We secret shopped 10 graduate programs’ lead nurturing campaigns. Here’s what we learned.
5 key elements of effective lead nurturing to engage your prospects
August 19, 2024, By Val Fox, Senior Director and Principal, Adult Learner Recruitment
Universities are spending more than ever to generate leads, especially in the highly competitive market for graduate students where cost per leads (CPLs) are commonly in the $500+ range. Disclaimer: I was a Chief Marketing Officer in the digital ad spending wars too, so I’m always surprised at the number of university leaders that are willing to invest significant—and increasingly scarce—resources towards lead generation but haven’t reviewed their own campaigns.
I took that as a sign that there might be something to learn from that exercise, so I spent the last two months completing request for information (RFI) forms for MBA programs across 10 universities, including regional publics, regional privates, large publics, and large privates. The biggest takeaway? Most programs are not investing nearly enough in managing these leads as a valuable asset—which requires dedicated strategizing, staff expertise, time, and technological infrastructure.
A well-executed lead nurture campaign can be the deciding factor in the hard-fought race to become one of the 2 (2.24 to be exact) programs your lead applies to. I gave the group of 10 schools a grade across five key characteristics of effective lead nurture strategy. Here’s where they landed.
Five key characteristics of effective lead nurture strategy
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Responsive: Campaigns Must Adapt to Student Intent and Behavior
An effective lead nurture strategy uses student intent to personalize marketing messaging and cadence. Messages—and the cadence in which they’re sent—should adjust to the online/digital behaviors of your prospective students. Within EAB’s Adult Learner Recruitment division, we survey leads to understand their key motivators and reflect that messaging back to them, and activity throttles up or down depending on their engagement.
Overall grade: F
Ninety percent of the programs I reviewed failed to use responsive messaging and/or cadence. Of the ten schools I scanned, only one adjusted their messaging and content in their outreach, calling me shortly after a follow up visit to their site. The majority of universities emailed, called, and texted to alert me to their deadlines but never contacted me in a timely way after I made return visits to their websites or interacted with their emails.
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Long-term: Campaigns Must Support Prospects over Longer Decision Timeframes
Effective lead nurture strategies are long-term, extending outreach to prospective students beyond one or two enrollment cycles. Our research shows that nearly 40% of adult learners take 12+ months to make a decision about where to enroll. We recommend building campaigns that extend over a 18-24 month timeframe to capture this longer journey to enrollment
Overall grade: TBD
I began this process only two months ago, so will be in a better position to evaluate at this time next year. On the high end, one university executed nearly 20 touches through email and text within the initial 4-week period after filling out the RFI. On the low end, I was concerned that one school indicated they would be closing my file due to inactivity after receiving only one email and two texts 3.5 weeks after completing the RFI.
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Supportive: Campaigns Must Address Student Needs and Concerns:
Adult learners have different needs and concerns than traditional aged students—especially as it relates to your program costs and flexibility. Addressing student concerns around tuition, return-on-investment for the degree, financial aid support, being able to manage additional commitments with flexible options, and student support for online learning should be elevated in outreach.
Survey results: “What are your primary reasons for furthering your education?”
Asked of students who are currently enrolled or planning to enroll in the next 2 years. Top five responses shown.
Overall grade: C-
This was the element where schools performed best, yet still 50% of the schools failed by focusing their messaging exclusively on themselves: their application process, requirements and deadlines. It was like a one-way conversation with students – which we know drives students away.
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Multi-channel: Campaigns Must Engage Students Across Multiple Channels
A strong lead nurture program goes beyond email to reach students wherever they spend time. Outreach to leads should be integrated and coordinated across multiple touchpoints and channels based on where prospects spend their time: email, direct mail, text and digital ad remarketing to name a few. By integrating your campaign across touchpoints, students will receive consistent messaging that builds upon itself across multiple channels.
Overall grade: D
Sixty percent of schools failed to use multi-channel campaigns, relying on email as their ONLY channel. Of the schools that went beyond email, they added text messaging and/or calling to the mix. Only one school leveraged 3+ channels (emails, texts and digital ad remarketing) in their lead nurture campaign.
See how one business school increased enrollment by 45% with marketing best practices
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Relatable: Campaigns Must Build Human Connections with Students
In today’s AI-driven email communications, students are wary of automated messages. Does your email sound relatable and like it’s from a human—or does it use bot-like language? Differentiating yourself in a stream of automated higher ed touchpoints (which will only ramp up with AI) means breaking up from automated emails every few weeks, and instead opting to send a quick personalized note, pick up the phone and call or try sending a note in the mail.
Overall grade: D
Of the schools I secret shopped, half of them failed to use relatable and believable messaging, with five of the schools leaning heavily on automated and highly generic emails
Despite not having passing grades in my secret scan, the nurture campaigns I reviewed generally did a few things favorably. For example, many programs provided high-touch student support by leveraging their admissions counselors to build relationships and serve as resources to leads, with emails prompting prospects to schedule calls and virtual meetings with key staffers. Overall, most campaigns also had strong email deliverability, with only a small percentage hitting spam or promotional filters, and the content of those emails were consistently well crafted for quick scanning and readability.
If you’re worried that your RFI wouldn’t get a passing grade in my scan, try getting on a “seed list” or completing a RFI on your own site to evaluate your content. Pay special attention for ways to 1) introduce content aimed at students’ priorities; 2) leverage multiple channels to reach students; and 3) test into responsive communications. And as a general rule of thumb, prepare to allocate as many resources to nurturing your leads as you do to acquiring them in the first place.
![Val Fox](https://attachment.eab.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Fox-Val-04102023-1-160x160-c-default.jpg)
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