While a lot of institutions focus on lead acquisition (direct or via agents), if the conversion funnel those leads are entering is leaking, the initial hard work to develop leads will not deliver students and revenue.
That's why the ROI on conversion improvements can be huge for institutions versus spending more on lead acquisition.
But conversion is complex and hard to get right. It’s like one long “cross-functional relay race”, with prospective students being “passed” from marketing and agents to student recruitment and admissions.
Added to the cross-functional complexity are the key variables at each touchpoint:
- Was the right channel used to reach the prospective student with the right message at the right time?
- Was this done in an efficient and effective way?
All too often implementing new technology is the first thought to improve conversion, but in isolation this will only more efficiently deliver more same content that still fails to engage and influence prospective students to choose your institution.
Improving conversion requires both the content and the technology to be optimised and it's far easier to automate content that is working, with new technology, than it is to develop a new content as you implement the new technology.
To help you identify the potential leaks in your conversion funnel caused by content, I've listed 7 common content mistakes below. addressing these issues will improve your conversion and enable you to make the best use of your technology.
1. It's unclear why the student should prefer your institution over your competitors.
Messaging for many institutions is product-driven, covering the strengths of the institution, (rankings, research, location) wrapped up in a nice three word proposition.
All too often the messaging fails to communicate to a prospective student why choosing your institution will enable them to achieve their aspirations and priorities BETTER than choosing your competitors.
"Grow your wonderfulness" doesn't help a student decide which institution to study at.
Deciding where to apply and which offer to accept is a competitive decision-making process for students. You can either spell out for them why they should choose your institution over your competitors, or cross your fingers and hope they work it out for themselves.
2. The wrong content is shared in the wrong channel at the wrong time.
Prospective students from different countries looking to study different courses have different aspirations and priorities when selecting where to study. Their information needs change as they progress down the decision-making journey, and their preferred communication channel changes depending on the information they seek.
To successfully influence students to choose your institution, content needs to be "personalised" to reflect the students' preferences and stage in their decision-making journey.
One set of content will not be relevant to all students and will fail to engage and influence them as they progress down their journey to enrolment.
3. Critical information is hard to find
When researching their options, students are looking for key information to help them decide if your institution will be right for them. Ensuring that critical information is easy to find, (and even compare it to your competitors), helps students to choose your institution.
4. Content ignores potential objections
While it is important to focus on communicating your strengths, it is always prudent to address your weaknesses. Left unaddressed, students might assume the worst and avoid applying to your institution based on an assumption that isn't true.
For example, international students with relatively low knowledge of Australia might reasonably assume that a regional campus would be lacking community, facilities, and work opportunities versus Sydney or Melbourne and avoid applying without ever knowing the truth.
5. Fragmented messaging and content across channels and touch-points.
Imagine as a student you read one message on the website, another in a brochure and hear a different message again about the institution from an agent or an event. You'd be a bit confused and unclear about whether the institution is right for you.
And yet, this is a reality for most prospective students where activity developed by different siloed teams over time has evolved in different directions, effectively diluting the strengths of the institution's proposition to prospective students.
6. No reason to believe that your institution should be their #1 preference.
Advertising tells us what to buy and do all the time, but how many of us do what we are told? Brands are assumed to be acting in their own interest and, as a result, aren't trusted to assist students to make an informed choice between institutions.
Increasingly we are all looking for referrals from people we trust, family, friends, and even "people like me" on social media.
7. No clear incentive to take the next step in the process.
Conversion is a relay race and every touchpoint and piece of content should be driving the student to take the next step in the process. Each piece of content should end with a clear call to action and an incentive to the student to act NOW.
Incentives come in many forms, but relevant information that helps the student make their decision by addressing their priorities and information needs for the next step of their application journey is an obvious choice.
We use global best practice frameworks and our cross-industry experience to bring fresh thinking to increase higher education conversion and enrolments.
We would welcome the opportunity to discuss how we can help you to fix the leaks in your conversion funnel and drive enrolments.
After all, there is no point in generating leads if you can’t convert them.
John Chatterton
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