3 Actionable Steps to Increase Contact Rates
Are prospects ghosting you? We know contact rates are a challenge. Getting prospective customers to answer sales calls and texts is a struggle. That’s not surprising — high competition, the number of required attempts, prospect suspicion of unsolicited pitches and fatigue all impact contact rates. Boost contact and you’ll boost enrollment!
Here are 3 actionable tips in the admissions process to prevent ghosting and boost your contact rates:
- Speed-to-Lead and Persistence.
Every school is texting and emailing. Distinguish your school with your voice! Too often schools operate on a similar basis with competitors with nothing that distinguishes them from the field. Yes, calling students immediately, professionally, and consistently is uncommon. In fact, our recent mystery shop of over 100 non-profit universities showed that 60 percent of schools did not make a single phone attempt within 21 days. Schools are competing for prospects, spending big budgets on marketing, yet the real question is, do they value leads? Universities have some of the most demanding customers in the world: students. As digital natives, your students have access to the entire world’s information at their fingertips, instantly, when they want it and how they want it. In other words, their “always-on” expectations are set by the digital experiences they get every day. Are you there when they are ready to speak?
SMS is more difficult, complex and under greater scrutiny. So, we come back to voice. We’ve never left it. From our view voice is key. People prefer relationships over whiz-bang technology any day. Maybe prospects want to hear your UVP from you or how can you learn what’s important without listening to your prospects?
- Mobile Enabled & Inbound.Consider how a 25 percent increase in lead volume can boost your applications. Inbound leads convert
higher in enrollment than other lead sources!
What Makes Online Leaders Like SNHU, Liberty, WGU, and GCU successful?
Why are so many universities struggling to grow their programs, and yet these schools are growing and
thriving? They execute best practices – capturing and converting interest into leads.
Have you ever wondered why 98 percent of your web traffic leaves your site without submitting the
slightest bit of information— no form fill, no chat, no inbound call, nothing?
Well, we did.
In fact, recently we researched 100+ non-profit universities offering and advertising an online program
or graduate program. Students are digital natives. They search for education providers using the internet
while demanding immediate response and easy access to information. They expect to interact and
enroll when they’re ready!84 percent of schools are missing 25 percent of organic lead volume. The highest converting lead
source.
Unfortunately, schools are spending money on paid media, expensive SEO, and technology but have yet
to optimize without seeing results. The primary reason is they fail with Conversion Rate Optimization
(CRO).
Based on the opportunities we identified, we believe the following results are possible:
● An increase of 25 percent in unpaid, high-intent organic inquiries monthly for graduate and
online programs
● Improved prospect experience
● Increased web traffic and expanded reach for ALL audience types
● Higher return on marketing investment
We’ve helped several universities produce similar results. Can we help you? Isn’t it time you turn your
web traffic into higher enrollment for your university? - Spam mitigation
Is your number showing up? Maybe you are making the calls, but are they being answered? Maybe they
are being flagged for spam or not picked up because your university is an unknown caller. Our solution
embeds technology that allows your brand’s caller identity to show up correctly on the calling screen
every time. This service covers over 360 million consumers across the major U.S. phone carriers: Verizon
Wireless, T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, Cricket Wireless, Xfinity Mobile, Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, and
more. We know it works, we’ve measured it! Our research shows that branded caller ID increases contact
rate by 5 percent.
Opportunities abound for online universities to convert more inquiries without spending more money. There is an
incredibly good chance you are missing growth and missing opportunities because your team’s speed to contact is not what
it should be. If you’re spending money on any marketing, you’re losing money until you fix this. We can help!
Your prospects deserve a human touch.
Let us know if we can help you increase contact and enrollment.
