Higher Education Marketing: How Data Insights and Personalization Can Be Key to Increasing Enrollment

In higher education marketing, data insights and personalization are powerful factors in increasing enrollment rates and your overall return on investment. 

By leveraging data to understand students’ needs and personalizing interactions at every stage, colleges, universities and trade schools can create more effective marketing strategies, enhance the student experience and ultimately increase engagement, enrollment and retention. 

The most effective marketing strategies incorporate data insights, customized solutions, personalization and audience segmentation to reach prospective students. Unlike it was in the past, sending communications to one large group of recipients is not the most effective route, especially considering that today’s technological capabilities provide organizations with many more options. Because there is increased competition in the market, it’s important to leverage these capabilities to personalize communications in a manner that creates an emotional connection with prospects. When you do, prospects will remember that positive feeling when the time comes for them to make their decisions, leading to increased conversions and a greater ROI for your organization.

Instead of relying on the trial-and-error approach, you should be purposeful in your outreach – and that should be backed by factual data that no one can deny.

Audience Segmentation and Personalization in Higher Education Marketing

When it comes to marketing to increase enrollment at higher education institutions, having a deep understanding of the target audience is key. 

Understanding students’ educational aspirations, extracurricular preferences and career goals allows schools to develop targeted messages, programs and services that attract and engage their audience effectively. This personalized approach contributes to a sense of belonging – possibly long before the students ever step on campus.

However, in order to effectively personalize communications, it’s important to understand audience information such as their interests, stage in the enrollment process, geographic location, age, goals, academic level, gender, socioeconomic background or other factors. Segmenting the audience into groups makes the planning and execution process more manageable, and that can help you more clearly analyze the effectiveness of your communications and use these results to plan future growth strategies. 

Generic messaging doesn’t resonate as well as personalized messaging; however, sending the wrong message can detract people completely. Therefore, it’s important to know who is in your audience so that you can use appropriate messaging that makes them feel included, wanted and special. For example, the messages in marketing emails you would send to high school seniors would be different than the ones you would send to graduate students interested in obtaining doctoral degrees. 

Because personalized content resonates more deeply and sparks interest, it increases engagement and improves conversion rates. When a student who is interested in a particular field receives information about your course offerings in that industry, you are more likely to capture their attention. This also helps to ensure that you are reaching students who are most likely to be interested in the programs you offer, a factor that is especially relevant for trade schools, graduate schools, medical schools and schools that focus on outstanding athletic programs.

In fact, during a December 2022 survey by Statista among senior marketers worldwide, 95 percent of respondents rated their personalization strategies as “somewhat” or “very” successful.

Finally, audience segmentation strategies can also help schools increase their return on investment. In years past, schools would send direct mail to a broad audience, hoping that some recipients would convert – and the schools certainly did receive some benefits from doing so. However, sending this many mailings is expensive and, when compared with the number of conversions, meant a lower ROI or even a financial loss. By using data to identify and segment audiences, fewer communications need to be sent, which lowers printing, email and mailing costs and contributes to a higher ROI.

Why Data Insights are Key to Increasing Enrollment

Hundreds of data analysis tools and programs are available online and through various apps, so it takes a trained eye to understand what should be tracked, dissect the data, examine the results and make meaningful conclusions. Collecting data, being able to understand what it is telling you and using it for future enrollment strategies is essential in higher education marketing. Understanding this data can help shape all your messaging by providing you with a greater understanding of what is triggering prospects to act.

As you are trying to reach your audience, it’s important to keep trends and trending topics in mind. When you do so, you can make appropriate adjustments to your marketing strategies to ensure your communications are appropriate and in touch with what’s happening in the world. Sending communications at the right time, both based on where the prospective students are within their enrollment journeys and based on what is happening in the world around them, can make a big difference.

Sending communications regularly can help prospective students feel more of a connection with your college, university or trade school. Regular communications ensure that your school is top-of-mind, and they can contribute to higher engagement, conversion and enrollment rates. At the same time, it’s important not to overwhelm your audience, so planning an optimal and reasonable cadence is key.

Methods of Engaging and Converting Prospective Students

You likely have utilized many effective methods of attracting and retaining students to your school, but as times change, incorporating additional strategies may be effective in increasing enrollment rates.

Life is very different today than it was 20, 10 or even five years ago. Whether it’s due to the effects of the pandemic, advancements in technology or other factors, students may have career aspirations that are unlike those that students had generations ago. Using data-based insights, following emerging trends and personalizing communications to students based on these new trends can be helpful.

As you are working to enhance and complement your enrollment strategies, keep the following in mind:

• Remember the marketing essentials: website optimization, email marketing, direct mail, social media marketing, online advertisements, in-person experiences and one-on-one communications.
• In today’s environment, people may be more interested in careers that allow them to work remotely or in a hybrid role. As you are creating posts or ads, featuring offerings that apply to these concepts – such as classes based on entrepreneurial career paths that allow people to work remotely – may help you attract and convert more students.
• Open houses and tours of campuses have been common for generations, but posting videos of these comprehensive tours may help you attract students who live in different states or countries, as well as those who are still deliberating about which school they would like to attend.
• Leverage the power of video on your social media channels, if you are not already doing so. Go beyond telling prospective students what you can do for them – show them! Videos can be related to classes, special events, sports and community involvement.
• Host virtual information sessions allowing students to ask their questions either one-on-one or in a group.
• Regularly share case studies and success stories, especially those pertaining to trending issues such as artificial intelligence programs and classes.
• As people become increasingly aware of the importance of mental and physical health, share information about your resources for students – as well as for teachers and administrators if you are looking to add to your team. For example, does your campus have a gym, and do you offer mental health counseling assistance? Sharing that information shows your audience that you are genuine, in touch with the world and are interested in the well-being of your students and faculty.

By implementing these strategies, schools, universities and trade schools can increase their enrollment, attract a diverse student body and provide a positive and supportive educational experience. 

However, higher education marketing is a time-consuming process that involves plenty of legwork, skill, ingenuity and experience-based foresight. Partnering with a marketing solutions provider that has expertise in working in the education sector can help you analyze the data, personalize communications, create and implement various marketing strategies and grow your brand presence.

With years of experience in higher education marketing, Phoenix Innovate can design transformative and sustainable solutions to help you meet your goals. For more information about our customized solutions, email us today through our website or call to schedule a meeting with a member of our team!