USING ANALYTICS TO MAKE DATA-DRIVEN MARKETING AND RECRUITMENT DECISIONS

Karen Adams | Kathy Droessler

UW-Platteville Online

Karen Adams, Corporate Marketing DirectorGrad of Clarke University, Dubuque IA23 years marketing experience

Kathy Droessler, Functional and Business Analyst/Marketing Researcher/Educational LiaisonGrad of UW-Platteville, pursuing MBA12 years marketing experience

About UW-Platteville’s Distance Learning Center

¨ Offering distance education for 37+ years¨ First fully online degree program introduced in

1999¨ 2 undergraduate degrees¨ 5 graduate degrees¨ One-stop shop for online students,

including stand-alone marketingand recruitment services

Marketing & Recruitment Team

¨ Karen – Marketing Director¨ Marketing

¤ Marketing Specialist¤ Graphic Designer¤ Kathy

¨ Recruitment¤ Lead Recruiter¤ 3 additional recruiters

¨ Support Staff¤ 2 University Service Associates

About Our Distance Students

¨ Approximately 4200 annual course enrollments¨ Average age: 35.6¨ Military/Veterans/Families Served: 37.3%¨ Currently serving students from 45 states and 11

countries

Decisions, Decisions

Do you struggle to confidently make marketing and recruitment decisions that will provide a good return on your investment?

Our Definitions

¨ Marketing: the activities that lead to identification of prospective students¤ GOAL: lead generation

¨ Recruitment: nurturing identified prospective students to move through the funnel¤ GOAL: completed application, leading to eventual

enrollment

Questions to Ask Yourself

¨ Do I know where my leads are coming from?¨ Do I review my campaign performance stats?¨ How am I tracking leads?¨ Are my campaigns

successful?¨ How am I organizing

campaign information?¨ How do I use information

to make strategicmarketingand recruiting decisions?

How Are Our Prospects Finding Us?

¨ Advertising¨ Events¨ Partnerships¨ Referrals¨ Social media¨ Website¨ Live chat¨ Phone calls

Advertising Buys and Events

¨ Buys and venues based on anticipated audience, past performance, budget¤ Local, regional, national, global?¤ Billboards, radio, web banners, print, e-newsletters?

¨ Can go hand-in-hand with events – or as a pilot when considering a new event

¨ Support event participation with ad campaigns, social media posts, email blasts

Partnerships and Referrals

¨ Schools¤ Articulation agreements¤ Transfer agreements

¨ Professional organizations¤ PMI, SHRM, ATD, APICS, ISM¤ Credit for certifications

¨ Corporate¤ Reduced tuition as an incentive

¨ Also can go hand-in-hand with events

Social Media, Website, Live Chat, Phone

¨ Targeted campaigns via LinkedIn¤ Demographics¤ Geography¤ Groups¤ Industry

¨ Website¤ SEO¤ Organic searches

¨ Live Chat¤ Used as a marketing tool and as a recruiting tool

¨ Phone

So With All Those Options…

How do I know where my leads are coming from?

TOOL: Unbounce¨ Main tool to get a snapshot on how our campaigns

are performing¨ Landing page builder¨ Lead generation¨ Create responsive pages without any technical skills

¤ “Code-free zone”

Unbounce

How Do We Use It?

¨ Create separate pages for each of our campaigns¤ Events, partnerships, referrals, social media, website,

live chat, phone calls

¨ Tracks visitors, views, captures our leads¨ A/B testing¨ Custom URLs

Landing Pages

Unbounce

What Do We Do With Information?

¨ Analyze visitor traffic weekly¤ Compare monthly to previous months

¨ If lower, we ask “why isn’t our ad performing?”¤ Is the ad actually running?¤ Is the ad linking to the landing page correctly?¤ Where is the ad placement?¤ Did we change the ad copy?¤ Did we change the look or the visuals of the ad?¤ Is the call to action effective?

Call to Action Examples

Craptastical Results

What Do We Do With Information?

¨ If it is performing well, we ask “how can we increase our conversions?”¤ A/B testing¤ Convertables¤ Long form vs. short form

Unbounce

Website and Live Chat

¨ Websites are marketing tools, not information dumps¨ Use Google Analytics to measure numbers of visitors

and their behaviors¤ Goal is to have them request information¤ Data may spur us to make changes to appearance,

content, and more

¨ To maximize marketing function, live chat implemented¤ While mostly a customer service function, lead generation

is also realized

Email Campaigns

¨ Service used is EMMA¤ Low cost and provides analytic tools

¨ Use to supplement automated emails from PeopleSoft¤ Allows for more appealing and dynamic visuals than

PeopleSoft

¨ Evaluate open rates, clicks, any interaction that can happen

¨ Evaluate unsubscribe rate, trends in unsubscribe

Tracking Leads

¨ Leads entered into one of two CRMs¤ PeopleSoft

n For leads where we have full prospect informationn Allows for a more aggressive communication strategy

¤ Zohon For leads we’ve captured with minimal informationn Its features provide for an awareness campaign

¨ All leads, regardless of CRM, are tracked based on where they came from – THE biggest benefit of using Unbounce

¨ Referral sources and recruiting categories

Recruitment: PeopleSoft

¨ Communication plan begins the moment a request is made: thank you and electronic booklet

¨ Postcard and personal phone call and/or email also on day one

¨ Plan runs for 545 days (18 months)¨ Content focused¨ Heavy on touch points in the first 180 days¨ Combination of automated emails, personal emails,

supplement emails with video, and phone contact

Recruitment: Zoho

¨ Communication plan begins the moment a request is made: thank you and electronic booklet

¨ Plan runs for 180 days (6 months)¨ Content focused¨ Each contact offers the opportunity to provide full

information, because our goal is to have them entered into PeopleSoft

¨ Combination of automated emails, some of which include video

Analyzing Recruitment Data

¨ Look at leads to application received¨ Look at application received to application

complete¨ Combine data from Unbounce with data from

PeopleSoft to measure conversion rates for each advertising avenue

¨ Combine data from Unbounce with data from Zohoto measure success in gaining full information

¨ Allows us to identify the higher return avenues

Organizing Campaigns: Trello

¨ Trello boards can include¤ Insertion orders¤ Vendor contact information¤ Landing page URLs¤ Previous and current ads¤ Student worker logs¤ Performance statistics¤ Event information

¨ Provides a one-stop service for historical data

Sometimes Visuals are King

Making Strategic Decisions

¨ Updating ads monthly¨ Using convertables and short forms¨ Implementation of Zoho¨ Implementation of Live Chat¨ Frequency of supplemental emails¨ Website button colors and call to action

Making Strategic Decisions

¨ Ad buys and placements, spends¨ Expand into new advertising venues¨ Event selection: Repeat? New?¨ Partnership relations¨ Changes to our communication plan: timing,

message, phone vs. email outreach¨ Call blitzes¨ Measure ROI

Measure Your Results

Outside Data

¨ Don’t be afraid to use credible outside sources of data¤ Aslanian Market Research¤ Converge Consulting¤ STAMATS¤ Ruffalo Noel Levitz¤ Eduventures¤ USDLA¤ NAGAP¤ OLC¤ Hobsons

Resources

¨ Unbounce.com¨ Olark.com¨ EMMA.com¨ Zoho.com¨ Trello.com – FREE!¨ Welcome booklet

¤ GoUWP.com/welcome

Contact Information

Karen Adams, Corporate Marketing Directoradamskar@uwplatt.edu

Kathy Droessler, Functional and Business Analyst/Marketing Researcherdroesslerka@uwplatt.edu