Join Hobsons University presenter, Marcus Hanscom, as he discusses utilizing Hobsons Connect to measure ROI.

1. Face the (Country) Music:
Utilizing Connect to Measure ROI
and Stop Wasting your Resources
Marcus Hanscom
Associate Director of Graduate Recruitment and Outreach
University of New Haven
July 17, 2012

2. Agenda
• Introduction
• Assessing where we are
• Building the funnel
• Engaging prospective students
• Measuring ROI
• Q&A / Online Evaluation

3. University of New Haven
• Private, nonprofit university
in West Haven, CT
• 4,600 undergraduate/1,800
graduate students
• Centralized graduate
admissions
• Grad using Connect, AY, VIP
• Client since December 2007

4. Learning Outcome for Today
• We will recruit more efficiently and deliver
higher ROI if we:
– Evaluate our current student base
– Use student information to make educated
decisions on marketing channels and relevant
messaging
– AND track student data throughout the funnel
including activity on our website, social media

5. The “Informed” ROI Process
Assess
Incoming/
Current
Students
Lead
Tracking Generation
Funnel
Management
/Marketing/
Recruitment

6. “All my exes live in Texas…”
THE FOUNDATIONS

7. Consider leadership…
“Know thyself… and others.”

8. Your existing funnel
• Assess the demographics of prospective
students
– Geographic Origin?
– Male/Female ratio?
– Previous major?
– Referral Source?
• In an ideal world, assess by program
– Easier for decentralized admissions

9. Assignment #1
• Create a “demographic dashboard”
– Utilize a broad filter for all reports
• Ie. All graduate students for fall 2012
– Potential reports
• International /Domestic Breakdown
• Gender Breakdown
• Applicants by State (Geo-targeting)
• Applicants by Source (ROI)
• Applicants by program
– Use dashboard attribute filtering

10. Dashboard Filtering
• Customize data reporting in real-time
• Helpful attributes:
– Gender
– State (Geographic Origin)
– International/Domestic
– Referral Source
– Status
– Funnel Status

11. Inaccurate Funnel Tracking

12. Accurate Funnel Tracking

13. How we fix the funnel
• Bulk edit based on current status
– Populate all related options in a separate
attribute: Funnel Status

14. Helpful Bulk Edits
• Funnel Status
• Program name
– Collect concentrations under one title if necessary
• College name
– Filter with related college programs
• Use for dashboard filtering

15. Food for Thought
• Is there a correlation between those that
apply? Enroll?
• Are particular sources more productive?
• Are certain groups benefitting from custom
communication plans? Support?

16. Assignment #2
• Conduct a program demographic assessment
– Age/Gender, state, domestic origin
– Referral Source
– Previous Major
• Filter dashboard by program for data ease
• Present to program faculty
– Engage faculty in process if not already
– Are faculty using Connect on your campus?
– Faculty buy-in is crucial

17. Sample: M.S.E.D. Applicants

18. Sample Engineering Applicants

19. “I’m proud of the house we built…”
BUILDING THE FUNNEL

20. Generating Awareness
• That’s so 2001…
– Printed Directories
– Bulk Snail Mailings
– Cold Calling
– Newspaper tombstone
ads

21. Generating Awareness
• …but this is so 2012
– Directory Sites (Gradschools.com, Petersons.com,
GraduateGuide.com…)
– University Website
– Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn,
FourSquare…)
– Google/search engines
– Blogs
– Virtual Information Sessions/Chats
– Open Houses

22. The key question is…
Is it trackable?

23. Lead Sources
• Purchased Lists • Open Houses
• Directory Sites • Webinars/Chats
• Social Media • Word of Mouth
• University Website • Click-thru campaigns
• Search Engines
• Mailings/BRC
(Paid and Organic)
• …and more
• Graduate Fairs/Visits

24. Purchased Lists
• Importing into Connect?
• Critical to prevent purchased leads from
getting into communication plans for true
inquiries
– Unsolicited vs. solicited interest
• What triggers the inquiry?
– VIP pages are a great option

25. Key Questions
• What is the total budget allocated to
generating leads?
• Are lead generation techniques/processes
customized by program?
• What role do faculty members play?
Administrators?
• How do you manage your prospect leads
versus your inquiries?

26. Assignment #3
• Do a lead generation audit
– List all current lead sources and costs
– Identify financial goals: spend more or less?
– Are you doing some things because “that is what we
always do?”
– Just the basics: How many students are applying or
enrolling from each source? (Dashboard)

27. Where are you sending
prospective students?
• Generic page on your site?
• An inquiry form?
• A specific landing page for just the leads from
a particular source?
• A specific inquiry form?

28. https://newhavengrad.askadmissions.net/emtinterestpage.aspx?ip=interest&src=152&
program=EMGMT

29. Assignment #4
• Set up Unique Source Pages
– Set up landing pages or inquiry forms unique to each
lead source
– Create vanity urls (ie. www.newhaven.edu/nytimes)
for print advertising
– Create pages for your generic lead generation and for
event advertising management
– Pursue potential custom options with Hobsons

30. A Referral Source Policy
• Define your data captures
– Created source, how did you hear?, Referral
Source, Lead source (custom pages)
• Create attributes to centrally collect data
• Identify means of collecting:
– Specific sources
– Broad source categories

31. Bulk Edits
• Move each data set from source attributes
into one attribute (ie. Referral Source)
• Use new attribute to help further “funnel”
sources into broad attribute (Referral Source
Category)
• Use broad attribute to get a pulse on what
channels work or need improvement

32. Referral Source Collection
Created Source
How did you hear
of us? Referral Referral
Source
Source Category
Lead Source (Hobsons
Custom)

33. Referral Source Category Collection
International
GRE Search
Search
Names
Names
International
GMAT Search
Hobsons
Names
Leads
Purchased
Lists

34. Assignment #5
• Create a referral source policy
– How do you accurately report where students
came from?
– Identify how the created source versus a “How did
you hear about us?” question will vary in your
data
• Create one data set/attribute to collect this
data
– Greatly reduces reporting headaches

35. Would your VP like this…

36. …or this?

37. “I’m here for the party…”
ENGAGING PROSPECTS

38. Keys to Success
• Automated Communication Plan
• Relevant Messaging
• Cross-channel messaging with common brand
message
• Regular social media participation
• Personalization whenever and wherever
possible

39. Communication Plan
• Automation = efficiency
– Particularly for small offices
– Does not necessarily mean impersonal
• Integrated marketing opportunities
– Letters, emails, VIP pages
– Phone call management
• Ensure communication consistency to all
audiences

40. Relevant Messaging
• Students want personalization
• Avoid the fluff communications
• Provide program information as soon as
possible
– Preferably through multiple channels – mail,
email, phone
• Clear, succinct, “What’s in it for me?”
communications
Initial Email Communication Interaction Rates
General 4% Program-Specific 20%

41. Tips for Email
• Toss out the “HTML graphic email” is king
mentality
– Keep in mind personalization, smart phones
– Perception of your message
Counselor Email Interaction Rates
HTML 0.25% Plain text 6%
• Send one-time emails to targeted audiences
with program-related news

42. Social Media
• Engaging students on SM means exactly that
– Regular interactions
– Go beyond the “press release” posts
• Remember the audiences for each platform
• Create opportunities to request information,
learn more, “see” your experience
• Hobsons can create interest form for iframes
(Facebook)

43. “You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em…”
MEASURING AND
UTILIZING RESULTS

44. Measuring Results
• Results in Connect
– Email Results (Open rate, interactions)
Email Interaction Rates
General 4% Program-Specific 20%
– VIP page results
• Source Coding (Referrals)
• Unique Landing Pages w/tracking
• Google Analytics (or other software)

45. VIP results
• 8% of all visitors clicked an “Apply Now” link
• 59% of those completed and submitted an application
• Average visits per user: 5.7
• Average login time: 27 minutes
• 6,245 active visitors in last 12 months
• 1,267 engaged visitors (20%)

46. Google Analytics
• Hobsons can put university code on interest
pages
• Request to have redirect to your site
• Use goal gauges to determine percentage of
traffic completing form

47. Assignment #6
• Become a user on Google Analytics
– Learn how to find your specific site content
– Evaluate metrics as a whole
– No single metric on its own is helpful
• Use metrics to make educated decisions about
page content
– Do you need to adjust content on your admissions
pages? Program pages?
– Would new landing pages help?

48. Tips on Tracking
• Minimize options on how students get to your
website
– Tracking does little good if you have too much to track
• Use vanity URL’s for ease of use or hidden
tracking URL’s
• Use short inquiry forms if directing students there
first
• K.I.S.S.
• All tracking involves a grain of salt

49. Utilizing Results
• Allocation of financial and human resources
• Development of new channels/expansion of
current ones
• Strategic advertising timing
• Strategic planning for links/awareness
• Restructure/rewrite existing content

50. A Starting ROI Argument
• Avg. Rev/Student x # enrolled from source =
Estimated Total Revenue/Source
– Can simplify numbers by funnel status
– Determine the “value” of a given inquiry
or applicant
• Compare revenue to annual spend per source
– Is your return worth the investment?

51. ROI Example
Directory Listing College Fairs
• Avg. Total Revenue/student = $25,000 • Avg. Total Revenue/student =
• Students enrolled = 10 $25,000
• Total revenue from source= $250,000 • Students enrolled = 2
• Annual Directory spend: $32,000 • Total revenue from source=
• ROI: 681% $50,000
• Annual Travel Spend: $30,000
• ROI: 67%
**Remember this is using a gross revenue figure.

52. Assignment #7
• Assign revenue to lead sources and determine
estimated ROI
– Gross revenue is a start
– Determine average revenue/student
• Can be most helpful at program level
– Can compare to other sources by percentage return
on the dollar

53. Assignment Review
1. Create a “Demographic Dashboard”
2. Conduct a program demographic assessment
3. Do a lead generation audit
4. Set up unique source pages
5. Create a referral source policy
6. Become a user on Google Analytics (and use
it)
7. Assign revenue to lead sources for ROI

54. Final Thoughts
• None of this happens overnight
• Need commitment of human (and in some
cases, financial) resources
• Involve faculty if not already doing so
• Be adaptable

55. Marcus Hanscom
MHanscom@newhaven.edu
203.932.7277
Twitter: @MarcusHanscom
Questions?
THANK YOU.