About the Episode
The Future of Student Search Pulse Check Series is sponsored by Carnegie.
Heather Daniels, Executive Director of Admission at Colorado State, shares insights on how CSU has revolutionized its student search approach. By leveraging data analytics and strategic adjustments, the institution has effectively maximized resources and focused on building a strong inquiry pool that has led toward stronger enrollment. This episode explores the importance of questioning traditional methods, adopting a collaborative leadership approach, and prioritizing a human-centered approach to student search.
Key Takeaways:
- Data-Driven Decision Making: Analyze data to identify trends, optimize resource allocation, and make informed decisions.
- Strategic Adjustments: Question traditional methods and make data-driven adjustments to meet evolving student needs and expectations.
- Collaborative Leadership: Foster a collaborative environment where team members contribute to decision-making and strategy development.
- Continuous Evaluation: Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of student search strategies and make necessary adjustments.
- Personalized Communication: Leverage personalized messaging through text and in-app messaging to enhance engagement.
- Parent Engagement: Engage parents through webinars and other channels to create a sense of connection and involvement.
- Human-Centered Approach: Foster a sense of community and personal connection to attract and retain prospective students.
Episode Summary:
What drove Colorado State University to change its student search approach?
When Heather Daniels became Executive Director of Admissions at CSU in 2018, the institution was facing challenges after enrolling its largest class to date. This spurred the admissions team to evaluate their recruitment strategies. Using data from their in-house systems team, they conducted a deep dive into their recruitment funnel, focusing on the Return on Investment (ROI) of their student search purchases. They found that many traditional sources of student leads, such as testing agencies, were underperforming. This analysis led to a significant shift: focusing resources on students who had already expressed some interest in CSU rather than relying heavily on unfiltered name purchases.
What was the impact of this shift in strategy?
Through a careful analysis of lead sources, CSU discovered certain geographic regions and lead generation platforms outperformed others, allowing them to allocate resources more effectively. For example, instead of purchasing names from testing agencies, they concentrated on inquiries, which yielded a higher conversion rate. This shift resulted in more meaningful engagement and led to a steady increase in applications, ultimately helping CSU enroll its second-largest incoming class. Despite CSU's large size, Daniels emphasized that their success came from acting more like a smaller institution, focusing on personalized connections with each student.
How does CSU maintain personal connections at scale?
Daniels highlighted the importance of maintaining human connection in every stage of the admissions process. This involved revisiting CSU’s email strategy, which had become overwhelming for prospective students. The team cut down on the number of emails sent and diversified their communication strategy to include personalized text messages and in-app messaging. To further enhance the family connection, CSU introduced monthly parent and family webinars, where university leaders answer questions live. This approach, which connects parents directly with university leadership, has had one of the highest engagement rates among all their recruitment efforts.
What leadership lessons did Heather Daniels learn through this process?
Heather reflected on the importance of collaboration and trusting the data. Although there were moments of hesitation—particularly around departing from long-standing practices—Daniels learned to trust her team’s analysis and make bold decisions. Through the process, she emphasized the need for continuous evaluation and being flexible enough to pivot strategies based on what the data showed. This approach allowed CSU to move away from simply purchasing prospect names to building an admissions process that better aligns with the institution's land-grant mission.
What communication tools and strategies are most effective with today’s students?
As prospective students increasingly rely on their devices, CSU has adapted by integrating personalized text messaging and exploring in-app communication tools. While email is still a key communication channel, especially with parents, CSU is focused on ensuring that messages are concise, timely, and relevant. They’ve also learned to leverage webinars for parent engagement, recognizing that families play an essential role in the decision-making process, particularly for first-generation college students.
Enrollify is produced by Element451 — the next-generation AI student engagement platform helping institutions create meaningful and personalized interactions with students. Learn more at element451.com.
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