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How Do We Meet the Needs of
Online Students that We Know
Nothing About?
Shannon M. Neumann & William L. Pierce
…And
Traditional
Students
Too!
The University of Toledo
• Founded in 1872
• Located in NW Ohio
• Public, Metropolitan Research
University
• Merged with the Medical
University of Ohio in 2006
• 6 Campuses
• 1 of 27 comprehensive public
universities that offer degree
programs in all seven of the
following professional fields:
business, education, engineering,
law, medicine, nursing, and
pharmacy.
The University of Toledo
• Historically, the majority of
students enrolling at UT
have come from a defined
geographical region.
• Approximately 60% of our
new student enrollment
each year are traditional-age
freshmen.
• Sustainable?
Competitor Institutions
The Landscape in Ohio
Source: Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, 2013. Knocking at the College Door: Projections of High School Graduates – Ohio Source: National Center for Higher Education Management Systems
61.5%
College-Going
Rate In Ohio
(2010)
Importance of the
Non-Traditional Market • In recent years, the percentage increase in the
number of students age 25 and over who enrolled in degree-granting institutions has been similar to the percentage increase in the number of younger students but,
• The rate of increase is expected to be higher for students age 25 and over than for younger students in the coming years.
• From 2012 to 2023, NCES projects the rate of increase for students under age 25 to be 12 percent, compared with 20 percent for students age 25 and over.
Source: National Center for Educational Statistics
Not Your Typical College Search
• Do the traditional methods of finding and recruiting students work for the non-traditional market?
• More and more students, of all learner types, are conducting college searches online.
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is extremely important.
• Online learners are operating in online spaces
• How can we meet online students where they are and recruit them to our institutions?
UT Online
• Started offering online courses in 2002
• Today’s Statistics:
– Over 40 programs offered
– 500 courses
– About 12,000 students take online courses each year
– Approximately 1,800 online-only students
– 45 employees in UT Online
Digital Marketing
Evolution of Online Lead Gen
Direct Mail Cost Per Lead
(Search)
Search Engine
Optimization Banner Ads Pay Per Click
Content Marketing
Social Marketing
Selecting the Right Digital Partner
• Requirements:
– Understands the industry and how to utilize the
technology to help you achieve your goals
– Responsive and open communication
– Dedicated contacts and support
– Ability to assist with developing the plan and
deployment of the plan
– Quality and timely reports
– Ability to display ROI
Managing the Partnership
• Build a strong relationship with account
representative
• Monthly meeting topics:
– Cost per click
– Ad placements
– Keywords
– “Hot” content
• Prevent the “set it and forget it” model
Leveraging Social Media
Leveraging New Technology
• How many of you are familiar with the term
“stealth” applicants?
Leveraging New Technology
• If there was a way, how many of you would be
interested in knowing who those “stealth”
students are that visit your web site, how often
they visit, the content they are viewing, and then
recruit them based upon their behavior?
Leveraging New Technology
October 2, 2015 Edition
“…behavioral engagement.”
“…Capture Higher Ed...”
Capture Behavioral Engagement (CBE)
Capture Behavioral Engagement (CBE) Dashboard
Each page on the Toledo site is given a ‘Tag.’ When the visitor visits more of one type of
page, the word will continue to grow. It looks like Michael is interested in a few different types of academic areas and may be unsure
which direction to pursue.
Score is calculated by an algorithm created by the
Capture Labs team on recent engagement
The Dashboard makes it easy for our recruiters to search for a
prospective student by Name, Email or Location. The export feature
allows you to pull a .csv file of anyone you have searched for.
Daily Visitor Reports
Export a .csv of all visitors who were engaged on your
site in the past 24 hours
Top page views in the
past 24 hours
Digital Display Content (DCC)
Campaign goal: Recruit out-of-state students DCC Type: Toaster message First 6 Weeks Results: 10.2% click-thru rate 4,073 unique impressions
The Results – UT Online
• Increased results from Fall 2014 to 2015:
– Inquiries: +60%
– Applications: +70%
– Admits: +70%
– Enrolls: +40%
• Social Presence:
– Facebook followers increase from 63 to 2,345
– Twitter followers increase from 0 to 235
Lessons Learned
• Website incorporation is key to success.
• Digital marketing is much more than just placing some re-targeting and banner ads.
• Landing pages provide a great student experience and tracking capability.
• Plan for ad and keyword refresh on a monthly basis.
• Work with digital marketing partners to identify new technology and/or strategies.
Considerations for the Future
• UT Online-specific blog
• Should UT continue to have only one partner
for digital marketing?
– If more than one, must be careful not to compete
against each other.
• Enhancement of social campaigns.
• Marketing automation!
Questions
• Shannon Neumann
– Director of Adult, Transfer, Online and Military
Admission
• William L. Pierce
– Director of Undergraduate Admission
