The Conversion Conundrum - How to become the first choice institution

The Partnership Podcast - Higher Ed Marketing

No one wants their university to be the insurance choice. As marketers, we want to inspire students to consider us as their top choice, not merely a backup. Through our research and work with HE marketers, we’ve found there are some common yet avoidable traps that cause prospective students to consider your university as the insurance rather than first choice.

How to reduce friction in the application process and leave a great impression

Penny Eccles, CEO and Founder of Marketing Partnership, breaks down these common issues and dives into the topic of conversion strategies in this episode. A common theme is understanding the importance of building great relationships with students and communicating effectively. We look at how universities engage with students throughout the application process from interviews to open and applicant days and eventually enrolment.

Penny identifies the key stages of the application process that can make or break that relationship with students and ultimately affect conversions.

In This Episode

• Why it’s never too early in the year to start thinking about conversions
• The danger of ghosting your enquirers
• How you might be pricing your courses as a natural second choice
• How your applicant interview process can affect conversions
• Why you should never neglect students you reject
• Why students who attend both open and applicant days should be treated as VIPs
• How to maintain a positive tone throughout student communication
• The poor impression an uncoordinated welcome can give

Quotes

• “Our research tells us that you can easily lose 10% of your firm choices between the firm choice stage and enrolment stage. Encouraging everybody into creating a more coordinated welcome might save you.”
• "If your entry tariff is too low, you might be inadvertently positioning yourself - or indeed forcing - your applicants to pick you as the insurance choice."
• “Institutions that manage to get their applicants to an open day and then an applicant day can have off-the-scale conversion rates. But here's the killer fact. On average, only about 3% of your offer holders will go to those two events.”