Why It's Time to Audit Your Admissions Enrollment Funnel

It is no secret that marketing for colleges and universities is changing. The landscape of how students find and choose schools is constantly evolving, and the tactics used by enrollment managers need to adapt. One key area that needs regular attention is your admissions enrollment funnel. This process encompasses all the steps a prospect takes from first hearing about your school to becoming an enrolled student. 

In this blog post, we will help you understand why it's crucial to audit your funnel regularly. 

1) It Helps See What is Working and What is Not 

The first reason to audit your admissions funnel is to get a sense of what is and isn't working. Take a look at your current strategy and identify whether you are attracting the right prospects. 

Are you getting lots of inquiries from students that aren't qualified? This could mean your marketing is not targeting the right segments, or you need to re-evaluate what type of student your school wants to attract. If this is happening, it's likely decreasing the effectiveness of your funnel and costing you money. 

On the other hand, if you are getting a lot of qualified leads but not many students are enrolling, that could mean there is a problem with your conversion rate. This could be due to a lack of follow-up or a disconnect between students' expectations and your school. 

2) Helps Identify Areas for Improvement 

Along with understanding what is and isn't working, auditing your funnel can also help identify areas for improvement. It's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day activities and lose sight of the bigger picture, so an audit can help refocus your team on what needs attention. 

Once you know where prospective students are dropping off, you can focus on fixing those issues. Maybe there is a step in the enrollment journey that can be improved, or perhaps you need to change your messaging to better appeal to your target audience.  

• Are you using the right channels to reach prospects?
• Is your website easy to navigate? 
• Do you have a solid social media presence and content marketing strategy in place? 

These elements all play a role in the effectiveness of your enrollment funnel, so it's crucial to identify if they need improvement. This will help ensure more prospects move through the process successfully and become admitted students at your school. 

3) Helps Identify Areas for Potential Campaign Growth 

Another benefit of auditing your funnel is that it can help identify areas for potential campaign growth. Once you know where prospects are dropping off, you can focus on those areas and try to increase the number of leads coming in. 

Maybe there is a step in the funnel that could be improved with some targeted marketing, or maybe you need to create more content that is appealing to potential students. 

For example, you may need to implement campaign strategies like retargeting ads (to reconnect with prospects that have visited your website) or offer more information on the application process before they submit their inquiry to address these issues.  

Focusing on these areas can lead to increased enrollment and a better ROI for your admissions process. 

4) Helps with Routine Analytics Review 

By taking a look at how many prospects are moving through the funnel and how many are converting, you can gain insights into how prospects are interacting with your school as well as understand your overall marketing effectiveness. 

This information can help you determine what marketing efforts are working and which ones need to be tweaked or abandoned altogether. In addition, it can help you track the progress of your method over time and see how it is evolving. 

5) Allows You to Identify Common Reasons Prospects Convert or Drop Off at Each Step 

Auditing your funnel will allow you to identify the common reasons prospects convert or drop off at each step. By analyzing your data and understanding what is happening with leads at each stage of the process, you can determine if there are any patterns or trends that may be contributing factors.

The results of this analysis will allow marketers to make changes and improvements as needed, so they do not lose out on potentially qualified leads. 

Areas to Analyze During the Inbound Marketing Methodology Audit 

Below is a list of areas that should be analyzed during an inbound marketing methodology audit. Not all of these will apply to every organization, but it's a good idea to review as many as possible when conducting your audit: 

• Website design and user experience 
• Landing pages 
• Web forms 
• SEO strategy 
• Paid search campaigns  
• Social media presence 
• Blogging strategy 
• Content marketing strategy 
• Email marketing strategy 

Each of these areas can have a significant impact on the success of your funnel and should be evaluated regularly. If you find that some areas need improvement, don't worry – there is always room for growth! By making minor changes to your marketing strategy, you can see a big difference in the number of leads you can generate.

Conclusion 

The recruitment landscape is constantly changing, and what may have been effective five years ago may not produce the same results today. With this in mind, it's essential to regularly review your marketing game plan and see if any adjustments can be made to improve outcomes. 

Here at Sonority Group, we can work with your school to audit your inbound methodologies and give insight on how to best move forward with your marketing strategy. Are you ready to get started? Let’s chat!