The Student Journey to Application Has Flipped

That can cut you out of consideration before you’ve even had chance to pitch.

Students have redefined the college search process. Increasingly, the application is the first contact schools have with the prospect. In fact, as much as a third of applications come as “stealth” applicants requiring enrollment management and marketers to rethink their connections along the student journey and their funnel metrics.

Applying to as many as 10 schools and empowered by technology, many students prefer to fly under the radar of admissions instead of gathering information through traditional channels, requests for information, campus visits, events, or contacting a counselor. Rather than using these traditional touch points to explore whether a school is a good fit, students use them to validate their selections after they apply. That can cut you out of consideration before you’ve even had a chance to pitch.

Converting Stealth Visitors to Visible Prospects

Since 77% of students say the website is the most influential part of their decision-making, make the website the cornerstone of your strategy to connect with stealth visitors. Are you taking every opportunity to capture contact information on your site, in emails or other outbound efforts? Are you creating compelling reasons for students to give you their personal information? Can they sign up on your website for emails about ongoing communications in their specific areas of interest? Can they subscribe to vblogs or receive updates on events and information sessions? Are you making sure students are providing information from virtual campus tours, webinars, or other live events? Look at key engagement points as two-way conversations and consider them opportunities to capture information and add value that engages students deeper into your story.

Students remain stealth because you haven’t given them a reason to give you their personal information. Offer them special insights, content or access, and maybe those stealth visitors will become more visible.

Resources:
http://omniupdate.com/_resources/pdfs/research/2014_eexpectations.pdf

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