue for most institutions.
With so much competition, students now have a lot of options and this makes retention even more difficult for the budding organizations.
Digitization has made consumer rely on it to extent where they expect things to available on their phones. There are higher chances of better enrollment in this digital age.
Mentioned below are few strategies that will be of use to colleges in order to ensure college enrollment success.
Before we hop on to the key pointers few things are essential for any institution to live up to in this digital age. These essential things are web presence, a well-functioning website, social media presence and easy ways to reach out for institute as well as for students in need to get in touch with you.
Read the important strategies that you can incorporate below:
1. A Strategic Communications Flow is a Must
With the seemingly chaotic mix of print, e-mail, Web, and social media, there may not seem to be much “flow” with recruitment communications. As with student qualification, though, building a communications flow remains a bountiful recruitment strategy if it is handled strategically.
First, you still have to think through the communications at various enrollment stages—inquiry, applicant, admit, deposit. Regardless of where a student enters the flow, progressing them to the next enrollment stage remains the goal.
Focus on the electronic communications wisely. Having a Web site that engages students is of utmost importance. You want to invite communication in addition to delivering information. Give students opportunities to provide their e-mail addresses or even opt in to text messaging. Do the same with social media. You are better if covering fewer social media outlets well rather than spreading yourself too thin across many. Importantly make sure you get parents and guardians involved in the flow. Target them with communications and make them ambassadors for your campus.
2. Build a Campus Tour Mobile App
Once a prospective student makes the decision to visit your college campus, you must shift into overdrive to ensure this experience is entertaining, inspirational and informational.
Leverage their inclination towards technology with campus tour mobile app. Prospective students can download the app and find additional information about certain buildings and landmarks. And if they wish to visit the campus the app can also function as a campus map when users return home, allowing them to explore the university all over again from anywhere they like and increasing brand interaction.
3. Create a Web App for Your Course Schedule
When exploring courses your university offers, most prospective students are looking for crisp and immediate information. A web app to assist with this is a great deal where all of the information is hosted in a database online, available to be pulled to the user as needed. With an engaging and simple user interface, prospective students can research classes based on level, location, professors, days and times.
By providing prospective students with this information on the device they carry around in their pocket, you can keep your university’s brand top-of-mind and increase excitement for specific courses and experiences. Also, your current students can use this tool as well.
4. Make the Enrollment Process Easier from a Mobile Device
You’ve connected with prospective students from several marketing angles, and the moment you’ve been working toward is here: they’re ready to enroll.
Whether through a responsive interface or another web app, focus on creating a streamlined enrollment experience from any device. Make all data-entry points and drop-down menus easy to fill out and use. Avoid the need for pinching and scrolling. Use short, numbered pages that load quickly to keep the prospective student moving through the process. Focus on giving these audiences the ability to enroll from anywhere, on their time.
5. Measure and Improve
If you have good visibility into what is happening across your enrollment funnel you can see where things aren’t working as planned. When you improve data visibility you can diagnose and proactively address pipeline conversion issues. The key metrics I recommend that you watch closely are: Click to Lead, Lead to Application, Application to Admit, and Admit to Enroll. When you can identify breakdowns in the funnel, then it is much easier to proactively address them, and these small tweaks can really help grow enrollments.
What strategies do you think workout for college enrollment? Share with us in the comment section below.
References:
http://blog.blackboard.com/on-the-road-to-increase-student-enrollment/
