Prospective students nowadays are very different from those of years past. With all the technological advancements, marketing tactics need to pivot in a direction that supports mobility. Smartphones and tablets do not just make life more fun, they also make everyday life easier. Prospective students will be looking for a school that meets them on this level.
To do so, you must build a mobile strategy that covers each step of their hunt for the perfect school and helps you increase enrolment. From the first website visit to the actual enrolment process, connect with your audience by adopting the points below.
Create a responsive website
Prospects expect a streamlined website experience, no matter what device they are using. They like a website that functions just as well on their phone as it does on their desktop computer. There is no tolerance for websites that function poorly on their preferred device. According to Google, 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site they had trouble accessing, and 40% visit a competitor’s site instead. (McKinsey & Company)
Making your school’s website responsive is not an easy task. However, it is a crucial first step to meeting the growing needs of today’s prospects. Ensure that your most important messages and CTAs are still prominent on smartphones and tablets.
Emails should be easy to read on mobile
Once you have the prospect’s interest, it is time to guide them through the decision process. Making the decision which school to attend is not one typically taken lightly. Constant touch points and nudges help keep your school top-of-mind. Above all, email marketing is a great tool for connecting with your prospects.
Much like your website, your emails should function correctly on every device possible. As reported by Google, 71% of smartphone users check their email using email apps. So make sure to format texts and images responsively. Additionally, keep paragraphs short, use headers, and great visuals.
Build a campus tour mobile app
Once a prospective student makes the decision to visit your campus, you will need to provide them with an experience that is entertaining, inspiration and informational. But we have all seen how they get on tours – just shuffling along, eyes glued to their phones.
Instead of trying to break their connection to their devices, leverage their addiction with a campus tour mobile app. Prospects can download the app and find additional information about certain buildings and landmarks. Geo-location alerts can send them pop-ups about the places they walk by.
Create a web app for your course schedule
When exploring your catalogue of courses, most prospective students are using their smartphones or tablets. If they have an urge to know whether or not you offer a specific class, they do not want to wait until they get home to find the answer.
Building a web app can help you with this. Web apps include a “frame” to sit on the user’s phone while all of its information is hosted in a database online. The information is available to be pulled to the phone as needed. Namely, using an engaging and simple user interface, prospects can research classes based on level, location, teachers, days, and times.
Make the enrolment process easier on mobile
You have connected with prospective students on their mobile devices from several marketing angles. Now, the moment you have been working toward is here – they are ready to enrol. Do not go through all of this work to provide engaging experiences on a smartphone just to make them switch to desktop to apply and enrol.
Whether through a responsive interface or another web app, focus on creating a streamlined enrolment experience from any device. Make all data-entry points and drop-down menus easy to fill out and use. Avoid the need for pinching and scrolling. Use short, numbered pages that load quickly to keep the prospect moving through the process.
Key takeaway
Prospective students seek instant gratification. Therefore, they want and expect schools to get on board with this mentality. Make your resources available to them. Especially on mobile devices.
At faethe.marketing we have been helping schools to successfully increase enrolment through a successful mobile strategy. So if you are looking to recruit more students for your programmes with minimal cost and effort, feel free to reach out to us.