How early adopters are boosting conversion and yield with online engagement
The way students and schools connect and engage continues to evolve. These leading institutions have partnered with RNL and PlatformQ Education to align continuous and consistent omnichannel engagement with strategic enrollment planning to maximize conversion and yield at each phase of the process.
Conduit is strategically integrated into RNL’s Demand Builder, Application Cultivator, Yield, and AOG (Adult, Online and Graduate) programs to support a holistic recruitment and marketing plan that combines legacy recruitment tactics like email, print and phone with new approaches like webcasting, social media streaming, global SMS texting and live chat. On average, institutions who layer these new approaches within their existing strategies see better results at each phase of the process, including:
- 36% boost in application generation
- 25% lift in application completion rates
- 7% increase in inquiry through deposit yield
These increases mean that not only do leading institutions see more applications; they see more completed applications that lead to enrollments.
Below is a sampling of early adopters who have partnered with RNL and PlatformQ Education to integrate Conduit online engagement strategic planning and execution into their overall plans.
Babson College
The marketing and admissions leadership at an innovative and entrepreneurial institution like Babson College understand that in order to stay relevant and competitive in today’s higher education marketplace they need to evolve the way they connect with their audience. With increased competition around the globe, they needed to build a consistent and continuous online engagement plan to ensure interested students are supported and feel connected throughout the process.
Babson is moving their full calendar of webinars to the Conduit platform because they understand how important it is for the content they develop to be continuously available for their unique audiences. They are also building programs to maximize yield for their undergraduate, international and MBA recruitment programs this fall.
University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC)
As we’ve seen in earlier posts, the team at UMKC has been busy over the past few months building and executing a creative online engagement plan to maximize demand for fall 2019 while also building a strategy for 2020 and beyond. UMKC schedules regular “Roo Chats” on their admissions homepage using the Campus Connect chat widget; facilitating regular engagement opportunities.
Additionally, UMKC has set up direct delivery of their Conduit data to their Slate CRM to accelerate response time to engaged prospects.
University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL)
Supported by RNL, Converge and PlatformQ Education; the UMSL team has seen great success leveraging live webcasting on Conduit alongside simulive (recorded live and played later) to maximize the utility of their online engagement programs. In the spring of 2019, UMSL hosted financial aid focused content to ensure parents and students were able to navigate the process. Their plan will continue throughout their 2020 campaign (and beyond!) to ensure students are supported through the next application phase as well.
Southern Utah University (SUU)
Like many institutions, SUU was looking to shore up their 2019 class while also thinking strategically for the future. This, of course, is always easier said than done.
Understanding that the majority of their enrollments come from the local area, SUU is developing a continuous online engagement plan that ensures they are easily accessible with important information throughout the process. Additionally, to shore up their 2019 enrollments they will be leveraging webcasting and chat to fill in the cracks between the summer months and on-campus arrival with pre-orientation content.
Missouri University of Science & Technology (Missouri S&T)
Maximizing their use of the Conduit platform, Missouri S&T has developed separate instances of the platform for multiple divisions, including:
- Undergraduate Admissions
- Graduate
- Global Campus (online)
- International admissions
- New Student Programs
This separation allows each group at the institution to have a dedicated place for the content they develop for their unique audiences while ensuring consistent branding and support.
Missouri S&T quickly engaged a healthy population of their international students enrolling from Saudi Arabia (showcased around the NAFSA Conference) and is consistently presenting new content for each of these audiences to reach and support them on a nearly weekly basis.
Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU)
The SWOSU team wanted to get their 2020 recruitment cycle started right. To do so, they’ve immediately scheduled out their “cornerstone” online engagement events including:
- A summer information session featuring current students as well as an application overview presentation that can be replayed throughout the year
- A financial aid presentation scheduled for shortly after the FAFSA opens in October
- Deadline reminder updates to encourage application completion
These events will act as the anchors of a cycle-wide plan to support conversion and yield at each phase of the process.
You CONDUIT Too!
Contact us to learn how RNL + Conduit online engagement planning and strategy can support better conversion throughout the entire cycle. Keep checking back as we continue to add case studies showcasing results by partner institutions throughout the year!