For many years, those of us in the field of higher-education consulting have cautioned against relying on antiquated processes and systems simply because they are assumed to be a distinctive part of the institutional fabric. Such systems are often homegrown, piecemeal, and redundant across functional units, leading to delays and frustration. We have reminded institutional leaders not to let long registration lines, for example, foment student dissatisfaction and distract from the institution’s core academic mission. We have documented workflows, defined user needs, and researched, recommended, and implemented well supported technology solutions that allow administrative transactions to be conducted seamlessly.

Something positive happened as these more robust information systems came online: the function of administration became more student centered. New backend systems were eventually linked to web portals that enabled students to conduct their own transactions – from course registrations to degree audits to parking-fine payments, all with immediate results. Students became empowered while the burden on staff was reduced, freeing administrators to focus on higher-order tasks, such as thinking of creative ways to provide greater value for the student.

The combination of student expectations rising at the speed of technology and an increasingly competitive higher-education landscape moved many colleges and universities away from the traditional ivory-tower approach, which had forced students to navigate the school’s labyrinthine processes to complete even basic tasks. As with businesses that adopt a customer-centric model, these forward-thinking institutions began centering their operations around student service, with continuous-quality-improvement (CQI) efforts supported by the dynamic reporting capabilities of their integrated systems.

The evolution of these systems brings us to today, where the critical focus is now on student retention. The old adage of “A bird in hand is worth two in the bush” is an apt reminder that significantly more resources are required to enroll a new student than to retain an existing one. So, armed with better information technology and the insight gained from improvement initiatives, institutions at the leading edge are implementing what is called the “Student Lifecycle Engagement” model (SLE). SLE goes beyond typical retention efforts aimed only at helping students through their first course or their first year. Instead it converges policy, process, and technology to facilitate ongoing interaction with the institution across every phase of the student lifecycle: prospect, applicant, admit, matriculant, enrollee, pre-graduate, and alumnus. SLE is a comprehensive high-touch, high-tech model that orchestrates information-based proactive and reactive interactions among all stakeholders, including students, staff, and faculty.

The Student SLE Model

The SLE model is based upon the premise that the right communication to the right population occurring at the right stage via the right medium will ultimately raise retention rates. Every touchpoint must be well thought out and communication tracks established across the lifecycle. Few institutions have the resources to reach out to every student personally, so the model consists of a blend of automated, customized email reminders and individual outreach from support specialists. At its core, SLE requires tracking of risk indicators in the information and customer-relationship-management (CRM) systems to trigger the appropriate outreach based on student inputs, or lack thereof.

SLE is not a cookie-cutter approach, and implementation of it must be tailored for each institution. The model is built, however, on a sound conceptual framework and some basic assumptions. It starts by recognizing that all students fall into a risk tier, whether it be the “happy path” (low risk), the potential “stop outs” (high risk), or a tier in between. Every student receives personalized emails regarding transactions they need to complete, as well as confirmations of those completed transactions, congratulations for reaching key milestones, reminders about available resources, and suggestions about classes that appear to be aligned with their educational goals. The emails are driven by student data gathered and acted upon by the institution at proper intervals. For students in the low-risk tier, which might make up roughly 50% of the population, the goal is to help keep them on the happy path with these supplementary communications.

Students who do not respond or complete the desired transactions fall into the medium-risk tier. A key assumption of the SLE model is that these students can be brought back to the happy path with additional outreach, and it is worth expending additional resources for this purpose. Communication in this tier is “high touch.” A CRM case is generated based on a flag in the system, and an outreach specialist is assigned. More personalized emails are sent addressing the issue(s), and follow-up phone calls are placed to offer assistance. The CRM system tracks all outbound and inbound communications. (A formal quality-assurance process also reinforces performance standards for the outreach team, including ongoing training, service-level agreements, and customer-service surveys.) If the institution receives the desired response, the student moves back into the low-risk tier and communication track.

If there is no desired response after a predetermined timeframe or number of outreach attempts, the student falls into the high-risk tier, the approximately 25% of students where anticipated returns on the outreach investment are minimal. The reality is that, unfortunately, students in this tier may be facing circumstances that prevent them from pursuing their academic goals at present. The institution can and should make efforts to bring these students back into the fold, if possible, but many will choose to stop out. Outreach at this tier consists primarily of periodic automated emails that encourage contact and desired actions. The goal is to get these students back into medium-risk tier and, hopefully, back to the happy path. For those students who ultimately choose not to return, surveys can be conducted on the reasons why and used to inform subsequent CQI efforts.

The SLE model is not purely administrative in nature, as additional outreach can be undertaken based on academic indicators. Output from a placement test, orientation course, and/or self assessment can help determine the student’s risk tier. In any class, faculty can track student participation and performance on assignments and assessments in the information system. For online classes, the learning management system can report on whether student has logged in at all. Such academic indicators also trigger CRM cases for outreach specialists to help get the student back on track. Administrators at some institutions may face challenges garnering faculty buy-in for these activities, since there is a natural tension at the intersection of academics and administration. The classroom is usually the bailiwick of faculty who design and teach the course content – one of those core academic components that contribute to the uniqueness of institution – and they may not welcome this type of administrative intervention. But it should be pointed out that the SLE model is “pedagogically agnostic,” that it serves only to help keep students in their classes, and that it is a critical component of an institutional strategy to maintain competitiveness in today’s marketplace.

As with any significant change, planning and execution will not be perfect right at the outset. There will be champions but also resistors, especially as the model cuts across traditional functional silos. Frank discussions should be held with institutional leadership regarding the value of retention and whether current resources are being allocated to activities that effectively support it. Pilot efforts can then be measured and successes proven to faculty, deans, the provost, and the president’s office. As the model reaches operational maturity, aspects that do not work for the institution should be eliminated while continuously improving upon those that do.

SLE and its flexible framework truly support student persistence throughout the entire lifecycle, including lifelong alumni engagement. It is applicable for traditional or adult learners, online or classroom-based instruction, and any academic or career goal.

Vantage Point specializes in defining and implementing the best SLE framework for colleges and universities across the country.  Please contact us using our contact form or e-mail to  info@vantagepoint-inc.com.

The survey included 46 questions contained more than 100 items, with a focus on results that will inform marketing and recruitment efforts for traditional-age undergraduate students.

The two influencers that consistently rose to the top when students were asked about their decision to apply and enroll:

1. The campus visit

2. The institutional website.

Coupled together, these features are reported, time after time, as the most trusted, the most credible, and the most used sources of information for prospective undergraduates in the United States.

Is your website helping your enrollment efforts, or are you losing prospective students?  Contact us today for information on our 35-point Website Audit or care-words survey.

Contact Vantage Point for information on conducting a detailed audit of your website.

• Monitor AdWords campaign
• Understand computer capacity
• A/B split test landing pages
• Track social-media campaigns
• Track international hits

All of the above are measurable using free products from Google but one of the first step in using Google Analytics is understanding what you want to measure and why.

For example, if you want to launch a video series for prospective students, such as taking them on a virtual tour of the campus, watching student interviews, or listening to music at a student concert, you’ll need to know how the majority of your site visitors access the Internet.

One of the elements of Google Analytics is Connection Speed, which includes the percentage of visitors who use dial-up. If a significant portion of your students are on dial-up, loading your site with videos is a poor choice.

The “Why” Factor
Once Analytics are in place, what are you going to do with results?

In many instances, we’ve found that analytic reports stack up month-after-month with no one analyzing them or using them to make data-based decisions.

A critical step in the analytics process is to assign a point person to work with departments to agree on – and schedule – implementation. Unfortunately, this is often the point in the process where the ball is dropped.

If you aren’t using analytics to make data-driven decision for your website, you are missing potential traffic, losing prospective students and/ or making it difficult for students even to find what they’re looking for on the site.

Contact Vantage Point for more information on using analytics for data-driven decisions.

Aaron Uhrmacher, considered the guru of social media, wrote, “Social media measurement is one of those topics about which everyone has an opinion but nobody agrees on the solution.” His suggestion—as a beginning point—is simply to decide on what to measure.

What’s Your Social Media Marketing Goal?

If your goal is to increase your reputation—get prospective students talking about you in a positive manner—then assign someone to visit social-media sites and monitor what’s being said about your institution.

In a brief run-through searching Twitter, we found several disparaging comments about a college’s poor handling of problems for distance students.  At another site, a student complained that it took days to get a return phone call, leading her to wonder if she was choosing the right school.

In both instances, a social-media point of contact—shall we call it a czar?—could have reached out to customers via direct message or e-mail and turned a damaging situation into a win-win.  After all, social media is about the “social”—building relationships.

If your goal with your social-media marketing is to measure traffic, then set up an analytics program that tracks incoming links; this will tell you if your visitors are coming from Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Although Google Analytics are excellent (and free), we also suggest Xinu, a free site that tells how your website is doing in terms of search engines, search engine optimization, social bookmarking, RSS, and other social indicators.

Measuring ROI on social media marketing isn’t a precise science, but what we know for sure is that businesses and entrepreneurs need to have a success metric in mind before jumping into the game.

Contact Vantage Point for information on setting up your social media marketing campaign

1. Getting a high ranking in Google for specific keywords
2. Driving traffic from the standalone site to a specific landing page on the college website

Our client’s target audience was military students who would be interested in attending college using the benefits of the new GI Bill. Because the bill offered a (basically) free education, there was tremendous competition among colleges and universities to reach this audience.

Vantage Point’s goal was to build the standalone site using the keywords most applicable to the topic and the target demographic.

The Vantage Point Strategy

1. On Monday, we purchased a domain name that contained one of our most important keywords.

2. On Tuesday, we installed WordPress (a blogging platform) on the new domain, along with plugins to extend functionality, and an RSS feed.  One of the plugins integrated with Google Analytics, so detailed tracking could be done.

3. Because our target demographic was high users of smart phones, we installed a plugin that made it easy to view the site on a mobile platform.

4. The remainder of Tuesday we built out content.

5. On Wednesday, we added more content, and by Wednesday night Google had indexed the site.

6. On Thursday, we added more content, and by Thursday afternoon the site was on page #1 of Google for three of our main keywords and on page #2 for the other two keywords.

7. By Friday, analytics showed that we were already getting search-engine-based traffic.

What’s the Magic of Ranking So Quickly?

There is none. The standalone site simply followed these best practices:

1. The site used WordPress, which we know gets indexed quickly by Google
2. The site had a laser focus
3. The target demographic was well defined
4. The content was relevant to focus and demographic

Can every standalone site do as well?  Maybe not, but we can build your standalone “landing page” quickly, focus on a single objective, and begin driving traffic to a specific page on your site that has a strong call to action.

Contact Vantage Point for information on building a landing page for your institution.