HIGHER ED’S NEW WAVE OF STUDENTS: A new market research report conducted by SimpsonScarborough and LinkedIn revealed new data on prospective adult learner students. According to the study, about 1 in 2 adult learners said their interest in pursuing additional education increased amid COVID-19, while 8 out of 10 adult learners became interested in pursuing online education. Two out of 3 respondents are actively considering higher education, and 1 in 2 has plans to enroll within six months. In other good news, prospective student interest is high for all types and styles of programs: for-credit courses, for-credit certificates, masters/professional/doctoral programs, non-credit courses, and associate’s degree programs.
Why you should care: Survey respondents noted that affordability, flexible work/life/school balance, and high-quality online learning were the most important factors in their decision. The adult-learner audience is moving through the prospective student funnel quickly and looking to make a decision in the near future. Enrollment marketers that can adapt value propositions and differentiators in the context of COVID-19 to appeal to this wave of adult learners will be primed for success.
GAMIFICATION IN STUDENT RECRUITMENT: Gamification is the use of game elements (points, rules, competition) to encourage engagement with a company’s products or services. It’s often used to transform difficult tasks (job search, research, applying to school) into games that are seen as challenging in a fun way. As Caylor Solutions puts it, “... [gamification] creates a perception of the company as enjoyable and fun.” So, how might gamification apply to enrollment marketers?
Why you should care: Gamification can be used at the application stage (assign badges/points for submitting financial aid, transcripts, essays, etc), but also in the pre-application/inquiry stage. Through the use of surveys, quizzes, trivia, events, and even marketing content, you could create a game that assigns points to conversions that are crucial to your recruitment efforts (attend an event, earn 100 points; download an eBook, earn 10 points). You can incentivize these conversions by sending school swag, allowing prospective students to attend a sample class for free, or even sending an application fee waiver once a certain point threshold has been reached.
CHECKING GOOGLE SEARCH RESULTS FOR DIFFERENT LOCATIONS: It’s no secret that Google search results are different depending on your location. For companies (and schools) with reach across states, it’s important to know how to view Google search results for different locations to ensure that your content is ranking and visible in various states. SEO Powersuite explains how to use Google’s “Tools” settings, location queries, and even Google Ads to view search results across different locations.
Why you should care: For example, a small Christian school in Boston may have a strong prospective student audience in Massachusetts, but also in Pennsylvania and Ohio. An enrollment marketer at that school should be aware of how their content and program pages are ranking in PA and OH. Learning how to analyze search results in other states/locations can help enrollment marketers identify SEO gaps in locations that are important for meeting their recruitment goals.
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