HIGHER EDUCATION IN 2015 The Big Race to Win, …€¦ · The Big Race to Win, Engage, and Retain College Students Competition amongst colleges and universities to maintain or increase

© 2015 SCREEN MAGIC | 1

The Big Race to Win, Engage, and Retain College Students

Competition amongst colleges and universities to maintain or increase student enrollments

should continue to intensify over the coming decade. According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center1, post-secondary enrollments fell 1.3% overall in the fall 2014 semester, representing a sixth consecutive half-year decline when broken out between fall and spring semesters. While the decline in enrollments has stemmed almost exclusively from the troubled for-profit sector and has, in fact, slowed from rates seen in 2012-2013, it is still cause for worry.

The underlying demographics can not be ignored. While the number of high school graduates grew 27% from 1997-98 through 2009-10, it is projected to decrease 2% between 2009-10 and 2022-23, according most recent forecasts from the National

How Strategic Utilization of CRM with SMS Text Messaging Can Help

0.2%

-1.8%

-0.3%

-2.3%

-1.5%

-0.8%-1.3%

-3%

-2%

-1%

0%

1%

2%

3%

2011 Fall/Spring 2012 Fall/Spring 2013 Fall/Spring 2014 Fall

HIGHER EDUCATION IN 2015

SOURCE: NATIONAL STUDENT CLEARINGHOUSE RESEARCH CTR

Term Enrollment EstimatesPercent change from prior year, Title IV, Degree Granting Institutions, all sectors

2 |© 2015 SCREEN MAGIC

Center for Education Statistics (NCES)2. Enrollments in post-secondary degree granting institutions, which grew 45% in the 14 years from 1997 through 2011, are projected to increase just 14% to 24 million in the 11-year period from 2011 through 2022. Growth in enrollments of traditionally aged college students (18-24 years old) is expected to slow even more dramatically from +49% between 1997-2011 to just 9% from 2011 through 2022, according to NCES.

A 2014 analysis from the Academy Administration Practice of Hanover Research3 noted that:

“There are almost 2,000 more institutions enrolling students today than there were at the turn of the millennium, which may explain why the per-institution median enrollment has declined during this 13-year period.”

All of this is occurring against a backdrop of national debate around perceptions of diminishing returns on investment in higher education and concerns that over-leveraging of student debt could represent the next big economic bubble to burst in the U.S., similar to the housing market bubble, which essentially precipitated the Great Recession of 2008-2009. Regardless of where one stands in the ongoing debate around higher education in the U.S., college and university officials are clearly worried. A September 2014 Higher Education

Outlook Survey by KPMG found, “an overwhelming number” of higher education leaders (85%) classifying themselves as either very or somewhat concerned about their abilities to maintain current enrollment levels, a 14-point jump from the firm’s 2013 study and a 19-point jump from 2012.4

While a certain subset of so-called elite schools might be immune from the intensifying race for student enrollments, many more will be faced

with tough decisions and challenges around stringency of selection requirements, tuition rates, capacities for offering alternative solutions (such as online and/or adaptive learning), and how to continue to invest in amenities capable of attracting and engaging students without making themselves financially

inaccessible to increasing numbers of students and families.

Even after winning enrollments, the race is far from over. Other data from the National Student Clearinghouse shows only 55% of first-time degree-seeking students who enrolled in fall 2008 completing degrees or certificates within six years, including 13% who completed at institutions other than their starting institutions. “In other words, nearly one in four students who completed a degree did so at an institution other than where they first enrolled,”5 states the report. While the corresponding completion rate for four-year private non-profit institutions is substantially higher at 74%, a report from Noel-Levitz finds private colleges in the U.S. spending some $2,433 in average recruiting costs to attract a single first-year student compared to $457 at the median for four-year public institutions (with a 63% completion rate on average) and $123 for two-year public institutions, which

An overwhelming number of higher education leaders (85%) classify themselves as either very or somewhat concerned about their abilities to maintain current enrollment levels.


average at 39% for degree completion.6 Even at lower attrition rates seen amongst four-year private and public institutions, some one in four to nearly half of students will either drop out or transfer, generating financial losses both in terms of tuition and recruitment spending.

Although the data are generated by two different organizations, the apparent correspondence between per-student recruitment spending and degree attainment rates is intriguing and speaks to the importance of student engagement, which is the primary focus of this paper.

Amping up student engagementCoping in the current environment of increasing competition for enrollment and challenges with student attrition are complex and must certainly involve solutions spanning the spectrum from financial accessibility, to students’ academic preparedness, academic support, and assiduous communications and engagement throughout the entire student lifecycle ― from moment of first contact with an institution all the way through to

obtaining alumni financial and evangelical support. This paper zeros in on the communications and engagement piece of the larger puzzle ― what colleges and universities might do to engage young adults and other students throughout their entire student lifecycles in order to build long-term, vocal loyalty to education brands. In this context, we shall also discuss the big potential for winning competitive advantage in present-day higher education through modernization, personalization, and cost efficient automation of communications approaches using mobile digital channels and, in particular, the Short Message Service (SMS, text message) format.

Optimize CRM Consider for a few moments the following hypothetical scenario and how the story is most likely to play out against a backdrop of intensifying competition for student enrollments and retention:

Jane is high school sophomore with a solid academic record. Based on her PSAT scores, she is on your four-year public institution’s radar for

Attract

Contact

Visit

Apply

Enroll

Orient

Arrive

Grow

Career Dev

Graduate

Promote

Legacy, give

Accept

Completestudentlifecycle

Learn

Intern


early recruitment by direct mail. In her junior year, Jane responds to your mail outreach by booking a campus visit and tour. Upon registering for her visit, she provides personal data such as an email address and mobile phone number.

Over the ensuing year, you continue to recruit Jane, sending both physical mail and e-mail and reaching out to her personally with calls and support intended to guide her through your application process.

Jane applies to your school and is accepted. Because she is from out of state and will pay a higher tuition, your recruitment intensifies. As May 1 draws near, you have yet to receive an enrollment from Jane, so you coordinate with financial aid to increase her merit scholarship offer.

Finally, Jane enrolls. If you were like most other institutions of higher learning, your courting of Jane as a loyal university customer would stop there, possibly being picked up again if Jane becomes one of the 63% to reach graduation within six years at your institution, versus one of the 37% who may not.

What you do not yet know about Jane ― because it was not something you could discern from her application ― is that she is a painfully shy person, a bit of a home body, prone to mild depression, and has relied heavily on private tutoring to maintain her high school GPA and to achieve decent standardized test scores. Because you are unlike most other institutions, however, you already have a great strategy in place for Jane.

When Jane arrives on campus for orientation feeling extreme

anxiety about making new friends, you have her covered. Within a few minutes of registering, she receives a personalized text message on her phone:

“Hi Jane and welcome! This is Mike, your personal orientation coordinator. Please come to Room 102 for a meet and greet!”

What Jane will never know is that the group meeting with Mike in Room 102 has been carefully selected via CRM for having similar interests and profiles. Almost immediately Jane relaxes and even finds her first-year roommate within the group.

A month later, on move-in day, while Jane and her parents are struggling to say good bye, she receives another personal text message, this time from her residential advisor.

“Hi Jane. It’s Elyse, your RA. As soon as you are settled in your room, please

join us in the first-floor student lounge to meet your floormates!”

Jane is off and running with her college career. A bit later that first day out in the world on her own, Jane

receives another text:

“Hi Jane. Pete here with Outing Club. We hear you like to hike! Visit

table #44 @ clubs fair to learn what we have planned! Or text YES to join our list.”

Shy Jane is now feeling less worried about making

new friends on campus and experiences a wonderful

first few days at her new school.


Then classes begin. Without the comforting support of her high school tutors, Jane very quickly begins to feel overwhelmed. She begins to shut down, choosing to sleep rather than attending classes, skipping meals, and going home on weekends whenever she can convince her parents to come pick her up.

As soon as Jane shows even the slightest pattern of missing classes and assignment deadlines, however, she pops up on the radar of your school’s excellent academic support network. Your university’s lifecyle approach to CRM makes it easy for the academic support team to piece together disparate clues that signify Jane to be an at-risk student while there is still plenty of time to offer support before her GPA falls to a point of no return. The system also makes it exceedingly easy for your school to reach out to Jane, again, via personalized text message, to engage her in conversation and to let her know about all the opportunities she has to access

academic tutoring assistance and other types of emotional counselling and support.

“Hi Jane. Aaron your advisor here! How are you? Let’s talk so I can let you know about some great support options we have here on campus. May I call you?”

With proper support in place, Jane’s academic performance begins to improve steadily. This, in turn, enables her to thrive socially as she learns to manage her time better and becomes more involved in campus culture. As she continues to learn and grow, Jane loves receiving text alerts about all the various sporting events, plays, music, and dance performances taking place across campus. She also appreciates quick, concise messaging around important deadlines, such as class assignments, course registration, housing selection, tutoring times, study groups, and special meals being featured in various dining halls. Jane

The university’s lifecycle approach to CRM enables its academic support team to piece together disparate clues that Jane has become an at-risk student. Meantime, the immediacy of SMS messaging makes it easy to be proactive, to reach out and begin a conversation with Jane before her GPA reachesa point of no return.


has now become is a fully engaged student who would rather be on campus than home.

One day, while sitting in class during her senior year, Jane is thrilled to receive a text message letting her know that a spot has just opened in a wildly popular professor’s seminar for which she has been wait listed. Despite being in class at the time, her ability to reply right then and there enables Jane to secure the spot.

Fast forward to Jane’s graduation day. She could not be happier or feel more accomplished to be finishing college in four years. With help and frequent text messaging from campus career services and school alumni, Jane has already landed a great job and has signed up to help with future student recruiting for her alma mater.

Jane has also decided to settle nearby so continues to appreciate text messaging from the university around campus events, which she supports enthusiastically, buying tickets for family and friends Pledging her own annual contribution to the school’s endowment fund is as simple as shooting off a quick text reply to her alumni class solicitor.

And, when it comes time for Jane’s own children to apply to college, there is no question about where she will advise them to look first.

The magic of text messaging While the Jane scenario is entirely possible to accomplish with today’s state-of-the-art CRM ― when integrated with related student information solutions ― it is not the present reality for most student experiences. A 2014-2015 study by the

American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) finds two-thirds (64%) of colleges and universities using at least one CRM system and, of the remaining group, some 42% considering CRM investments.7

The same report, however, finds 75% suggesting they are not yet fully maximizing their use

of CRM, only 33% integrating CRM with Student Information Systems (SIS), and only 3% utilizing CRM throughout the complete student lifecycle. In most instances, according to the report, CRM is used primarily for recruiting and admissions and may be picked up again with alumni relationship management, but is not typically being used throughout the time a student is enrolled and/or present on campus. What is more, says the report:

“The vast majority of institutions are not currently using texting as a means of communicating with students even though recent marketing effectiveness measures indicate that texts are read at a much higher rate than emails.”

Widely quoted data from Frost & Sullivan 2010 and Epsilon 2009 suggests the average open rate for SMS is greater than 95% compared to a low 20% vicinity for email. Response rates for SMS, meantime, typically average in the 25%-40% range, an 8-10X differential compared to email, which typically yields response rates in a 3%-4% range.


Widely quoted data from Frost & Sullivan 2010 and Epsilon 2009 suggests the average open rate for SMS is greater than 95% compared to a low 20% vicinity for email. Response rates for SMS, meantime, typically average in the 25%-40% range, an 8-10X differential compared to email, which typically yields response rates in a 3%-4% range.

When it comes to engaging with college and university students, in view of intensifying competition for enrollments and ever-present attrition risks, SMS is a communications channel that institutions of higher learning can not afford to ignore. Reach is broad and instantaneous. Attention is greater. Response is much faster and more frequent. As true digital and social media natives, both present day and future college and university students will expect no less from their schools.

However, with potentially dozens of competing messages, on average, each day ― and that is before other marketers really grab hold of the SMS channel ― colleges and universities will also need to be exceptionally disciplined and smart about how

they exploit text messaging. They should develop content for SMS only when it can promote student engagement and long-term brand loyalty and resist temptations to either over- or misuse the channel in ways that students might find annoying.

Potential uses for SMS throughout the complete student lifecycle As illustrated in the Jane example, the SMS format, which is typically confined to 160 characters, should be used surgically in conjunction with other effec-tive forms of communication. Key buckets for SMS communications include:

• Deadline reminders: Everything from applications, enrollments, and financial aid, to student health and other paperwork due dates, fee payment, course registration, housing selection, assignment deadlines, exam times, and so forth.

• Events: Audience segmentation capabilities within CRM, when integrated with robust SMS messaging tools, make it possible to deploy


text messaging both for broad invitations ― sporting, cultural, or academic lecture events ― and also for more narrowly focused events, such as receptions for specific majors, honors candidates, and so forth.

• Optimization opportunities: In the same way that certain mobile apps help industry to optimize capacity (hotel rooms, airline seats, etc), universities can exploit the immediacy of the text message to optimize their own capacities. Examples might include last-minute free tickets to events where seats need filling, availability of free surplus food from catered events, notifications around surplus bookstore inventory sales, or late openings in popular/overbooked courses or residential dormitory spaces with waiting lists.

• Easy signups, confirmations, and cancellations. Examples here might include campus tours, orientation dates, study groups, club trips and outings, community service outreach events, job fairs, and meetings with internship and job recruiters through campus career placement services.

• Appointments. Consider SMS messaging for enabling students to book times with advisors, faculty, tutors, health services, counselling, IT support, and much more.

• Invitations to form social connections: While school administrators and faculty might understandably be more focused on communications related to administration or academics, the social component of campus life should be a big part of any long-term student engagement and retention initiative. Enabling student leaders to utilize CRM and SMS channels could provide countless opportunities to assist students with making strong social bonds that will last a lifetime and extend long into their alumni years.

• Changes. Communication via text message of last-minute changes, for example, in course times, locations, faculty, or similar would be welcomed by students and not seen as a littering of their message timelines.

• Alerts. Class cancellation, campus closures due to weather, IT network outages, and the like are all candidates for positive, rapid student engagement via SMS messaging. Availability of posted course schedules or grades are other examples of alert types that students might wish to receive. Immediate security threats, already a common usage for SMS messaging on many college campuses, could be made even more robust by encouraging students to act as eyes and ears, easily communicating issues they observe and contributing to a sense of strong community, security, and campus stewardship.

• Student help desk and/or complaint. The beauty of SMS is its capacity for fostering two-way conversations. Enabling an SMS vote on menu choices for a large all-campus event or offering easy means for students to register feedback around proposed policy changes or complaints could go a long way to promoting strong student engagement and long-term brand loyalty that converts eventually into financial and other forms of alumni support.

• Success stories and post-graduate assistance. If your university makes a practice of creating great student success stories, be sure to include SMS as a channel for distributing those stories, along with other types of forward-focused assistance, such as internship and job opportunities coming in via alumni networks.

SMS DOs and DONTsWhile SMS is certainly a convenient and desirable mode of student communication and engagement, it can be quite challenging to communicate messages clearly within common 160-character constraints.


SMS content should cover its full purpose, yet needs to be crisp and go right to the point. Based on analysis of ideal SMS communications, here are some key DOs and DONTs:

Segment your audienceTo be a viable channel for student communications and engagement, SMS will rely heavily on schools’ capacities for audience segmentation. Careful planning and strategy must be applied: in selection of CRM systems with powerful capabilities for filtering and segmenting audiences; initial capture and structuring of student information, and training CRM/SMS user bases in how to query systems correctly to obtain just the right audience segments for desired messaging.

Understand the audience persona Young adults love texting, but it will be just as easy to abuse the channel as it has been with email. Some types of messages will be more welcome than

others. For example, a deadline reminder or class cancellation alert would be welcomed by students, while rules reminders or messages regarding poor grades or disciplinary actions might not be.

Avoid tall claims just to grab attentionCollege/university education is a very large, long-term investment in one’s future; all SMS messaging aimed at student recruitment and engagement should reflect this fact.

Measure success and capture knowledgeBe sure to personalize the attention you give to students via SMS and have performance management processes and infrastructure in place to ensure that notes and knowledge surrounding SMS engagements find their way into students’ CRM records and notes.

One thought, one message SMS is a short-text format that can not exceed 160

Hi Mike. Judy here with U-XYZ.Congrats on your enrollment! First step is to pick an orientation date. Text 1 for6/25, 2 for 7/14, or 3 for 7/16.SEE YOU THERE!

Anatomy of an effective text message for student engagement

Personalizedsalutation

BrandingSender’sname

Clearcall toaction

Genericenoughto beauto-generatedfromstandardtemplate

Gets job done in 160chars or less

Proper punctuation,minimal abbreviation,and no text slang

Instruct-ions tofacilitaterapidreply


characters. As such, it may be necessary to send several related messages spaced out over time. This takes careful planning, as it can often be much more difficult to write short than long. When responses are required, messages should be tested across multiple people to ensure there is zero ambiguity in how to respond correctly.

Include must-have message elements Must-have SMS elements are: a friendly salutation, receiver’s and sender’s names, a brand name, key info, and a call to action or instruction. Space permitting, recall phrases ― per our conversation, per your request ― are recommended also. Consider starting messages with keyword identifiers: alert, reminder, news, event, sign up, and so forth.

Be specificSMS content must be crisp, yet sufficient to communicate a message. When used, headlines should clearly explain the objective or intent of the text, while the message body conveys complete instructions as to what the receiver must do (if anything).

Automate and standardizeUse templates to standardize wherever possible. Screen Magic research indicates that up to 85% of education institutions use standard templates for defined objectives. Like other communications channels, SMS templates should be designed, A/B tested, and refined over time based on performance metrics. Messaging can be substantially automated by thoroughly mapping key student processes and workflows, which enables followup texts to be sent based on numbered or otherwise coded responses from mass message recipients.

Gamify/code message response optionsPacking in all recommended message elements can be difficult to accomplish in just 160 characters. A trick is to gamify: For example:

“Hi Steve. Aaron your advisor here. I have openings on Mon-Wed next week for course planning. Reply 1 to book Monday; 2 for Tuesday, 3 for Wednesday.”

This also helps with back-end CRM management of replies and rules-setting for subsequent automated message exchanges.

Time messages wisely Screen Magic research indicates that 9am-12pm is the most popular timeframe in which to communicate by SMS.

Avoid text slang/abbreviations and always use proper punctuation It might be tempting to use text slang and

Hi Mike. Prof. Doylefrom U-XYZ. We hear you are looking tomajor in history! Wouldlove to chat about unique things we do here. Isthere a good time to call you?

Sticks to onemessage &invites reply/ conversation

Personalized& branded

SMS DO:

abbreviations, or to omit punctuation. But, aside for increasing risks that messages will be misinterpreted (creating bad student/customer experiences), colleges and universities are modeling behaviors for young adults who will soon enter business and professional workforces. While certain common abbreviations (such as Tx for thank you) might be acceptable, formal and professional SMS communications send a strong message to students that decorum is expected at all times.

Pay attention to visual formattingFormatting can add a great deal in terms of message clarity. Using a return, for example, consumes only a single character in SMS but provides great visual formatting. Use capitalization for emphasis rather than squandering space on special characters such as asterisks. Also, capitalize important information such as brand name, call to action, phone number, SMS keywords, clickthrough URLs, and so forth.

Drive conversation from campaigns Consider using live agents to engage in conversations with those who reply to mass SMS


***Alert*** Yr tuitionpymnt is past due Holdwill be placed on yr acctand u will not be allowedto regstr for sprngclasses if not pd by 11/30

Wastes spaceon unneededcharacters

Ambiguous. Year?or Your?

Unprofessional;poor role modeling

Negative/threatening;poor use of channel

SMS DON’T:

FREE TICKETS!

We have 100 free studentseats for today’s men’sbasketball game; 6pm @ Coen Ctr.

Reply YES to reserve now!

Grabs attention withoutsquandering space

Uses spacingto add clarity& legibility

Offers clear, rapid response instruction

SMS DO:

campaigns. Such conversations can be extremely valuable for populating CRM with information that can be utilized in message personalization throughout the complete student lifecyle.

Enable (but do not emphasize) opt out No matter how well you segment your audience, there will typically be some who wish to opt out of receiving future messages. Be sure to offer opt-out opportunities, but do not emphasize the option by using capitals or bold text. Always ensure the call to action is more prominent than opt-out options.

Getting Started with CRM-Powered SMS CommunicationsWith only a handful of colleges and universities utilizing their CRM systems throughout the complete student lifecycle, and even fewer optimizing the student-preferred SMS channel for marketing campaigns and routine communications, there are huge opportunities for institutions of higher learning to achieve competitive advantage in what is sure to be an increasingly competitive environment for attracting and retaining students through graduation.

Exploiting these tools in ways that would deliver a Jane experience requires comprehensive strategy; broad collaboration among various campus administrative, academic and other organizations; assiduous and detailed tactical planning, and, most important, creativity and innovation. At the same time, it is exceptionally easy to start small with CRM-powered SMS and grow from there. A great start would be to benchmark how the technology is

already being utilized effectively and cost efficiently in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer sectors. Draw a big map of the end-to-end student lifecycle with related communications and information flows, and start strategizing from there!

Future papers from Screen Magic will go into greater depth around process mapping, automation, user training requirements and so forth, so be sure to sign up with us for future communications if you are interested in receiving!

To learn more about the state of the art in fully automatable/CRM-powered SMS messaging and campaign management, start a conversation with a Screen Magic representative by texting SMSMAGIC to 36343.

Citations1. Term Enrollment Estimates, Fall 2014, National

Student Clearinghouse Research Center2. Projections of Education Statistics to 2022, National

Center for Education Statistics (NCES).3. Evaluation of Student Enrollment Trends, Hanover

Research, July 20144. Increasing Number of College and University Leaders

Concerned About Maintaining Student Enrollment, Says KPMG Survey, KPMG, July 2014

5. Signature Report, Completing College: A State-Level View of Student Attainment Rates, National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, February 2015

6. 2013 Cost of Recruiting an Undergraduate Student Report, Noel-Levitz based on poll from fall 2014

7. 2014-2015 State of CRM Use in Higher Education Report, American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO)

www.screen-magic.com • CONTACT: 415-366-6645

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HIGHER EDUCATION IN 2015 The Big Race to Win, …€¦ · The Big Race to Win, Engage, and Retain College Students Competition amongst colleges and universities to maintain or increase