How Western Connecticut State University Boosted Yield at a Critical Time
About WCSU
Western Connecticut State University changes lives by providing all students with a high quality education that fosters their growth as individuals, scholars, professionals, and leaders in a global society.
The Challenge
Like most institutions, Western Connecticut State University heads in to the back half of the month of April with an eye on May 1. While College Signing Day is by no means the end of the recruitment cycle for WCSU, they see it as a great benchmark to determine their next steps as they head in orientation, transfer outreach and planning ahead for the next cycle.
This year, it seemed that students were waiting longer and longer to make their decisions. The weeks heading in to May 1, WCSU’s leadership determined they needed to put in extra effort to ensure their admitted students had every possible opportunity to learn more, connect, and engage.
The Immediate Solution
In partnership with PlatformQ Education, WCSU developed and hosted a live panel featuring current undergraduate students sharing their experiences of life on campus. They named the event, “Admitted Students Ask Me Anything”. The event went from planned to executed in under 2 weeks.
Recognizing they couldn’t go it alone due to time restraints and other priorities, WCSU leveraged PlatformQ Education’s marketing support services to invite their admitted student population to the online event. Immediately after the event the content became available on-demand for students who may not have been able to attend live but still wanted to participate. This, of course, is in contrast to an on-campus or regional event that when complete are unable to be replicated without added cost and time.
The Outcomes and Next Steps
The admitted student event reached nearly 150 students (live and on-demand) in 24 hours with no added mailers or travel burden on the WCSU team. In the two weeks after the online event, WCSU bridged the majority of the gap they identified in their enrolling student headcount (jumping 6 percentage points in the last week. Because the event was so well received, WCSU immediately planned an accompanying financial aid event and intends to host presentations throughout the summer to support orientation and transfer student outreach.
“We are thrilled with the outcomes and early successes of our online engagement efforts with Conduit. We look forward to continuing the momentum and growing the impact these strategies have through our partnership with PlatformQ Education.” Jay Murray
AVP Enrollment Management
Western Connecticut State University
You CONDUIT Too!
Contact us to learn how Conduit + PlatformQ Eduction’s expertise in online engagement planning and strategy can support better conversion throughout the entire cycle.