"V" Is For Velocity
For the vast majority of colleges and universities Fall Census marks the high-water line for single term, new student start volume.
That means that while there will be additional starts throughout the year, it's unlikely any future start term will bring in the volume of new students expected each Fall.
So What Is An Institution To Do If They Just Missed Fall?
Beyond the obvious - increase marketing spend and improve funnel conversion - there is one strategy that continues to be underutilized…
“V” Is For Velocity
If your organization has four-or-more starts per year, there’s a significant opportunity to be had in focusing on improving velocity.
So how do we do that?
For starters, we need to track and understand how long it takes for prospective students to progress from inquiry through to enrolled student.
The industry informally calls this “Bake Time,” and for adult/online students it’s not unusual for it to range from 60 - 90+ days.
What do we do next?
Now, we get to work on trying to compress this timeline, decreasing the time it takes for prospective students to enroll after expressing initial interest.
We start with the areas within our institution’s control, such as speed to lead, package time, etc.
Next, we review our nurture series and communication strategy to confirm we’re doing all we can to be clear, concise, and informative early.
The faster we can effectively answer student questions, the sooner they’ll apply and ultimately enroll.
While this seems obvious, you’d be surprised how many institutions have never reviewed their enrollment process and asked…
How can we expedite enrollment without diminishing the enrollment experience?
For organizations that have successfully executed this strategy, they experience a one-time “pull forward” of tuition revenue that would have traditionally “fallen” into the next fiscal year.
This bump in Spring - which doesn’t require any incremental marketing spend - can be significant and can often be exactly the push needed to rightsize a soft Fall start.
Why Velocity Matters
The reality is, it's tremendously difficult to make up for Fall enrollment shortfalls with Spring enrollment improvements.
Spring new starts won’t generate the same tuition revenue your CFO was banking on your Fall new starts to bring in, so it means you can’t just make up the volume that you missed, you’re going to need more.
When done correctly, increasing velocity is a true win-win, with prospective students maintaining momentum and getting into class sooner, while the institution improves their level of service and experiences a one-time revenue bump as a result.
So if your organization just missed your Fall Start, and if incremental marketing dollars are nowhere to be found, consider stepping back and asking…
How can we expedite enrollment without diminishing the enrollment experience?
About the Author
Seth is the founder and CEO of Kanahoma, a San Diego-based education marketing agency. We offer full-service marketing support for higher education, K-12, education technology, and more.
You can learn more about who we are and what we do at www.Kanahoma.com.