Expanding the Enrollment Funnel

In the 2018 Independent School Executive Forum’s Executive Roundtable series, Building and Sustaining a Competitive Advantage, researchers shared best practice strategies in the area of enrollment management and faculty professional development.

This resource center is designed to take the insights and best practices from our research on enrollment management, Expanding the Enrollment Funnel, and translate them into actionable change on your campus. Each resource is intended to help schools achieve their enrollment goals by expanding up funnel with a more proactive enrollment strategy. For more information on this complete research study, please contact your dedicated advisor.

In order to graduate students of the highest quality, independent schools seek to enroll students who are academically gifted, talented athletes and artists, represent diverse backgrounds, and are aligned with the mission and culture of the school. In the past, admissions teams were able to appeal to a steady stream of qualified, full-pay students to enroll in their school without putting much effort into identifying and attracting new families. However, as tuition has increased and the number of low-cost or free options for a high-quality K-12 education has grown, the size of the pool of available candidates has decreased. Furthermore, as high-income families have become more diverse and spread out geographically, existing admissions strategies have not adapted to reach new mission-aligned families.

These changes in the market require a new approach for independent school admissions teams to fill seats, as their traditional, often passive, ways of appealing to families are no longer working. Instead, admissions teams must evolve to operate as sophisticated enrollment management offices that use data to inform their enrollment strategy, build brand awareness to attract more families, use word of mouth to appeal to prospects, and demonstrate value with concrete messaging about their school.

We have identified 12 practices to help schools improve in these four areas, listed below. Please contact your dedicated advisor for details on any of these practices.

The resources below are designed to help schools deploy the above strategies and have an immediate impact on their admissions playbook.

Resource 1: Word-of-Mouth Toolkit

Word of mouth is widely known as one of the most effective, affordable recruiting techniques available. However, many admissions offices have underinvested the time and planning needed to boost referrals through word of mouth, limiting the strategy’s potential.

Use this toolkit to develop a structured approach to word of mouth at your school. The five included tools will help you determine where your areas for improvement lie, and how to boost referrals through proven strategies. Download the toolkit.

Resource 2: Social Media Primer

Facebook Custom Audiences, a suite of tools used individually or in tandem to target ads to specific groups of people, can serve as a key recruitment tool at your school. Admissions offices can use Custom Audience tools to identify and connect with prospective mission-aligned families.

Use this resource to learn about the step-by-step process of creating custom audiences from Facebook’s Custom Audience suite of five tools and increase the reach of your recruitment efforts. Download the primer.

Resource 3: Making Your Digital Ads Count

Making Your Digital Ads Count is a toolkit originally developed by EAB Enrollment Services to provide key lessons on how to strategically define your digital marketing strategy, identify the best channels for your audience, optimize your ad campaign, and track ad performance. Although the toolkit was first created for higher education, it has been adapted to include ideas that are most relevant for K-12 schools. Download the toolkit.

Our Enrollment Services colleagues also created this infographic, The Digital Drawing Board, which provides a quick visual overview on how to make the most of your digital ads.

Resource 4: School Website Audit

The way families search for schools has changed in the digital age, but many school websites have not adapted accordingly. Many school websites are designed with members of the school community in mind, and therefore leave out important information prospective families need. In an era with quick access to information, schools can’t rely on these families contacting the school to fill in the gaps. For this reason, it is crucial to ensure your website provides prospective families with easy access to the answers of their most pressing questions about your school.

Use this audit to assess your school’s website and ensure you are providing all the necessary information to prospective families. Download the audit.