AI is transforming how prospective students discover and evaluate colleges, meaning institutions must move beyond traditional recruitment strategies. Success depends on identifying student intent earlier, using behavioral insights to personalize engagement and creating a more connected, student-centered enrollment experience. In this interview, Joshua Charles discusses how AI-powered search is changing student decision making and how institutions can use behavioral signals and intent-based engagement to create more personalized recruitment strategies.
The EvoLLLution (Evo): How are behavioral signals changing the way institutions identify, engage prospective students even before they apply?
Joshua Charles (JC): One of the biggest shifts shaping enrollment and the student journey today is the rise of AI search. Increasingly, students are using tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity to research, compare and evaluate institutions long before they visit a website or submit an application. For higher education marketers and enrollment teams, that means the focus can’t be limited to the students already in our systems. We need to pay closer attention to students who are signaling intent but remain largely invisible through traditional channels.
In the past, much of the awareness and consideration process happened on institutional websites, through email engagement or other trackable touchpoints. Today, a significant portion of that evaluation is happening within AI-driven environments, creating a visibility gap for institutions. The opportunity is to better understand how students are using these tools, where our institution appears in their decision-making process and how we can identify intent earlier. The institutions that succeed will be those that look beyond application data and develop a more complete view of prospective student interest across the entire enrollment journey.
Evo: What are some of the most valuable early AI use cases enrollment teams should be exploring today to create a more personalized recruitment experience?
JC: One of the most valuable AI use cases enrollment teams can explore today is persona-based content optimization. The idea is simple. Most programs don’t have one audience but several distinct audiences with different motivations, goals and decision-making factors. AI makes it possible to analyze large volumes of anonymized enrollment and audience data to identify those segments at a scale that would have been difficult to achieve manually. Instead of relying on assumptions about who is applying, institutions can gain a clearer picture of the different personas within each program.
Once those personas are defined, they can shape a more personalized content strategy across program pages, articles, social media, video and AI search. The goal is to deliver content that reflects what different audiences actually care about and need to know. When approached thoughtfully and ethically, persona-based content optimization helps institutions create more relevant experiences for prospective students while building a stronger foundation for personalized engagement throughout the student lifecycle.
Evo: How can institutions move beyond demographic segmentation and beginning to engage students based on intents and interests in their digital behaviors?
JC: Moving beyond demographic segmentation starts with focusing less on who students are and more on what they’re trying to accomplish, but that shift isn’t primarily a technology challenge. It’s a leadership challenge.
Institutions need alignment across marketing, IT, academic programs, student services and other key stakeholders to define the outcomes they’re trying to achieve and determine what information is actually needed to support those goals. Too often, higher education collects data simply because it can. Instead, every data point should be tied to a specific decision or action that improves recruitment, enrollment or the student experience.
Once that alignment exists, institutions can design workflows and systems that capture meaningful signals of intent and interest. From there, the focus becomes operationalizing those insights, testing them with real-world data and continuously refining the process. The institutions making the most progress are the ones that combine cross-campus collaboration, the right technology infrastructure and a commitment to ongoing iteration. That’s how intent-based engagement becomes actionable at scale.
Evo: How can institutions act on those insights in real time?
JC: It starts with moving beyond broad institutional metrics and focusing on meaningful audience segments. A program-level yield rate, for example, only tells part of the story. The real value comes from understanding how yield rates differ across key groups, whether that’s in-state, out-of-state, international students or specific personas within a program.
The same approach applies throughout the enrollment funnel. Institutions should examine who starts an application but doesn’t finish, who submits and later withdraws and who is admitted but ultimately declines. Looking at those behaviors through the lens of meaningful segments helps identify barriers, opportunities and areas for more targeted communication.
At the awareness stage, institutions can use audience and persona research to understand the questions prospective students are already asking through traditional and AI-powered search. By creating content that addresses those questions and measuring visibility over time, institutions gain actionable signals about audience engagement. The goal is to use those insights to continuously refine targeting, messaging and the student experience at every stage of the journey.
Evo: How do you see the future of student recruitment evolving over the next five years?
JC: Over the next five years, I think the most important question won’t be how institutions use AI to recruit students but how students use AI to search for colleges, programs and educational opportunities. If we can understand that behavior, it will tell us how recruitment marketing needs to evolve. The challenge is that enrollment teams are already balancing multiple priorities, making it difficult to constantly look ahead. That’s why it’s important to stay focused on the student and continuously monitor how their search and decision-making habits are changing.
Fortunately, there are more resources than ever to help institutions stay informed, whether through conferences, research, industry publications, podcasts or peer networks. But some of the most valuable insights come from students themselves. Institutions already have access to current students who can share how they discovered programs, what information influenced their decisions and how they use emerging technologies in their search process. The institutions that succeed will be the ones that remain curious, adaptable and willing to continuously learn from student behavior as it evolves.
Evo: Is there anything you’d like to add?
JC: The biggest takeaway is that this work can’t happen in silos. Creating more effective recruitment and enrollment strategies requires collaboration across marketing, IT, academic programs, student services and leadership. While that level of coordination can be challenging, especially at larger institutions, it’s essential. Students don’t experience our organizations department by department, so we need to work together to create a more connected, informed and student-centered experience.