Private school admissions offices are responsible for a never-ending daily task list that directly impacts the school’s financial security. Despite your team’s best efforts, there always seem to be obstacles in the way of grabbing the attention of your target audience and nurturing those relationships into enrolled families and active school community members. The key to an effective enrollment process is a seamless workflow with consistent communication, no matter the entry point of the family. Here are some of the most common clogs within the enrollment process, and new ways to fix them for good.
1. Paper Forms
Your enrollment process should be as seamless as possible from the very first inquiry form through the deposit. Families are busy and they don’t have time to download PDFs, fill them out, scan them back in and email them back. Online forms on your school website are less of a time (and effort) commitment than paper forms, which means a higher average completion rate from families. In fact, the more convenient and accessible your school’s forms are, the higher the completion rate will be. With over 60% of all internet traffic coming from mobile devices, it’s important to think mobile-first. This means all your school’s online forms throughout the enrollment process should be designed and tested on mobile, even before the desktop or laptop view.
Questions to ask yourself while building online forms:
- Are any form fields cut off on mobile?
- Is the form too long and requires a lot of scrolling?
- Is there a confirmation upon completion?
- Do we explain next steps upon form completion?
These questions will guide your admissions team through designing and building effective online forms that are guaranteed to improve your school’s enrollment process.
2. Broad Messaging For All Audiences
Another commonly overlooked part of the admissions process is the messaging. While the core mission of your school remains the same, your school’s marketing messaging should adapt to each individual audience segment. The call-to-actions should be specific to the phase of the buyer’s funnel. Your admissions team will gain more and more insight on prospective families as they move down the funnel. At first, your message will be broad since you don’t know much about them. Your admissions team should be collecting and recording data – not just demographics – as the family moves through your enrollment process. Once your team knows the prospective family on a deeper level, it will be much easier to craft messaging that will resonate with their educational goals. Personalized messaging will help your school’s communications stand out in cluttered inboxes, and build trust that your school is the right choice.
Questions to ask yourself while writing communications content:
- What are the family’s interests, concerns and educational goals?
- What is their preferred method of communication? (i.e. phone, email, text)
- What is the best time of day and week to reach them?
- Which other schools are they looking into?
Creating a communication strategy that works best for the family will keep your school top-of-mind, make families feel heard and increase response time.
3. Un-engaging Content
Schools often mistakenly craft their admissions marketing content to be parent-oriented. At the end of the day, the decision to attend your school is just as important from the student than the parents. Teens don’t check their email inboxes or answer calls from unknown numbers as often as their parents so your admissions team needs to connect with them where they’re most active. Your messaging on these platforms shouldn’t match the same language as what you’re sending the parents either. Not even the medium will always be the same. Teens respond well to video. In fact, one minute of video is worth 1.38 million written words to teens on the internet. The language toward students will likely be more high-level, fun and even trendy compared to the more formal and informative message you’d send to parents right in the beginning to get them hooked.
Questions to ask yourself when crafting engaging messaging to students:
- Which social media platforms receive the best overall engagement?
- Which social media posts have performed the best lately?
- How long are viewers watching our videos?
- What are the most common questions students ask during tours?
4. Unestablished Accepted Students Hub
If your school is seeing improvements in applications being submitted but not in enrollment numbers, the bottom half of your admissions funnel needs more attention. The need to keep the process streamlined and convenient doesn’t stop once applications are submitted. Building a central hub for accepted students is the first step in making enrollment more streamlined. A dedicated landing page where accepted families can find instructions, schedules and additional resources will help guide families through the enrollment steps. Not only should the landing page be a centralized resource but it should also be a high-energy place for celebration during this special moment for the student.
Questions to ask yourself when building an accepted students landing page:
- Do we clearly explain the next steps for signing the contract and placing a deposit?
- Is the page exciting with all-new, engaging content about all the school has to offer (both academically and recreationally)?
- Do we prominently showcase upcoming campus events such as accepted students day?
- Do we present a timeline of events (i.e. class selection, dorming, etc.) once a student enrolls?
Katava Marketing is the only private school admissions marketing and consulting agency that puts the students at the center of our strategy. Are you ready to rebuild your enrollment process? Contact Katava Marketing to get started today!
