The marketing departments in colleges and universities are very interested in adopting modern strategies to utilize their ever-tightening budgets for an increase in student recruitment. This includes implementing student recruitment CRM software to increase responsive touchpoints with prospective students. Institutions are constantly striving to increase student enrollment and to get more prospects interested in their schools, programs, and courses in a super-crowded marketplace. Success is not dictated solely by a received application or sent admission letter. Rather, it’s an effective onboarding process which can ultimately determine a school’s final enrollment rate.
And like so many other things, this process is often constrained by ever-tightening budgets. Colleges and Universities must be smart about communicating with admitted students to follow trends in higher education, and often, the best way to do that today is through mobile engagement. Young adults are often inclined to message on a college mobile app rather than get on a call or stand in line.
Selecting the right candidates for admission i.e. most suitable for the institution, is a part of the solution. As candidates become prospects and prospects become applicants, it is essential for schools to be effective at continuing to communicate and engage with them. Lead scoring to demarcate the more engaged prospects from the less engaged ones and the staff spending appropriate time with the right prospects to convert is a critical issue. Preference for another school, indecision, and “summer melt” must be addressed early to ensure increased student enrollment rates.
Strategies to increase student enrollment rates using mobile apps
With the growing usage of mobile apps, emails are taking a back seat. A college mobile app with a student service desk to ask any question, FAQs for self-service, appointment booking, campus news, etc. will engage a prospective student. Reach the prospect quickly through a notification and broadcast successful alumni stories. It has become imperative for institutions to embrace these new Trends in higher education and dictate that we bridge the generational gap by reaching students on the platform they prefer for communication anytime, anywhere – their mobile phones.
How to increase student enrollment in Higher Education? How can e2s help?
e2s is a customizable app and portal specifically designed for higher education that helps schools increase enrollment rates by better guiding and supporting prospects throughout their journey from admission to graduation.
Listed below are six ways that e2s can help you enhance student recruitment rates:
- Create prospect personas that work for your institution – example: international, online, adult, veteran, physically challenged student etc. Sent targeted communication to the prospects belonging to each persona and tracked analytics for prospect engagement and conversion
- Set up your very own college mobile app easily using e2s design studio for better 2-way communication with your prospects for increased responsiveness in a device of their choice
- Set up automated drip and response-based campaigns by targeting your prospective students for increased student recruitment
- Make your admissions staff members’ work day easy – a simple home page with dashboards and all pending work in the order of priority
- The admission workflow is incredibly easy to set up with all the necessary steps in the admission management process: enquiry-application-interview-offer- enrollment
- Knowledge base and Service Desk for prospects to self-serve and ask questions anytime, anywhere. A simple ticketing process under the hood supports the students with responsive and useful information.
You can lose a good prospect simply because of a lack of responsiveness. Like the website, a mobile app has become an essential tool in this information age. Show your prospects that you care by staying ahead of their needs, building a rapport, and immersing them in your culture and communities even before they are on campus, all of which will successfully improve your student enrollment rates.
Click here to learn more about e2s Recruit for Higher Education or schedule a demonstration with our product experts.