How the United States Naval Academy Exceeded Parent and Student Engagement Objectives
About the USNA
As the undergraduate college of our country’s naval service, the Naval Academy prepares young men and women to become professional officers of competence, character, and compassion in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Naval Academy students are midshipmen on active duty in the U.S. Navy.
Students attend the academy for four years, graduating with bachelor of science degrees and commissions as ensigns in the Navy or second lieutenants in the Marine Corps. Naval Academy graduates serve at least five years in the Navy or Marine Corps.
Two Objectives: Parent and Regional Outreach
As you can imagine, the USNA is keenly aware that parents are a big part of the decision for a student to attend the academy. As such, the team at USNA works to build a relationship with parents of prospective students to ensure any of their concerns are alleviated throughout the process.
Like many colleges and universities, recruitment at USNA is done regionally. This ensures personalized outreach and attention by a dedicated member of the staff. With that said, it can be difficult for students to really get to know their regional staff. While the nature of an online platform allows for national outreach, USNA also leverages Conduit to reach and engage students and focus their outreach efforts by specific regions. This enables the students viewing their live presentations to easily identify and hear from their assigned regional teams.
The Solution
In support of their outreach efforts, USNA hosted a dedicated parent information session ahead of a “meet your regional counselor” session on the Conduit Platform. Partnering with the PlatformQ Education team, USNA leveraged the Q-Tokens (direct log-in URLs) to provide parents and students direct access to the platform. The team plans to run continued “meet your regional counselor” events throughout the fall, marketing to students based on their geographic region.
Additionally, the USNA team trusted the PlatformQ Education Conduit team with all of it’s pre and post-event marketing services leveraging Q-Mail e-mail automation to drive their event attendance.
The Results
The parent information session, hosted in late July, reached over 1,300 live viewers as well as an additional 415 on-demand after the live presentation. More importantly, the USNA received over 200 questions during the live event, representing 200 phone calls and emails they did not have to field from eager parents.
Shortly thereafter, the USNA “meet your regional counselor” event saw nearly 2,000 students log in live, with more than 1,100 students logging in during the on-demand period. Much like the parent session, students were eager to engage – asking over 600 questions during the live event and joining for nearly 30 minutes (an eternity in online time!).
The USNA team plans to continue to host online events featuring their regional counselors throughout the fall as well as generating focused programs about physical and medical requirements, which is unique to their student audience.
“We formulate these virtual events to provide prospective candidates and their parents with insightful knowledge in regard to the Naval Academy’s superb credentials.”
Torey Milton, Digital Media Specialist
US Naval Academy Admissions
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