Designing and Implementing an Effective Student Search: Part Three
Dr. Douglas Spadaro
President
David Waggoner
Vice President
Premier Communications
Evaluating the Search
Utilizing personal URLs (PURLs) greatly facilitates the response process. As noted in part two of this article, keying a personal URL (PURL) into a browser opens a website that contains information about your institution. The website also includes an Information Request Contact Form which the card recipient can use to express interest in your institution. Basic information in the form – name, address, city, state and zip – is typically pre-populated. This is both a customer service (it saves the prospective student the need to key in the information) and further enhances personalization. Beyond this basic information the form is personalized to the needs of our clients, and typically includes such items as intended major, intended start term, etc. Schools that award academic scholarships will often solicit grade point and test score information. A secure Report Page is established online and the client is provided a username and password. Admission personal can access the Reprot Page as frequently as they wish and download responces directly to their admission office database. Hard to decipher reply cards, and incorrect data entry, is thus a thing of the past! So too is the expense of paying return postage associated with paper reply cards, and the expense involved with paying support staff or student employees to key the information into your database. In addition to reporting back to the client all information solcicited on the reply form, we are able to provide you with all the information that was part of the database used for the mailing. When using College Board or ACT data, typical items include gender, ethnicity, high school CEEB code, year of graduation, etc.
Reporting and evaluation of the search efforts is further enhanced by assigning a unique source code to each search, e.g., PSAT_Feb2009. Each response downloaded from your Report Page can therefore be tracked back to a specific search, which allows you to make informed decisions about your search parameters and the effectiveness of your strategy.
For example, a private liberal arts school in the South has been using our personalized postcards for both SAT and ACT searches for the past several years. Their response rate has typically been approximately 4%. The VP for Enrollment Management decided last fall to conduct and experiment using a new source of data. The geographic and academic parameters of the records purchased were similar to those used in the school’s traditional searches, as was the design of the postcard mailed. The response rate, however, was less than 1%. Based on this accurate evaluation, the VP is extremely unlikely to utilize this new sourcfe of names in future searches!
Search Follow Up
As discussed previously, an effective search does not end with the search itself. A comprehensive communication plan must be in place prior to the search so as to cultivate all leads that the search generates. Premier designs this communications plan based on the grade level of the student, with the pace of student contact increasing as the student moves toward their high school commencement.
Students that have responded to the search enter a “rollover” communications schedule with pre-determined dates and communications pieces scheduled to be sent to them. This schedule is developed jointly by Premier and the client with all involved parties (Admissions, IT, Premier production personnel, etc.), participating. These responder students routinely receive communication from the college in the form of direct mail letters, e-mails, flyers about specific programs, open house reminders, viewbooks, and other informative items. The communication is geared to where the student is in recruitment process, with prospects, applied, accepted and deposited students receiving different items.
Students that ahve not responsed to the initial search are also tracked. Typically, because of the low cost, e-mail blasts are scheduled to be routinely sent to these students. These e-mails often include the individual PURL for the student so that all they have to do is click on it to respond. These “non-responder” e-mails have typically resulted in a good response.
Search Evolution
Search development and implementation is not a one-time project, but rather an on-going, dynamic process. Successful admissions programs continually evaluate and refine their searches based on changes in institutional goals, new program development, demographics and technology.. Premier’s unique expertise and client focus allows us to assist insitutions at any level of higher education with this key aspect of their enrollment plan.