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Maximizing Enrollment, Retention and Re-Engagement through Personalization

Personalization isn’t new to higher education but needs to be adapted to meet the needs of today’s modern learner and give them an experience that keeps them coming back to the institution.

Illumination by Modern Campus: Episode 3

In this week’s episode of Illumination by Modern Campus, we look at the research findings from Personal Connections: How to Maximize Student Enrollment, Retention and Re-Engagement and see how a personalized experience is crucial in nurturing the learner experience at every stage.

Modern learners of all ages behave increasingly like consumers. So, as with any industry, when it comes to making decisions on their postsecondary education, digital resources have become critical to attracting and retaining prospective students. The personalized experience is what helps convert them from secret shoppers into applicants, registrants and eventually graduates. 

 When they log onto Netflix, or order from Amazon and GrubHub, there’s already a list of suggestions for them based on past interests and purchases. Higher education can’t throw suggestions to students and hope something sticks. So, what are the characteristics of a truly personalized experience for a modern learner? 

And while personalization is nothing new to higher ed, it does tend to be leveraged heavily down the enrollment funnel after students have already applied to the institution. So why not deliver personalization earlier in the decision-making process?

In that process in selecting a school to apply to, about 80% of students only apply to five schools or fewer, making the competition tough. So how can colleges and universities leverage personalization across the enrollment funnel to make sure they make that shortlist?  

When it comes to research, nothing is ever quite predictable. Listen to this week’s episode of Illumination by Modern Campus, featuring Enrique Jasso and Vaughn Shinkus, to unlock the answers to these questions and discover some deep insights into the research behind this topic.

Illumination Podcast Episode 3

 

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