Strategic Enrollment Management in the Post-Pandemic Era

Preparing for Success 

The first task in Strategic Enrollment Management is to identify the data points that correlate with enrollment success and develop a clear process for how this data will be sourced and tracked. 

1. Understand your Key Enrollment Indicators (KEIs) 

Isolate the key enrollment cohorts for your institution as well as the key metrics that you can track through the funnel. Aggregate several years of data where possible, as the upheaval of the pandemic has caused outliers in recent data sets. This will then inform an enrollment model, where you can track conversion at each stage of the funnel and implement strategies to eliminate any friction points. 

2. Devise a Clear Data Strategy 

Providing personalized experiences for every learner is a fundamental part of boosting enrollment. This requires a data strategy across the full lifecycle and an institutional commitment to data action rather than collection, where the focus is on the data that can allow you to improve your service to students. Assess the current strengths and weaknesses of your institution to devise a data strategy which is streamlined and achievable. 

Growing the Top of the Funnel 

Now that you have set goals and have everything in place to monitor results, the next task is to increase the volume of prospects. This includes four crucial steps. 

3. Differentiate Your Offering 

Competition for prospects is fierce, particularly in the online and graduate spaces, meaning that there is a lot of similar messages in market for higher education programs. By understanding the unmet needs of learners—both among your existing core demographics and those which you have identified as growth opportunities—you can identify opportunities to take a truly differentiated proposition to market, and boost interest in your programs as a result. 

4. Expand Your Applicant Pool 

Here’s a controversial idea: what if we were to consider prospective learners as customers? Put simply, to consider a prospect a customer is to grapple with the full breadth of their needs, which for the purposes of enrollment means to really stress the value of what you are offering. Learners are now looking for opportunities rather than just degrees, and to attract new applicants you need to present your programs in terms of the true benefits, such as career development and employability, as well as being clear on the requirements for the learner, including costs. 

5. Design a Multi-faceted Marketing Plan 

Enrollment marketing is more contested than ever, and institutions that don’t take a strategic, multi-faceted approach are seeing their cost-per-lead skyrocket. You need to identify your key target audiences and communicate differently to each one, leverage both your website and dedicated microsites at different parts of the journey, and balance paid, organic, and content marketing for the best overall result.   

6. Leverage Alternative Credentials 

Call them badges, short courses, certificates, micro-credentials, or simply non-traditional educational programs. No matter which name you prefer, alternative credentials are fundamental to enrollment growth in a post-pandemic world where learners are looking to reskill or upskill to meet the needs of a changing employment market. You need to closely monitor employment trends, both nationally and in your local area, to isolate opportunities for skills-based programs.