7 ways dynamic content can optimize higher ed marketing

As marketing teams in higher education shift to a digital-first strategy, more budgets and resources are allocated to online channels. Center stage is your website, especially for student acquisition. A whopping 73% of students turn to your website as the main source for information when researching study options. With this development, how can you make sure that your digital strategy and website are measuring up to expectations? And what are those expectations?

Here are the seven most common KPIs and how interactive content in shape of a "Digital Advisor" can help you boost your results - whatever you’re measuring. 

1. Improve website engagement

Generally, the goal is to inspire prospects to engage with as much information as possible. Most higher ed marketing teams measure this engagement with metrics such as number of page views, time spent on site, clicks or % of videos watched. With a Digital Advisor on your website, your prospects will spend four minutes of undivided attention on your information and truly engage.

We’re amazed by how many good leads we get from the site after adding the Digital Advisor.
Jan-Frederic Buss, Senior Digital Marketing Manager

2. Increase conversions, leads and RFIs

The compelling invitation to prospects that “in 4 minutes, see your match to this programme” shows strong conversion rates (up to 67%, actually). The format simply matches the state of mind of your website visitor; they’re here to get information, ideally in an efficient and rewarding manner. The relevant and intriguing questions encourage users to start the Digital Advisor- and complete it! This leaves you with a big bunch of emails of prospects to feed straight into your CRM system for next-step communication. If you are measuring your website performance in the volume of leads generated, this is the perfect tool.

3. Reduce the number of students applying to the wrong programme

Do you have several, somewhat similar programmes? Perhaps you receive applicants to programme X that are better suited to programme Y? Knowing that a well-informed prospective student will perform better through the funnel to enrolment,  communicating the differences between programmes is crucial. You most likely have a web page or a brochure filled with information about what the programme is about. But how do you inform a generation that is even more impatient than their Millennial predecessors? By adapting your content into the Digital Advisor format, they will be gently “tricked” into engaging with a vast amount of information. And not only that - they (and you!) will know if and how they match the profile of the students you want in your classrooms.

4. Doing more with the same team

Higher ed marketing departments are often stretched thin. And with an ever-growing focus on digital marketing efforts, existing staff often take on new responsibilities that may be completely new for them. For student acquisition, you're probably responsible for continuously publishing and maintaining content on your website, as well as finding new ways to innovate regularly. A Digital Advisor on your site (created by us!) works 24/7 and will need no management on your part. It all happens automatically including triggered emails to communicate further with the prospects leading them closer to application.

5. Boosting brand awareness

Your school and programmes are unique. You have invested time and money into sophisticated brand platforms, and your website content and ads are centred around these values and USPs. You know what you want to be known and remembered for. But our working memory has a limited capacity, and irrelevant information can clog this up. The House of Education Digital Advisor format allows you to make your USPs clear and memorable. In the end, the student is rewarded with information 100% tailored to their interest, leaving them with a strong sense of your institution and your programme.

6. Filling your webinars and virtual open house with participants

Do you offer webinars, virtual open houses or live Q&A on social media? To get the most out of your online events you’d want a big list of prospects in your CRM system that you can invite to your activities. An efficient way to build up your email lists is to start the engagement process with a Digital Advisor. It is safe to say that the best prospects you’re missing out on today are the ones who did find your website, but left before leaving their contact details to allow you to continue speaking with them. By catching more of them, and feeding them into your CRM communications, you will enjoy a bigger, qualitative audience at your digital events and ultimately more students enrolling.

7. Reporting and tracking ROI/results

Ideally, you want to measure your results and be able to tie them back to the big picture. But systems at schools are often siloed, with some business intelligence living in admissions systems, and other data in Google Analytics, or a CRM. Tying it all together can be a daunting task. Not all teams have someone in the role of marketing analyst, who performs data analysis and measures activities.

Starting small, and moving the needle in one place, can make a world of difference for your team and institution. With a Digital Advisor, you will capture a lot of information about your prospects. In fact, every answer is stored, so you will be able to see who the prospect is and where in the decision funnel they are. 

So whether you’re a large institution with marketing only, or a small- to mid-sized institution with a mixed responsibility of marketing and recruitment, your end goal is similar - encourage quality students to apply.

Want to know how a Digital Advisor on your website can help you meet your goals? Get in touch!