The ability to personalize content, messaging, and experiences through digital platforms is no longer a “nice to have” or “differentiating” feature—it’s a must. Furthermore, the expectation for personalized content doesn’t end at the website—it extends to other communication channels too. Just last year, Salesforce’s “State of the Connected Customer” survey reported that 64% of participants expect “engagements with them to be tailored based on past interactions.” For years, Carnegie Clarity™ has helped colleges and universities customize the content and experiences on websites for prospective students through the use of a customer data platform (CDP). Now, integrations with popular CRMs like Slate and Salesforce allow marketers and admission teams to personalize their other digital communication plans based on the actions prospective students take on the website throughout their journey.
Why data collected by a CDP is an important addition to your targeting and dynamic content options
In an industry where multiple channels, multiple devices, and multiple identifiers are common, CDPs are the best way to consolidate prospective student data into a single, actionable place. CDPs use progressive profiling to start tracking data for anonymous website users at the first visit and continue to update session-to-session. CDPs keep track of the marketing campaigns an individual interacted with, pages they’ve viewed, when they visit the site, and more. When the user does identify through an inquiry form submission or application start, all that data becomes actionable and can be synced to other systems like CRMs. Once synced, admission teams and marketers can leverage additional first-party website data to enhance the targeting and dynamic content options available.
Adapt standard communication plans to address the motivations and interests of prospective students
As prospective students visit your website, they search for content across categories. Some will make a beeline toward study abroad content, while others may heavily browse internship opportunities and career preparation. When these groups of students submit an inquiry form, they’re typically bucketed and set to receive the same drip campaign. But why? Identifying and responding to the unique motivations and interests of prospective students can help you craft a more compelling CTA and boost engagement by delivering content that’s relevant and not messaging that’s simply prescribed.
Leverage web and relative engagement metrics to assess engagement and re-engage at-risk prospects
Relative engagement scores are a quick, easy way to identify how engaged any prospective student was this week compared to last week or how engaged one prospect is compared to others in a similar segment. Relative scores like these and other website metrics such as last website visit date can help admission teams identify at-risk prospects in real time and develop strategies to re-engage them. These metrics can also be used to help identify highly engaged prospects and are an excellent addition to enrollment prediction algorithms and prioritization measures for recruiters.
Personalize content where it matters most: your website
Let’s face it: most college and university websites are geared toward generating leads. This means website content and online experiences quickly become stale for students returning to the site who have already submitted an inquiry form or progressed further down the enrollment funnel. Being able to dynamically adjust content to match the interests, funnel position, and intent of students is critical in order to keep them engaged, especially for an older audience. The latest CollegeXpress Student Insights Report found that “as students get older, their dependency on school websites grows” when making decisions. By connecting CRM data to a website personalization tool, schools can deliver relevant content to students across the entirety of the enrollment funnel in real time to keep focused on the next step in their journey.
Integrated marketing is all about delivering the right message at the right time. And now, more than ever, prospective students have a high expectation that those messages will be customized and coordinated across the channels they most commonly interact with. Failing to leverage website data to inform, segment, and trigger comm-flows becomes a missed opportunity to communicate effectively.
Seeking more guidance on all things CDP and web personalization? Contact us to learn more.