A Fresh Look at The Admissions Funnel: Real Examples from the Field

Jim Schlimmer and Lou LlewellynNorth American Coalition for Christian

Admissions ProfessionalsJune 5, 2011

• Christian Brothers University - Memphis– Catholic, Lasallian Christian Brothers– 1,777 students – 1,110 traditional undergrads– Students from 16 states and 11 foreign countries

• PlattForm Higher Education – Kansas City– More than 20 years experience as a full-service

advertising agency focused exclusively on enrollment solutions for higher education

About Us

You Are Ahead of Most Private Colleges Because of Who You Are!

… leaders of companies that go from good to great start not with “where” but with “who.” They start by getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats. And they stick with that discipline—first the people, then the direction—no matter how dire the circumstances. - Jim Collins, Good to Great

Objectives• Review existing models for benchmarking – Noel Levitz– Colleges by groups

• Offer different Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to track

• Recommended communication strategies for each KPI objective

• Final recommendations for your institution – from admissions audit suggestions to communication strategies

What is Our Position in the Market Place as Private Colleges?

• 41% of respondents believe the quality of education is better at private colleges and universities with only 13% saying public were better. Nearly four of ten (38%) said the education at public and private institutions was about the same.• When asked “If money were not an issue, would you rather

have your child attend a private or public university?” 45% said private, 25% said public and 28% said it didn’t matter. (GDA Associates http://www.dehne.com/)

Review Common Admissions Funnel Data Points

• Suspect-to-inquiry rates (Search)• Inquiry-to-application rates • Application-to-acceptance rates• Application-to-enrollment rates• Acceptance-to- enrollment rates• Deposit melt rates• https://www.noellevitz.com/documents/share

d/Papers_and_Research/2011/2011MARKETINGRECRUITINGPRACTICES.pdf

Recruitment Funnel Ratios: First-Year Students at Four-Year Institutions

Noel Levitz, 2010 Funnel Survey

Enrollment Funnel: Fill the Numbers in for Your School

Prospect

Inquiries

Applicants

Admits

Enrollees

100,000

15,000

1,500 (10%)

755 (50.3%)

311 (41.2%)

155 (49.8%) Graduates

Gravity or

design?

2011 Marketing and Student Recruitment Practices at Four-Year and Two-Year InstitutionsNoel Levitz 2011

Median Number of Written Contacts with a Typical Prospective Student

• Broken out by enrollment stage• Includes direct mail, email and text messaging

Average Benchmarks for Traditional Conversion Ratios

NACCAP Noel Levitz PlattForm Schools Competitor Set

Inquiry-to-Application 13.4% 14.7% 9.8%

Application-to-Acceptance 68.2 66% 64% 72%

Admit-to-Enroll 43.98% 29.3% 27% 37.2%

Conclusion: Your organization has a rich database for tracking your KPIs. Know your numbers, use your benchmarks for guideposts, but create your own paradigm.

Communication Plan for the Prospect (Search) Stage

• Noel Levitz data show five touches– How many contacts do you have with your search

pool?– How do you contact them?

• Two success stories– Multiple contacts – at least six contacts (email and

more)– Use the Search list with other predictors for

inquiry inclusion

Manageable Key Performance Indicators: Campus Visitors

– “The only factor able to predict enrollment is the campus visit” George Dehne, GDA, 2005

– Number of first-year visitors– Number of first-year visitors by timing “buckets”

• Early – prior to the senior year• Fall – fall of the senior year• Spring/Summer – spring and summer of senior year

– Number and percent of first-year students applying• Overall• By “buckets”

Campus Visit Analysis

495, 38%

341, 27%

452, 35%

Timing of Campus Visitors

EarlyFallLate

Campus Visit Analysis

175, 24%

182, 24%

388, 52%

Campus Visitor, by month, who applied

EarlyFallLate

495, 38%

341, 27%

452, 35%

Timing of Campus Visitors

175, 24%

182, 24%388, 52%

Campus Visitor, by month, who applied

42, 14%

74, 24%191, 62%

Campus Visitors, by month, who enrolled

495, 38%

341, 27%

452, 35%

Timing of Campus Visitors

Campus Visit Analysis

Communication Plan After Review of Campus Visit Paradigm

• Bulk of visitors usually arrive late

• Communication plan should encourage visits 60 days prior to the critical time of visits (December – January – February)

• In one school’s case, 83% of total visitors visited the campus prior to senior year (compared with 28% at less selective school).

• Early publication plan is critical – at least five “touches” prior to August of senior year.

For less selective schools – late visit significance

For selective schools – early visit significance

Manageable Key Performance Indicators: Timing of Inquiries and Applicants

– Assign students’ inquiries into three “buckets”• Early – prior to senior year• Fall – fall of senior year• Spring/Summer – spring and summer of senior year

– Number and percent of first-year students applying• Overall• By “buckets”

– Inquiry wisdom for your office:• Early inquiries are better prepared and have higher EFCs• Late inquiries are not as well prepared with lower EFCs

Power of Inquiry Date Tracking

School 1 Inq School 1 Enr School 2 Inq School 2 Enr0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

LateFallEarly

Communication Plan From Date-of-Inquiry Analysis

• School 1– Low percentage of inquiries early – higher enrollment

• Could mean an opportunity for more early communication• Early inquiries apply at a greater rate

– Late inquiries represent high number of enrollees• Efforts on late inquiries are working• Is this the group the college desires: winter Search?

– Fall inquiries• They apply at lower rates – do we enter their names as fast as

possible? Are publications going out? Do we need more types of communication?

• This pool is much bigger than the pool in school 2 – Are college days not effective?

Communication Plan From Date-of-Inquiry Analysis

• School 2– High percentage of inquiries are early

• This school takes on the look of a selective college – but it is not selective

• This percentage is disproportional: is this model working?• Either reduce the number of inquiries early or increase the

early communication: develop early application programs, early visit programs, early financial aid program, or more contacts (publications and more) with this group

Enrollment for Two Colleges: Timing of Inquiries and High Expected Family Contributions (EFCs)

Early Fall Late0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

C2-High EFCC2 EnrolledC1 - High EFCC1-Enrolled

Time of inquiry: Early=prior to senior year, Fall=fall of senior year, Late=spring of senior year

Managing Key Performance Indicators: Monthly Timing Audit

• Find the biggest block of inquiries– Three months after the inquires arrive the publication plan should develop– This will include your suspect plan and inquiry plan

• Find the biggest block of applications– Three month block of applications, three months prior should constitute

the core of your pre-application program– Pre-application program should be run prior to the bulk of applications

and into the application received sequence• Find the biggest block of deposits

– Three months prior to the acceptances, plan for your post acceptance communication plan

– Make this plan multi-channel and sequential– Theme: Congratulations! You made a great move.

Critical Monthly Activities: Inquires, Campus Visits, Applications, Acceptances and Deposits

Month Freshman Inquiries

Transfer Inquiries

Campus Visit

Fresmen

Applications Received by Freshman

Freshman Accepted

Freshmen Deposits

Pre-Sept 15,537 19 229 0 0 0Sept 495 7 28 209 19 0Oct 513 15 51 328 138 2Nov 594 10 78 344 161 7Dec 111 25 12 190 146 7Jan 132 40 52 224 120 17Feb 148 31 10 165 97 21Mar 125 28 33 126 74 47Apr 86 26 100 58 45 49May 127 41 17 132 34 62Jun 3,053 18 23 50 36 51Jul 53 49 34 19 13 34

Aug 53 32 3 9 6 14Total 21,027 341 670 1,854 889 311

Applications Received: Three Schools Applications by Month % of Pool

Moderate Less

Selective Selective Moderate Less

Selective Selective < Sept 28 26 92 0.80% 2.00% 4.70%Sept 256 8 155 7.50% 0.60% 8.00%Oct 354 32 269 10.30% 2.40% 13.90%Nov 417 71 317 12.20% 5.40% 16.30%Dec 457 76 498 13.30% 5.80% 25.70%Jan 610 135 320 17.80% 10.20% 16.50%Feb 615 177 116 18.00% 13.40% 6.00%Mar 283 175 100 8.30% 13.20% 5.20%Apr 152 174 38 4.40% 13.20% 2.00%May 113 181 23 3.30% 13.70% 1.20%Jun 68 101 7 2.00% 7.60% 0.40%July 49 114 2 1.40% 8.60% 0.10%Aug 24 56 3 0.70% 4.20% 0.20%

Total 3426 1321 1940 100% 100% 100%

A Look at Different Management Ratios - Key Performance Indicators: Tracking Enrollment by EFCs

CBU: First-Year Student Applicants by EFC - to Enrollment - 2010

Applied% of Application

Pool Accepted% of Accepted

Pool Enrolled

% of Enrolled

PoolApplication- Enrolled%

Accepted-Enrolled %

FAFSA EFC "0" 371 20.00% 173 19.50% 81 27.90% 21.80% 46.80%

1- 3000 116 6.20% 87 9.80% 39 13.40% 33.60% 44.80%

3001 - 6000 66 3.60% 47 5.30% 23 7.90% 34.80% 48.90%

6001 - 10000 73 3.90% 58 6.50% 24 8.30% 32.90% 41.40%10001 - 15000 86 4.60% 72 8.10% 24 8.30% 27.90% 33.30%

15001 - 20000 46 2.50% 41 4.60% 14 4.80% 30.40% 34.10%

20001 - 25000 51 2.70% 45 5.10% 17 5.90% 33.30% 37.80%

25001 - 30000 39 2.10% 38 4.30% 11 3.80% 28.20% 28.90%

> 30000 102 5.50% 96 10.80% 39 13.40% 38.20% 40.60%

NO FAFSA 904 48.60% 232 26.10% 18 6.20% 2.00% 7.80%

TOTAL 1854 100.10% 889 100% 290 100% 15.60% 32.60%

First-Year Conversion Rates by Financial Aid Status

Need FAFSA No Need No FAFSA0

100200300400500600700800900

1000

669

131232

316

69

18

EnrolledAccept

47% Conversion

52% Con-version

7.7% Con-version

If you think 7.7% is low, at a selective school the rate was 9.9%, at a large private the rate was 12.8%!

Communication Plan: Financial Aid

• If enrollment goes from 7% to 30%, or 42% if a family completes a FAFSA, monitor the filers carefully– How many of you know your FAFSA conversion rates?– Have your prepared a communication track for these

students at the different levels?• One plan:– In March, we looked at FAFSA filers – we were down 150

filers – Initiated a quick phone campaign – now up 7.4% in FAFSA

filers – REMEMBER: 30 TO 42% ENROLL!

Manageable Key Performance Indicators: Monthly Timing Audit

– What is the purpose of your scholarship program?• Is it to recruit “top level” students?• Is it to build your application pool?

– When does your scholarship recruitment plan begin?• Too often it begins with the applicant (we found a good

applicant – let’s work hard to enroll them)• Needs to start at the suspect stage

Scholarship Communication Plan and Outcomes

• Buy a Scholarship pool separate from your Search pool• Communicate with them with a separate communication

plan• The goal is more applications!

Scholarship FunnelSuspects Applications Accepted Enrolled

9246 596 546 169

Conversion Rates 6.4% 91.6% 31%

Review of Communication Strategy

• Divide your communication program into recognizable tracks or plans

• Set benchmarks for success in each model• Conduct your admissions/marketing audit as a

part of your communication plan – a necessary step in your planning process

Develop a Communication Plan For Each of Your Major Pools of Students: Prospects

• Prospects (names you buy): Noel Levitz survey finds the median contact rate is 5 times with each record – one school 52 times. How many contacts do you have with these students? What media mediums do you use?

• Search: Gill response rate 9.1%, but an increase from 7.1 to 9.3% with multiple channels of communication.

• 92% view Search as important or very important.

Develop a Communication Plan For Each of Your Major Pools of Students: Inquiries

• Inquiries: If the median contact rate is 10 – what is your contact rate? Are your markets tracking at the same rate of return? Have you looked at Primary, Secondary and Tertiary markets for conversion rates?

Develop a Communication Plan For Each of Your Major Pools of Students: Applicants

• Applications or acceptances: If the median contact rate is 10 – what is your contact rate? Are your markets tracking at the same rate of return? Have you looked at Primary, Secondary and Tertiary markets for conversion rates?

• 27% of schools dissatisfied by search results were dissatisfied by the enrollment results (Gill 2010).

Conclusions: KPIs– Know thy self: You have an advantage over many private schools

• Your conversion rates reflect this• Your application pools should reflect more affinity with your group

– The Enrollment Funnel does NOT work by gravity – monitor, plan and react – continuous process

– Campus visits • Numbers – benchmarks by time• Affect on your communication plan• Affect on financial aid• If you want more visitors early, plan your communication plans early• If you need more attention from high EFC students – must be done early

– Timing of inquiries and applications• Are your early inquiries benefiting your school?• How do the timing of inquires affect your communication plan?• Know your timing patterns for your school, plan your communication plan

after the receipt of those inquiries

Conclusions: KPIs– Financial Aid

• Know your conversion yields • Where are your needs? Low EFCs? Mid Range EFCs?• Plan a communication plan that accounts for your social economic

mix. Work your strengths first.– Monthly Application Audit

• Know your school’s plan• Plan your communication plan to fit your monthly audit scheme

– Scholarship Recruitment• Know your objectives: Scholarships should attract more students to

your application pool• Communicate separately and often prior outside the traditional

communication tracks• Buy a boutique list of scholars and work them as a separate search

pool

Who is this? Hans Brinker. He was the first Enrollment Professional. Here he is plugging up the Enrollment Funnel. Because of his finger and effort his university survived!

Where are your “holes” in the EM funnel or dyke?