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Continuing our Enrollment Funnel Spotlight Series, we discuss the Convert Stage, where the goal is to get prospective families to apply.
As we discussed in our previous posts, Reach Stage – Building The Brand and Act Stage – Creating Action, the RACE digital marketing framework by Dave Chaffey describes each stage of the process of attracting new customers, or in this case prospective families. “RACE” stands for Reach, Act, Convert, and Engage, and the RACE model is an excellent tool for independent schools to shape their digital marketing strategy. RACE is a practical, customer-oriented way to reach and educate parents on the unique offerings your school has.
The Convert stage is the culmination of a long enrollment funnel where the family journey turns from interest and small interactions into applying. If done well, it serves as the first step in turning interested website visitors into loyal members of your school community.
At this stage, you should have found the holes, if any, in your enrollment marketing funnel and made steps to patch them. These “holes” include stopping points like confusing web and landing pages, unclear or superfluous promotional materials, and a lack of conversion-focused design. In an article by Katie Sehl of Hootsuite, a marketing expert describes several things you can do to increase conversions on your private school website.
Information about your school’s unique value proposition should always be accompanied by other critical information such as contact information, newsletter sign-up prompts, and links to other important materials. High-quality landing pages are also important to this stage, as they contribute 4.5% of lead conversions in education (a higher rate than the average across all industries). Work on optimizing your landing pages with eye-catching visuals, student testimonials, mobile-responsive elements, and a compelling call-to-action.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics you can use to track your progress toward a desired result. During the Convert stage of an independent school’s digital marketing funnel, important KPIs include:
By tracking these and using A/B testing to determine what does and does not work for your marketing needs, you can quickly determine which campaigns are and are not working for your private school. You will be able to focus on marketing tactics that produce results and re-evaluate strategies that haven’t been as efficient as you would have hoped.
This is a great way to determine how prospective families will respond to changes in your website and landing page design: ask them! Annual parent surveys are excellent channels for this, and while current families feedback is important, it is new enrolled families that will give the most time relevant feedback on marketing experience and flow. Seek out new families, or use a known associate that is searching for private school and ask if they could look at your site as prospective parents and record their honest feedback about what draws them in and what pushes them away. Enrollment Catalyst published a great article about “secret shopping” for private schools, describing how many schools fail to reach out to parents to fully engage them; this is a lost opportunity!
Leaving a feedback form on a webpage is also a great idea, as people with strong opinions about your site are more likely to make them known. If you find yourself at a loss as to what is and isn’t working for your school’s digital marketing, listening to potential customers is a great way to get back on track.
The Convert Stage is where most schools live in their digital marketing efforts year in and year out. While this stage holds the end goal of a digital marketing campaign, applications, and enrollment, in good practice it serves as the last part of the family journey, not the first. Telling your schools unique offerings and missions’ layer by layer from building brand awareness to getting them to act and finally culminating in applications submitted is the preferred way for a long-term enrollment funnel that will fill your seats with qualified families for years to come.
Continuing our Enrollment Funnel Spotlight Series, we discuss the Convert Stage, where the goal is to get prospective families to apply.
What is the RACE framework for digital marketing?
As we discussed in our previous posts, Reach Stage – Building The Brand and Act Stage – Creating Action, the RACE digital marketing framework by Dave Chaffey describes each stage of the process of attracting new customers, or in this case prospective families. “RACE” stands for Reach, Act, Convert, and Engage, and the RACE model is an excellent tool for independent schools to shape their digital marketing strategy.
RACE is a practical, customer-oriented way to reach and educate parents on the unique offerings your school has.
The Convert stage is the culmination of a long enrollment funnel where the family journey turns from interest and small interactions into applying.
If done well, it serves as the first step in turning interested website visitors into loyal members of your school community.
At this stage, you should have found the holes, if any, in your enrollment marketing funnel and made steps to patch them. These “holes” include stopping points like confusing web and landing pages, unclear or superfluous promotional materials, and a lack of conversion-focused design.
In an article by Katie Sehl of Hootsuite, a marketing expert describes several things you can do to increase conversions on your private school website.
Information about your school’s unique value proposition should always be accompanied by other critical information such as contact information, newsletter sign-up prompts, and links to other important materials.
High-quality landing pages are also important to this stage, as they contribute 4.5% of lead conversions in education (a higher rate than the average across all industries). Work on optimizing your landing pages with eye-catching visuals, student testimonials, mobile-responsive elements, and a compelling call-to-action.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics you can use to track your progress toward a desired result. During the Convert stage of an independent school’s digital marketing funnel, important KPIs include:
By tracking these and using A/B testing to determine what does and does not work for your marketing needs, you can quickly determine which campaigns are and are not working for your private school.
You will be able to focus on marketing tactics that produce results and re-evaluate strategies that haven’t been as efficient as you would have hoped.
This is a great way to determine how prospective families will respond to changes in your website and landing page design: ask them!
Annual parent surveys are excellent channels for this, and while current families feedback is important, it is new enrolled families that will give the most time relevant feedback on marketing experience and flow.
Seek out new families, or use a known associate that is searching for private school and ask if they could look at your site as prospective parents and record their honest feedback about what draws them in and what pushes them away.
Enrollment Catalyst published a great article about “secret shopping” for private schools, describing how many schools fail to reach out to parents to fully engage them; this is a lost opportunity!
Leaving a feedback form on a webpage is also a great idea, as people with strong opinions about your site are more likely to make them known. If you find yourself at a loss as to what is and isn’t working for your school’s digital marketing, listening to potential customers is a great way to get back on track.
The Convert Stage is where most schools live in their digital marketing efforts year in and year out. While this stage holds the end goal of a digital marketing campaign, applications, and enrollment, in good practice it serves as the last part of the family journey, not the first.
Telling your schools unique offerings and missions’ layer by layer from building brand awareness to getting them to act and finally culminating in applications submitted is the preferred way for a long-term enrollment funnel that will fill your seats with qualified families for years to come.
Continuing our Enrollment Funnel Spotlight Series, we discuss the Convert Stage, where the goal is to get prospective families to apply.
What is the RACE framework for digital marketing?
As we discussed in our previous posts, Reach Stage – Building The Brand and Act Stage – Creating Action, the RACE digital marketing framework by Dave Chaffey describes each stage of the process of attracting new customers, or in this case prospective families. “RACE” stands for Reach, Act, Convert, and Engage, and the RACE model is an excellent tool for independent schools to shape their digital marketing strategy.
RACE is a practical, customer-oriented way to reach and educate parents on the unique offerings your school has.
The Convert stage is the culmination of a long enrollment funnel where the family journey turns from interest and small interactions into applying.
If done well, it serves as the first step in turning interested website visitors into loyal members of your school community.
At this stage, you should have found the holes, if any, in your enrollment marketing funnel and made steps to patch them. These “holes” include stopping points like confusing web and landing pages, unclear or superfluous promotional materials, and a lack of conversion-focused design.
In an article by Katie Sehl of Hootsuite, a marketing expert describes several things you can do to increase conversions on your private school website.
Information about your school’s unique value proposition should always be accompanied by other critical information such as contact information, newsletter sign-up prompts, and links to other important materials.
High-quality landing pages are also important to this stage, as they contribute 4.5% of lead conversions in education (a higher rate than the average across all industries). Work on optimizing your landing pages with eye-catching visuals, student testimonials, mobile-responsive elements, and a compelling call-to-action.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics you can use to track your progress toward a desired result. During the Convert stage of an independent school’s digital marketing funnel, important KPIs include:
By tracking these and using A/B testing to determine what does and does not work for your marketing needs, you can quickly determine which campaigns are and are not working for your private school.
You will be able to focus on marketing tactics that produce results and re-evaluate strategies that haven’t been as efficient as you would have hoped.
This is a great way to determine how prospective families will respond to changes in your website and landing page design: ask them!
Annual parent surveys are excellent channels for this, and while current families feedback is important, it is new enrolled families that will give the most time relevant feedback on marketing experience and flow.
Seek out new families, or use a known associate that is searching for private school and ask if they could look at your site as prospective parents and record their honest feedback about what draws them in and what pushes them away.
Enrollment Catalyst published a great article about “secret shopping” for private schools, describing how many schools fail to reach out to parents to fully engage them; this is a lost opportunity!
Leaving a feedback form on a webpage is also a great idea, as people with strong opinions about your site are more likely to make them known. If you find yourself at a loss as to what is and isn’t working for your school’s digital marketing, listening to potential customers is a great way to get back on track.
The Convert Stage is where most schools live in their digital marketing efforts year in and year out. While this stage holds the end goal of a digital marketing campaign, applications, and enrollment, in good practice it serves as the last part of the family journey, not the first.
Telling your schools unique offerings and missions’ layer by layer from building brand awareness to getting them to act and finally culminating in applications submitted is the preferred way for a long-term enrollment funnel that will fill your seats with qualified families for years to come.
