Element451, an AI-powered student engagement platform, released a new paper, “Swipe, Tap, Submit: The College Experience Goes Personal to Boost Enrollment,” which is a call to action for higher ed institutions of all sizes to rethink the state of their current student interactions, from prospects to enrolled students to graduates, and consider the quantifiable recruiting and retention benefits of creating a frictionless student-centered experience.
Leveraging data from more than 22 million higher ed student journeys, Element451 contends that student engagement should be viewed more holistically across the institution to combat enrollment declines and the uptick student stopouts and dropouts which are placing thousands of two- and four-year U.S. colleges at an adapt-or-fail crossroads. Element451 stresses how the market dynamics saddling higher ed, and in particular admissions and enrollment teams, are an opportunity to review whether internal processes and success metrics are overly centered around what has historically worked for the institution versus what is really proving to positively impact today’s new generation of students.
“The urgent question that college and university leaders should be asking is whether the student is participating in meaningful ways with the school – no matter where they are in their journey,” said Ardis Kadiu, CEO of Element451. “If the student is not, it is up to the school to evaluate what content and opportunities for engagement they are offering, and course correct. From what Element451 has observed, a cohesive student experience translates to higher success metrics across the board — from reducing the time between applying and enrolling to curbing summer melt.”
Department-level thinking around what engagement means and disparate methods for delivering communications invariably leads to disjointed interactions for students and inefficiencies for schools. A student affairs department may view engagement in terms of how active a student is in their coursework and other aspects of academic and personal development while the admissions department is measuring successful engagement through a marketing lens of message open rates and event attendance. The result: students get an education in college bureaucracy.
Instead, students should feel a sense of real-time connection. The most innovative colleges are thinking about all of their student communications and reflecting on whether they are personal enough or too generic? Are they engaging students through digital channels that they actually use? Do cumbersome school processes get in the way of students accomplishing tasks?
For additional considerations, and to learn more about how colleges are using AI technology and behavior analytics to meet and continually connect students, download the free insights paper, here.
Engage Summit 2022, Raleigh, North Carolina, July 26-27, 2022
To help connect the dots between the current state of higher ed marketing and transitioning to a digital-first engagement strategy, Element451 is hosting Engage Summit 2022, Personalizing the Enrollment Journey, in Raleigh, NC, July 26-27.
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The in-person and virtual event will feature a keynote address by Wanda Pogue, Global Chief Strategy Officer at VaynerMedia. In her session titled, Breaking Through: How Great Engagement Campaigns Are Made, Ms. Pogue will explain the need for schools to market and engage prospects in the same way that brands do and showcase examples of consumer-centered campaigns that wouldn’t have been possible without a strong personalization strategy.
The event will bring together admissions, enrollment and marketing higher ed professionals for immersive discussions and hands-on workshops focused on leveraging technology and data to deliver student-centered experiences.