Prioritizing Data-Driven Investment in Student Recruitment

Does your institution have the data it needs to allocate student recruitment resources that yield the best ROI? Does it have the data to reach and engage your most ideal, best-fit prospective students? Does it have the data you need to prioritize the touch points that will convert your prospective students into enrolled students?

These are three excellent questions — and they are the jumping-off point for Hayley Warack’s recent University Business article, “Enrollment growth: 5 ways to maximize your investment in data.”

In her article, Warack emphasizes the pivotal role of data-driven decision-making in addressing the enrollment challenges being faced by higher education institutions across the country. She highlights the necessity of re-evaluating business models and prioritizing innovation while leveraging data effectively to drive your student recruitment success.

According to Warack, colleges need to:

  • Prioritize data-driven investments. This means ensuring you have the necessary data to make informed decisions about resource allocation and initiatives, including data for ROI analysis, prospect engagement and conversion optimization.
  • Adapt to a changing data landscape. This means embracing strategies such as leveraging AI for predictive analytics, prioritizing zero-party and first-party data for personalized marketing, and exploring augmented, edge, and embedded analytics for deeper insights.
  • And invest in data literacy. This means investing in training programs to empower your teams and foster a culture of data-driven decision-making, ultimately leading to greater efficiency and impact in enrollment efforts.
Capture’s Transparent ROI Reporting

marketing automationAt Capture Higher Ed, we know that every dollar a university invests in its marketing and student recruitment matters. Enrollment and marketing leaders need — and should expect — regular, transparent ROI reporting from their recruitment marketing partners.

But not all vendors are created equally.

Our platform enables complete visibility into marketing performance and impact with:

  • Immediate, real-time access to your marketing campaign performance data. With comparisons against benchmarks, over time and across segments, we highlight trends and provide actionable insights.
  • Funnel attribution reports that provide a clear view of how marketing performs at each stage of the enrollment funnel, highlighting which channels are most effective at producing funnel conversions.
  • Transparent ROI reports that allow you to see exactly what Capture has contributed to your funnel and the return on your investment.

If your recruitment marketing vendor provides anything less, it may be time to explore your options.

Go here to read Warack’s University Business article on maximizing your investment in data.

By Christopher Harris, Ed.D., Senior Enrollment Strategist, Capture Higher Ed