Effective Tips to Increase College Enrollment
Considering the current higher education admission landscape, college administrators and enrollment leaders are using every trick to meet their admission goals. Hitting high student enrollment targets has never been a walk in the park for admission teams but the recent pandemic situation has made it even more challenging. Today’s tech-savvy generation is just not easy to get hold of, especially when they have a plethora of new-age options to choose from.
In the Inside Higher Ed Survey of College and University Admissions Officials 2020, it was revealed that 69% of admission departments from community colleges and 55% of admissions teams from private bachelors colleges are stressed about meeting their goals for new students.
They are putting their best foot forward, trying every trick to get closer to their enrollment targets. However, there are still a few questions they are fretting about- what really works to attract more applicants? How can we increase annual enrollment?
The good news is – with new marketing practices and emerging student admission management software solutions that can engage applicants virtually, colleges have a lot of effective methods to try.
We have listed a few proven tips that can help your college increase enrollment and admission rates. Let’s go through them:
- Prioritize Their Interests
Starting a college journey is a big life event. Choosing the right college for this amazing journey is an emotional decision for students. So, why not harness this emotional motivation to attract more prospects? Your enrollment process must focus on their preferences and tap into their interests. Understand what drives them to apply to a specific college, how you can get their attention, and use it to create impactful marketing strategies, admission pitches, and ad copies. Your message must align with the true aspirations of students and intrigue them to take action. If you fail to decode their interest or motivation, all your efforts can fall flat. - Share Your Story
Every college or institute has a story that makes them stand out from others. Use that story for your education marketing as your storytelling skill can transform your college into a brand. You can even create one that celebrates your institute’s culture, success, thought-leadership, spirit, alumni, students, faculty, and its involvement in communities. If you search well, you can find great sources of inspiration, string all of them together and post them on your official website. Let your alumnus speak of your success and share their journeys through social media and other digital channels. Trust us, this small step can yield great results in no time. - Use Automation for Instant Reply
Today’s generation lives on the edge, they are impatient, and want instant answers to all their questions, including admission queries. A few minutes of delay to reply, and all your efforts will be in vain. Therefore, it is important to maintain effective communication with prospects. Connect with them earlier and revert immediately to climb high in their list of preferred colleges. The minimum response time that leads expect is 5 minutes or less and you can’t ensure that for every applicant. So, leverage automation with an efficient CRM solution to reply to queries. From assigning inquiries to the right department to creating schedules for sending responses, this smart platform has got it all covered. - Integrate Advanced Technologies
With technologies becoming an integral part of marketing and admission strategies, no college can afford to ignore them. The right tech-based platform manages everything for you, including sampling, analyzing, recruiting, and more. Colleges that lack time and resources to integrate cutting-edge technologies in their admission process can get intuitive and use plug-and-play models. You can make the most of enrollment notifications, chatbots, and autoresponders to serve applicants. Also, it will enhance your engagement, admission, and marketing efforts. - Hype Your Graduates
It won’t be easy to win the trust of students and parents. You need to make everything authentic and reliable. So, when others talk good about you, sharing facts and their personal experiences, applicants are likely to believe them more. Case studies, student feedback & testimonials, awards, and recognition can add credibility to your college brand and boost student admission rate. Seeing the success of your college alumni can convince them to apply to your institute. Make sure to keep the stories real and believable for better engagement. - Create Seamless Mobile Application Process
Today, people want easy access to everything, and college applicants are no exception. So, if you already don’t have one, then create a mobile-friendly application process that allows students to apply from anywhere. It should be highly responsive and designed neatly with easy navigation. It should be compatible with all mobile devices and deliver an excellent user experience as this can impact your college reputation. Also, a hassle-free application process will engage more applicants and increase enrollment rates. - Use Student Data Analytics
With time, marketing has gained more clarity and accuracy. Now, colleges can analyze the sources for leads for higher education, messages, drop-off points, and actions within minutes. These reports help the admission teams allocate their resources and efforts in the right direction. They can take corrective measures, focus on effective platforms, get better insights, and make data-driven decisions. To achieve this, you need a meticulously designed student admission management system with strong reporting and dashboard features. It will enable you to collect information, analyze performance, and track courses, admission reps, and campuses.
Conclusion
Attracting applicants and enrolling them is getting trickier every year and will only get more challenging in the days to come. Hence, you need to switch your traditional methods with automated ones to make the admission process faster and more effective.
CollPoll’s robust solution comes with different modules for applicants, lead sorting, built-in messaging, lead nourishing tools, and more for workflow automation. Integrate it with your CRM and it will handle the entire student’s journey, from registration to course completion.
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