NSCEC presentation a fresh look at the admissions funnel

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

Jim Schlimmer and Lyle Kraft

National Small College Enrollment Conference

July 13, 2011

About Us

• Christian Brothers University - Memphis– Catholic, Lasallian Christian Brothers– 1,777 students: 1,110 traditional undergraduates

– Students from 16 states and 11 foreign – 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

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 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) • 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 Marketplace

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 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

Recruitment Funnel Ratios: First-Year

Students at Four-Year Institutions

First-Year Students

Fall 2010

First-Year

Students Fall

2009

Conversion rate from

inquiry to application

Median 14.7% 14.6%

First Quartile 9.4% 9.2%

Third Quartile 22.0% 21.8%

N 126 122

Admit rate from

application to admit

Median 65.5% 65.4%



Noel Levitz, 2010 Funnel Survey

application to admit Third Quartile 74.9% 75.9%

N 1.41 136

Admit rate from

complete application to

admit

Median 86.4% 86.4%



N 122 119

Yield rate from admission

to enrollment

Median 29.3% 28.8%



N 142 137

Melt rate from

deposit/confirmed to

enrollment

Median 11.8% 11.7%



N 91 84

Enrollment Funnel: Fill in the Numbers

for Your School

Prospects

Inquiries

Applicants

100,000

15,000

1,500 (10%) Gravity Applicants

Admits

1,500 (10%)

755 (50.3%)

311 (41.2%)

155 (49.8%)

Gravity or

design?Enrollees

Graduates

Median Number of Written Contacts with

a Typical Prospective Student

2011 Marketing and Student Recruitment Practices at Four-Year and Two-Year Institutions

Noel Levitz 2011

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

Average Benchmarks for

Traditional Conversion Ratios

Noel

Levitz

PlattForm

Schools

Selective

Schools

Moderate-

Selective

Inquiry-to-Application 14.7% 9.8% N/A N/A

Application-to-Acceptance 66.0% 64.0% 60.6% 69.9%

Conclusion: Your institutions have rich

databases for tracking your KPIs. Know your

numbers, use your benchmarks for guideposts,

but create your own paradigm.

Admit-to-Enroll 29.3% 27.0% 25.7% 28.9%

Communication Plan for the

Prospect (Search) Stage

• 92% view Search as important or very important. (Gillis

Report 2010)

• Noel Levitz data shows five touches at the Search level

– How many contacts do you have with your search pool?pool?

– How do you contact them?• Contacting your inquiries

– Noel Levitz report shows ten contacts at the inquiry

stage

– How deep is your communications program? What is

the mix (electronic and paper)?

Success Stories

• Increase your Search communications flow for a longer period of time

• Use of statistical research for inclusion of Search names into your inquiry poolof Search names into your inquiry pool

Success Stories

Test 1 Test 2 Test 3

Search List 7,181 7,357 1,249

Inquiries 7,181 7,357 1,249

Applications

Test 1*

Search List 32,582

Inquiries/TSA 2,618

Private School in the Northeast Private School in the Midwest

Applications 204 235 32

Admits 182 203 27

Deposits 32 42 N/A

Enrollments 31 41 N/A

Applications 30

Admits 22

Deposits 7

Enrollments N/A

*Data valid through April 2011

Managing 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”“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

Timing of Campus Visitors

495, 38%

341, 27%

452, 35% Early

Fall

Late

495, 38%452, 35%



175, 24%

Campus Visitor, by month, who applied

Early495, 38%

341, 27%

452, 35%

182, 24%

388, 52%Fall

Late

42,

14%

Campus Visitors, by month,

who enrolled

495, 38%452, 35%



175, 24%

Campus Visitor, by month,

who applied

74, 24%191, 62%

341, 27%

182, 24%388, 52%

Communication Plan After Review

of Campus Visit Paradigm

• Bulk of visitors usually

arrive late

• Communication plan

• In one school’s case, 83%

of total visitors visited the

campus prior to their

For less selective schools –

late visit significance

For selective schools –

early visit significance

• Communication plan

should encourage visits

60 days prior to the

critical time of visits

(December – January –

February)

campus prior to their

senior year (compared

with 28% at less selective

school)

• Early publication plan is

critical – at least five

“touches” prior to August

of senior year

Managing 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



− 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

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%10 %

48% 30%

6%

25%

42%18%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

School 1 Inq School 1 Enr School 2 Inq School 2 Enr

Late

Fall

Early

42% 52% 69% 42%

16%

Communication Plan From Date-of-Inquiry

Analysis

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

• This could mean an opportunity for more earlycommunication

• Early inquiries apply at a greater rate– Late inquiries represent high number of enrollees– 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 selectivebut 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)

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

C2-High EFC

C2 Enrolled

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Early Fall Late

C1 - High

EFC

C1-Enrolled

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


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

– 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: Inquiries, Campus Visits,

Applications, Acceptances and Deposits

Month

Freshman

Inquiries

Transfer

Inquiries

Campus

Visit

Freshmen

Applications

Received by

Freshman

Freshman

Accepted

Freshmen

Deposits

Pre-Sept 15,537 19 229 0 0 0

Sept 495 7 28 209 19 0

Oct 513 15 51 328 138 2

Nov 594 10 78 344 161 7

Dec 111 25 12 190 146 7

Jan 132 40 52 224 120 17

Feb 148 31 10 165 97 21

Mar 125 28 33 126 74 47

Apr 86 26 100 58 45 49

May 127 41 17 132 34 62

Jun 3,053 18 23 50 36 51

Jul 53 49 34 19 13 34

Aug 53 32 3 9 6 14

Total 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%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%

Communication Planning After Review of

Monthly Audit

• Moderate-Selective

- Largest block of applications received Dec, Jan, Feb

- Communication Plan is as follows (90 days prior to December) December)

- September 1 - first view book

- September 15 - campus visit invitation

- September 22 - dean’s letter

- October 15 - second view book

- During this time, a series of 8 interactive emails and 4 paper contacts should be distributed


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

Pool

% of

Application-

Enrolled

% of

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

316

500

600

700

800

900

1000

Enrolled

47% Conversion

52%

Conversion

7.7%

Conversion

669

131232

69

18

0

100

200

300

400

500

Need FAFSA No Need No FAFSA

Enrolled

Accept

Conversion

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 increases 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 − 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%-42% ENROLL!


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

Scholarship Funnel

Suspects Applications Accepted Enrolled

9246 596 546 169

Conversion Rates 6.40% 91.60% 31%

• Buy a scholarship pool separate from your Search

pool

• Communicate with scholarship pool using a

separate communication plan

• The goal is more applications!

Conversion Rates 6.40% 91.60% 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 • 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 record – one school 52

times. How many contacts

do you have with these

students? What media

mediums do you use?

• Search: Gillis response rate 9.1%, but an increase from

7.1 to 9.3% with multiple

channels of

communication.

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? 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 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).

Takeaways

• 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− 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

Takeaways

• 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

Questions?

Contact us at

[email protected]

or [email protected]

NSCEC presentation a fresh look at the admissions funnel

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Transcript of NSCEC presentation a fresh look at the admissions funnel