Category: student journey

The Power of Student Portals
Reading Time: 10 minutes

Think about the last time you ordered something online or streamed your favourite show. Remember how pretty seamless it was? That’s exactly what today’s students expect from their college application experience. Gen Z and Gen Alpha students have grown up in a digital world, with all its associated benefits. You have to acknowledge that they’re looking for the same smooth, user-friendly experience when they apply to schools, and this is no easy task.

For colleges and universities, meeting these expectations isn’t just about staying current–it’s about staying relevant. This is why having a well-designed student portal is more important than ever. It is the key to a seamless admissions process–the map that charts a direct, straightforward course from the students’ first click to their first day on campus.

Looking for an all-in-one student information and CRM solution tailored to the education sector?

Try the HEM Student Portal!

Why a Student Portal is Essential

Remember the days of printing out application forms, filling them in by hand, and mailing them back? Those days are long gone, replaced by a more efficient and convenient solution. Today’s students want everything at their fingertips, and they want it to work as smoothly as their favourite apps. A recent study found that 70% of students expect their university’s online experience to match platforms like Amazon, Netflix, and Facebook.

That’s a high bar to meet, but it is the type of bar that a well-designed portal can scale. So what is the purpose of a student portal? A student portal is an online resource that guides students and helps them access helpful resources throughout the journey from exploring to application, enrollment, and beyond.

As education becomes increasingly global, schools are seeing applications from all corners of the world. International students need a system that works across time zones and cultures, making the application process clear and accessible no matter where they’re from. A good student portal can meet these students at the point of their needs and help them achieve all their short and long-term goals.

Example: The University of London’s student portal offers a comprehensive and user-friendly interface, providing students with easy access to academic resources, course materials, and administrative services.

Source: University of London

Let’s talk about some challenges schools face without a proper portal:

Picture an admissions office drowning in paperwork, trying to match documents to applications, and manually entering data into multiple systems. Now imagine students waiting anxiously for updates, wondering if their materials were received, or trying to figure out what steps come next. The challenges are well outlined below to put things in perspective:
- Complex Workflows: Traditional admissions often involve multiple steps that frustrate students and staff.
- Manual Processes: Outdated methods are time-consuming and error-prone.
- Global Competition: Institutions must attract students from diverse locations and meet high digital expectations.
These are the kinds of headaches a good student portal eliminates. A well-designed portal tackles these issues head-on by:
- Streamlining Workflows: Students can complete applications online, upload documents, and track their progress in real-time.
- Enabling Mobile Optimization: A mobile-friendly design ensures accessibility anytime, anywhere.
- Offering Personalization: Tailored communications and automated updates keep students informed and engaged.
- Improving Efficiency: Administrators can centralize data, track applications, and reduce manual tasks.
These solutions will help make student applications as easy as online shopping. Students can track their progress in real time and receive automatic updates and reminders. You’re giving admissions staff the tools they need to work efficiently and students, more control over how things pan out. All you need is an efficient student login system and you’ll have everything within a click.

This brings us to the question–what is the student login system? A student login system allows students to access everything from application progress to status, academic records, courses, schedules, and campus services through their institution’s online portal, using a username and password.

Example: The Higher Education Marketing (HEM) Student Portal is a comprehensive digital platform designed to streamline student engagement, lead nurturing, and admissions processes for educational institutions. It offers a user-friendly interface where prospective and enrolled students can access personalized information, track application statuses, and access financial aid.

Source: HEM

Features That Transform the Admissions Process

1. Simplified Application Workflow

Gone are the days of juggling multiple systems and endless email chains. Modern student portals make applying to academic institutions as straightforward as creating a social media profile. Students can choose their program, pick their campus, and select their start date all in one place. Need to upload transcripts or recommendation letters? Just drag and drop them into the system.

For admissions staff, this means no more shuffling between databases or wondering where a particular document ended up. Everything lives in one place, making it easy to review applications and make decisions quickly. The system even connects with other school software, thanks to the portal integrating with a CRM or SIS, so information flows smoothly and in real-time from one department to another.

2. Automation for Efficiency

Here’s where things get interesting. Imagine having a virtual assistant that never sleeps, sending out reminders, updating application statuses, and answering common questions automatically. That’s what automation brings to the table.

For example, when a student submits their application, the system can automatically:
- Send a confirmation email
- Check for missing documents
- Schedule follow-up reminders
- Update the student’s status in real-time
- Notify relevant staff members
This is not just about saving time—though it certainly does. It is about ensuring a consistent and reliable experience for every applicant while allowing staff the resources to focus on more meaningful interactions with students.

3. Personalized Student Journeys

Modern portals offer innovative tools that make the application process feel more like a personal journey than a bureaucratic maze.

The Virtual Admissions Assistant (VAA), for example, can serve as a knowledgeable and accessible resource for prospective students. It enables them to independently explore campus options, browse programs, and receive immediate responses to their inquiries at any time. The VAA functions as a personal guide throughout the admissions process.

Then there’s the Quote Builder – a game-changer for students trying to plan their education budget. Instead of struggling with complicated fee structures, students can simply input their choices (program, campus, housing preferences) and get a clear picture of their costs. For international students especially, this transparency is invaluable. No more surprises or hidden fees – just clear, upfront information they can use to plan their future.

Example: The Automotive Training Center, Surrey, offers prospects the opportunity to request information about their admission from a virtual admission assistant, or an admission representative.

Source: ATC Surrey

4. Centralized Data Management

One thing that students and staff love is finding everything in one place. Remember that feeling of searching through endless email threads looking for that one important document? A good portal eliminates that headache.

For students, it means:
- One login to access everything
- A clear overview of their application status
- Easy access to all their submitted documents
- A record of all communications with the school
For staff, it’s like having a super-organized digital filing cabinet where everything is just a click away. Whatever you need to do, from sending students a reminder to checking their application status or when they last logged in, you only need to Click.

Example: The MyUCLA App by the University of California, Los Angeles, is a one-stop-shop student-run portal that offers everything from academic to administrative, student engagement, and financial support.

Source: MyUCLA

5. Proactive Engagement and Lead Nurturing

Online application management is an area where modern portals shine. A well-designed portal system will keep students engaged throughout the process instead of waiting for them to reach out with questions or concerns.

For example, The system can pick up that a student began an application but hasn’t completed it. Rather than letting that potential student slip away, it automatically sends a friendly reminder, offering help with any questions they might have. This kind of thoughtful follow-up can make the difference between a completed application and one that gets abandoned.

Enhancing the Student Journey: A Real-World Example

Now, let’s talk about something you’ve probably heard before. What is the student journey? The student journey begins with exploration and moves to application, admission, and enrollment. Beyond that, it involves academic learning, campus involvement, career preparation, and other experiences that shape their overall education and personal growth.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s follow Sarah, a prospective student, through her application journey:

Day 1: Sarah discovers your school’s portal and completes a quick inquiry form. Within minutes, she receives a personalized email with virtual tour links and program information tailored to her interests.

Week 1: Using the Virtual Admission Assistant (AAA), she explores different programs and campuses. The system notices she’s particularly interested in paralegal training and automatically sends her information.

Week 2: Sarah uses the Quote Builder to calculate her costs, including housing and tuition plans. The transparency helps her and her parents make informed decisions about financing her education.

Week 3: Ready to apply, Sarah finds much of her application pre-filled with the information she’s already provided. She uploads her documents and can track every step of the process until acceptance and admission.

Throughout: The system sends friendly reminders about deadlines and missing documents, keeping her on track without feeling pressured. By the time she arrives on campus, she will have experienced a streamlined, personalized admissions process that sets a positive tone for her educational journey.

This is what a good student portal aims to achieve. With tools like a Student Information System (SIS), a Virtual Admission Assistant (VAA), and a Quote Builder integrated into your school’s student portal, you can expect excellent results that’ll leave everyone satisfied. It will make a difference in the student’s journey, helping them make a seamless transition from inquiry to enrollment.

For the school involved, it’ll help reduce your workload and create enhanced tracking reporting results for better decision-making. This will ultimately increase student enrollment.

Example: A good SIS incorporates elements and records all aspects of a student’s journey, from recruitment to graduation. It is usually integrated into your student portal, as this example shows.

Source: HEM

Tracking Success and Making Improvements

A good portal doesn’t just make life easier for the schools that use it–it facilitates streamlined workflows for these schools, which is useful for helping them finetune and improve their admissions process. As a school looking to increase its prospects, it’ll help you know what’s working and what’s not so you can adjust as appropriate. With the right analytics tool, schools can easily track:
- Which programs are getting the most interest
- Where students might be getting stuck in the application process
- How quickly staff are responding to applications
- Which recruitment efforts are most effective
- How international student applications compare to domestic ones
This data provides valuable insights that schools can process to produce better outcomes. It’s a wealth of actionable information that helps schools make better decisions about where to allocate resources and refine their processes. The ultimate goal is to serve prospective students better and help them achieve their enrollment goals first.

The Long-Term Impact of a Student Application Portal

The benefits of a well-designed student portal extend far beyond the admissions process. Some of these benefits include:
- Increased student satisfaction and connection with the institution upon arrival on campus
- Increased staff efficiency, allowing them to spend less time on paperwork and more time assisting students
- Improved institutional reputation
- Significant cost savings due to reduced paperwork and manual processing
- Higher enrollment rates
Key Takeaways

A modern student portal can make a big difference in the student journey from inquiry to enrollment. It helps schools to:
- Streamline Workflows: Simplify the application process for students and administrators.
- Automate for Efficiency: Save time and reduce errors with automated tasks that produce consistent and more efficient results.
- Personalize the Journey: Engage students with tailored tools like VAA and Quote Builder to consistently engage and help them make well-informed decisions.
- Centralize Data Management: Keep all application-related information in one system to aid easy access and retrieval.
- Proactively Engage Prospects: Use timely communication to meet students at their points of need and to increase application completion rates.
- Optimize for Success: Leverage data insights to improve processes and track ROI for better planning now and in the future.
Conclusion

As technology continues to evolve, student portals will only become more important. A robust student portal is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity for institutions aiming to meet the demands of today’s tech-savvy learners. The schools that succeed will be those that embrace these changes while keeping the student experience at the heart of everything they do.

By adopting a student portal, these schools can enhance the student experience, improve administrative efficiency, and ultimately boost enrollment rates. From the first click to the first day on campus, the journey becomes seamless, personalized, and rewarding for both students and staff.

Looking for an all-in-one student information and CRM solution tailored to the education sector?

Try the HEM Student Portal!

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: What is the purpose of a student portal?

Answer: A student portal is an online resource that guides students and helps them access helpful resources throughout the journey from exploring to application, enrollment and beyond.

Question: What is the student login system?

Answer: A student login system allows students to access everything from application progress to status, academic records, courses, schedules, and campus services through their institution’s online portal, using a username and password.

Question: What is the student journey?

Answer: The student journey begins with exploration and moves to application, admission, and enrollment. Beyond that, it involves academic learning, campus involvement, career preparation, and other experiences that shape their overall education and personal growth.
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February 12, 2025
SEO for Higher Education: Strategies in 2024
Boost Your Enrollment Cycle With These Higher Ed SEO Strategies

Billions of queries occur daily through global search engines on desktop, mobile, and voice devices. These organic searches are the largest drivers of website traffic, particularly for higher education institutions, making SEO an essential ingredient in the recipe for generating student leads. A student’s journey toward enrollment is a roller coaster of considerations. From looking at financial costs and career opportunities to assessing workloads and faculty projects, students turn to search engines to answer their questions.

Optimizing your university’s website involves looking at a variety of SEO factors: webpage speed, page titles and headings, URL structure, link building, content, and more. Here at Archer, our higher education SEO team members have expert insight at every step on the path toward optimizing a university’s website, including technical on-page improvements, off-page link building, and, most importantly, content creation and promotion.

Let’s explore how your institution can stay relevant and bring new prospective students in with a sophisticated higher education SEO strategy.

SEO for Higher Education: What You Need to Know

Online content saturation is at an all-time high, and competition in higher ed is intensifying. Meanwhile, the audiences that institutions are marketing to have become less traditional.

Capturing the attention of prospective students at a critical point in their college enrollment journey takes a deep understanding of all the nuances of search engine optimization, including search intent, click-through rates, and mobile experience. To create content that will engage online audiences, universities must have strong SEO strategies to ensure brand discovery.

7 SEO Strategies to Boost Your College Enrollment Cycle

Our higher ed SEO experts have pulled together a list of seven strategies to help capture students along their path to college enrollment. Their expertise will help guide you in discerning what’s important in an SEO strategy and where to set focus for the rest of the year.

1. Determine Your Student Journey

Student journey maps are going to be key in helping you guide the focus and intent of your content. How are you making students aware of your programs? At what point are they considering your programs? Where in the journey do they make a decision, and what do they need to get there?

Students looking to advance their academic and professional careers are at some point in the sales funnel, but they’re also at some stage in their search engine journey. If you’re doing it right, you’ve constructed this journey carefully and provided several different routes for the different kinds of prospective students you interact with.

For example, a student might be only tangentially familiar with the construction industry, so you can gain their interest by crafting a piece about construction careers that graduates can enter after receiving a construction management degree. On the other hand, a student might be further along in their journey and might be at the point of more serious consideration of an engineering degree. For this student, you can craft a post about stress management for engineering students.

If you want to get students to your website, finding blog topics is only half the game. Using keywords to optimize your content is how you push those posts to the finish line. Google’s latest algorithms emphasize value, so figure out what value you can provide your reader at every stage of inquiry.

By walking through the student’s college enrollment experience and differentiating content based on the needs of each stage, you can curate specific content to respond to their search intent, keep them engaged with your brand, and guide them down your content map to a post that encourages them to convert.

2. Satisfy Student Search Intent

Since search intent is Google’s ultimate goal, when it comes to SEO for higher education, keyword research and content creation that match the student’s search intent should be a primary focus.

The “How to Become a CEO” article above is a great example of a university-created piece of content that matches search intent and provides steps that show how the university program can help the searcher accomplish their goal. Content should discuss a range of topics that align with the university’s mission and program’s course curriculum while still keeping the searcher top of mind. With each piece of content, you’ll be able to attract a variety of students who are in different places in the student discovery process.

Each of these posts should have a strong call to action (CTA) that intrigues prospective students to learn more about the university’s program and how they can become more involved and apply. This CTA can include an aesthetically pleasing “learn more” button that directs readers to a “request more information” form.

3. Apply Google’s Helpful Content Update Learnings

In 2023, Google introduced a new helpful content algorithm intended to help searchers find relevant results. This update is intended to weed out nonhelpful search results, defined as content that lacks experience, expertise, authoritativeness, or trustworthiness (E-E-A-T).

What does this mean for universities? Crafting high-quality content that meets student search intent is even more important. Instead of focusing solely on SEO keywords, university website pages and blogs need to meet Google’s quality standards in one or more E-E-A-T fields.
- Experience: The content is created by someone with firsthand involvement in the subject matter.
- Expertise: The content creator has formal knowledge of the subject matter.
- Authoritativeness: The content contains credible information, and the website has a good reputation for providing quality content.
- Trustworthiness: The content includes clear and transparent sourcing to verify the accuracy and reliability of the information.
Universities can meet these expectations by providing high-quality information that highlights faculty and student experiences and expertise.

4. Elevate Your Content Strategy

Searchers are no longer satisfied with traditional text-based content or boring images. This is especially true for millennials and Gen Zers, who account for 42% of the U.S. population, according to Statista, and the majority of a university’s target market.

To capture the attention of these easily distracted searchers, higher education SEO strategies should branch out beyond traditional articles and infographics to include visually captivating and psychologically intriguing content, such as interactive graphics or videos. This refreshed content strategy should aim to not only catch a searcher’s immediate attention but also leave a lasting brand imprint to intrigue searchers to come back for more.

Check out the following example of an engaging piece of content from Zippia.com that outlines the different career paths for cost accountants. The piece is interactive, allowing the user to move their mouse along the different career paths to reveal more detailed and relevant information.

This interactive map is fun and easy to use while still providing the quality and quantity of content the user is looking for. It illustrates the kind of memorable yet useful experience required to capture a student’s attention.

5. Occupy Google Search Results

Occupying more real estate on ever-evolving search engine results pages (SERPs) is more crucial than ever. A large number of Google searches do not result in a click. With the advent of more featured snippets, the importance of a technically sound website, structured data, and high-quality content grows.

While on-page SEO is still crucial for ranking on the SERP, off-page efforts and creating a user experience (UX) that expands past your website are the next wave of occupying internet real estate. Off-page citations, or references to your institution on websites such as U.S. News and Wikipedia, will push hints and signals to Google that validate your brand. Quality higher education SEO strategies should also include a UX that helps your site stand out in today’s saturated marketplace.

6. Optimize Your Website for Mobile

To enhance the college enrollment funnel experience, you need to maintain the health of your website for both desktop and mobile.

Since a majority of search engine visits come from mobile devices, there’s no question that higher education SEO teams should be focusing on the mobile user experience of their websites. Now that Google has mobile-first indexing best practices, your team has new factors to consider. If your website’s content differs between desktop and mobile, for example, then your site is at risk of having pages not indexed or crawled, which could result in a significant loss of traffic.

For starters, ensure that desktop and mobile versions of your website have identical content, as well as identical technical elements, such as structured data and meta tags. Whether you’re developing content or updating your website design, always be sure to consider both platforms in any updates you make.

7. Understand Your Competition

With Google ads for search terms like “online mba” generating a high cost per click (CPC), higher education is one of the most competitive segments of search engine rankings. Why? Simply put, graduate degree programs are expensive and have large marketing budgets. In addition, affiliate marketing is rampant in the higher education space. What’s affiliate marketing? Affiliate marketers in higher education essentially sell student leads to universities.

These affiliate sites often have large SEO budgets and benefit from degree ranking and badging tactics. Take a look at the density of non-edu sites in the search results by Googling “online mba.”

In addition to competing with a number of affiliate websites, traditional schools have to compete with for-profit institutions and institutions with powerful national and regional brands.

Despite the competitive market, a long-term higher education SEO strategy, with a nuanced understanding of the market, can yield tremendous results around student enrollments and thought leadership.

SEO for Higher Education: Boost Your Results with Archer

Here at Archer Education, we partner with accredited universities to help higher-ed leaders and marketers accelerate online learning growth and enrollment. We offer a variety of tech-enabled marketing, enrollment, and retention services, and our team of SEO experts is always up to date on strategies to help your program gain visibility in prospective students’ search results.

Our SEO tactics can help your university:
- Increase its visibility in student-generating keywords
- Grow the amount of organic traffic to the site
- Ensure its site is optimized for organic search
Contact us or visit our SEO tactics page to learn more about how Archer can help you reach your enrollment goals.

Sources

Backlinko, Search Intent and SEO: A Complete Guide

Forbes, “Understanding Google’s Mobile-First Indexing To Generate More Traffic To Your Website”

National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, Current Term Enrollment Estimates

Statista, U.S. population Share by Generation 2023

Zippia, How To Become A Cost Accountant: What It Is and Career Path
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October 15, 2024
Busting Roadblocks in the Community College Enrollment Cycle
Top Student Enrollment Roadblocks and How to Overcome Them

In my more than two decades of steering enrollment management at various institutions, I’ve seen students encounter numerous hurdles on their journey to and through higher education.

My experience has consistently shown that the decision to enroll is heavily influenced by four critical factors:
- The ease of the enrollment process
- A transparent path to graduation
- A reasonable time frame for degree completion
- A clear cost-benefit analysis of the educational offering
Understanding these priorities is critical to attracting and retaining students in the community college space. By aligning your enrollment strategies with the needs and expectations of prospective students, you can ensure a smoother, more engaging educational journey that benefits both the students and your educational institution alike.

Common Ease of Enrollment Roadblocks for Students

The pursuit of higher education is a daunting task in itself. When students encounter challenges at the enrollment phase — before the actual coursework even starts — it can be easy for them to bow out of the process altogether. To ensure that doesn’t happen, avoid these common pitfalls in the community college enrollment journey:

Complex Enrollment Processes
- Lengthy admissions procedures: Complicated and time-consuming application processes can frustrate new students, especially those unfamiliar with higher education procedures.
- Document submission delays: Students may struggle with gathering and submitting the required documents (e.g., transcripts, proof of residency) on time, leading to delays in their enrollment.
Orientation and Information Overload
- Overwhelming orientation sessions: While orientation programs are meant to help new students, they can be overwhelming if they cover too much information in a short time, leaving students confused about where to start.
- Missed information: Students may miss important information about resources, deadlines, and processes if the information is not communicated clearly, or if the students do not attend orientation sessions.
Confusing Websites
- Sites overloaded with information: Websites designed to serve multiple audiences — current students, alumni, faculty, and potential students — can make the inquiry stage difficult and confusing for prospective students. They may become frustrated as they struggle to find specific information or complete essential tasks, which can lead to them delaying or abandoning the process.
Placement Testing Delays
- Test scheduling issues: Placement tests in subjects like math and English are often required before students can register for classes, but delays in scheduling or students misunderstanding the requirements can slow down the process.
- Preparation for tests: Some students may need to brush up on certain skills before taking a placement test, and may be unaware of resources or study options available to them, making this a barrier for them.
How to Overcome Ease of Enrollment Roadblocks

So, those are the potential enrollment roadblocks for community college students. But what are the enrollment solutions? Solutions for overcoming enrollment roadblocks for community college students include the following:
- Create a “Future Students” platform: Build a page or digital experience that is 100% focused on educating and helping individuals who are simply exploring their educational options. Below are just a few examples of topics that prospective students might want to be able to easily find information about on your “Future Students” page or experience:
  
  When can I start?
  
  How much does it cost?
  
  What support services are available?
  
  What is the application process and deadline?
  
  What are the specific steps I need to take to be prepared for the start of the term?
  
  What happens after I apply?
- Create mobile-friendly applications: Simplify the application itself, and ensure that students can use their mobile device to complete the application, apply for financial aid, register for orientation and/or courses, and order their books.
- Apply technology solutions: Use simple and low-cost systems to track students’ progress through the onboarding process, identify at-risk students, and automate follow-up communications.
- Use data analytics: Analyze data to identify common drop-off points as new students navigate the onboarding process, and tailor interventions to address these specific challenges.
Common Clear Path to Graduation Roadblocks for Students

Now that you’ve mowed down the enrollment roadblocks, it’s time to ensure that the ride stays smooth. Remember, it’s never too late for students to change their direction. They might do so if these issues persist:

Course Registration Problems
- Limited course availability: Popular or required courses may fill up quickly, leaving new students without the courses they need, which can delay their academic progress.
- Complex registration systems: A complicated online registration system can be difficult for students to navigate, leading to errors or incomplete registrations.
- Prerequisite confusion: Understanding which courses have prerequisites and ensuring those are met can be a hurdle for new students unfamiliar with academic requirements.
Technology Barriers
- Difficulty navigating online platforms: New students may struggle with using the college’s online portals for registration, financial aid, course management, and other essential functions.
- Limited digital literacy: Students with limited experience using digital tools may face challenges in accessing online resources and completing necessary tasks.
How to Create a Clear Path to Graduation

Constructing a clear path to graduation isn’t easy, and with limited resources, it can be difficult to avert every bump in the road. But in my experience, you can keep most students on track by focusing on these two key areas:
- Create academic maps: Complete an analysis that maps out all of your institution’s programs, courses, campuses, modalities, and times of day (day versus evening courses). Make sure all students can clearly see what courses they need as well as how, when, and where they can take the courses in order to reach their educational goals.
- Make integration the top priority: Really cool software options exist that are designed to help students stay on track. But if they don’t integrate with your existing systems, steer clear. You’re only going to confuse your students with disjointed information.
Common Reasonable Degree Completion Roadblocks for Students

You’ve cleared two major hurdles by easing the enrollment process and creating a clear path to graduation. But you’re only halfway home. Here are some common mistakes institutions make when it comes to the time it takes to complete a degree:

Inadequate Academic Advising
- Limited access to advisors: New students often need guidance on how to choose the right courses, but they may struggle to get timely appointments with academic advisors due to high demand.
- Lack of personalized guidance: Some students receive generic advising that doesn’t take their individual needs and goals into account, leading to poor course selection or misaligned academic paths.
Lack of Clear Communication
- Inconsistent information: Conflicting messages from different departments (e.g., admissions, financial aid, advising) can create confusion and frustration among students.
- Unclear next steps: Students may not know what steps to take after completing their initial tasks, which can lead to delays in moving forward with the enrollment process.
Social and Emotional Challenges
- Anxiety and uncertainty: The transition to college can be intimidating, especially for first-generation students. Without proper support, students may feel overwhelmed and unsure of how to proceed.
- Lack of connection: Feeling disconnected from the campus community can hinder a student’s willingness to engage and complete the onboarding process.
How to Help Students Reach Their Goals in a Reasonable Amount of Time

When it comes to keeping students on track, intervention is key. Follow these tips:
- Educate students early: Help students realize that taking two courses per term may not be enough to earn their degree in the time frame they set for themselves. Make them aware of initiatives such as “15 to Finish” or “Momentum Year,” as well as other ways to receive college credit, such as through a prior learning assessment. These topics can all be part of the “Future Students” experience mentioned above in the “Ease of Enrollment” section.
- Keep students focused on the end goal: Post each student’s expected graduation date within their degree audit so they can see that taking two courses per term will put them on pace to earn an associate degree in five years.
Common Cost/Benefit Roadblocks for Students

You’ve now reached the last but never the least critical roadblock in higher education: return on investment. It’s why your students are showing up, and if the numbers don’t make sense, they can — and should — turn back. Here are some financial concerns that your students are likely to face:

Housing and Transportation Challenges
- Affordable housing: Students who need housing may have trouble finding affordable options, which can delay their ability to start classes.
- Transportation barriers: Students without reliable transportation may struggle to attend orientation sessions, placement tests, or even some of their classes.
Cost of College Data Is Hard to Find
- How much a degree costs: Some students don’t know what a college credit is, much less what a cost-per-credit model is. Furthermore, many students don’t know how many credits it takes to earn a degree/credential.
- Payment options: Students may not know that different financial options exist. This is especially true for students who work full time for an employer that provides tuition assistance as a benefit.
Ways to Help Students With Their Financial Concerns

Your institution is responsible for ensuring that students understand their financial obligations and how to meet them. Here are a few ways that you can do this:
- Provide clear cost comparisons: Create easy-to-understand charts or infographics that compare the cost of tuition and fees at your community college to those at local four-year universities. Highlight the significant savings.
- Offer cost calculators: Provide online calculators that allow students to input their financial information and compare a community college’s costs to a four-year institution’s costs. See an example here.
- Provide debt-projection tools: Offer tools that project potential student loan debt based on different educational paths, clearly illustrating the financial advantages of the community college option. Remember that you are an educator and that education starts the moment a student begins exploring your college.
Bust Down Roadblocks by Partnering With Archer

In my 20 years of experience, I’ve helped lots of institutions navigate these potential roadblocks to enrolling and retaining more students. And I’m far from alone in my expertise at Archer. Our full-service team partners with colleges of all kinds to help them build and scale their capacities.

Is your institution ready for a collaborative partner who takes the time to get to know you, then makes custom recommendations based on decades of experience? Reach out to us today!

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Brian Messer

Brian Messer has over 20 years of experience overseeing all aspects of university administration, including online, operations, academic affairs, enrollment management, marketing, financial management, and human resources and student affairs. Specifically, his extensive experience in scaling marketing and enrollment initiatives in all sectors of nontraditional higher education have contributed to student success and growth at many institutions of higher learning.
Messer holds a doctorate in higher education administration from Saint Louis University.

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September 23, 2024
Tips for the Student Journey- Archer Education
5 Tips for Keeping Students Engaged Throughout the Admissions Process

In higher education, the enrollment funnel can feel like a battleground for institutions vying to convert interest into commitment.

Traditionally, the enrollment funnel has been viewed simply: attract, engage, and enroll. But the modern student’s journey is anything but straightforward — it’s a complex, winding path influenced by numerous digital touchpoints and personalized interactions.

The health of the enrollment funnel extends beyond mere numbers; it represents the institution’s ability to connect with prospective students through every phase of their decision-making process. With technology reshaping expectations and behaviors, colleges and universities must not only catch the eye of prospective students but also keep them engaged through multiple channels and strategies.

This article unpacks key elements of the enrollment and admissions funnel, offering actionable insights and innovative tips to capture and retain students’ attention from their first inquiry through their enrollment stages. As we explore these strategies, you’ll discover the vital role that continuous, tailored engagement plays in transforming interest into activity, setting the stage for a successful educational journey.

The Modern Student Journey

Today’s students embark on their educational journeys equipped with a wealth of information and digital tools at their fingertips, making their paths to enrollment more complex and multifaceted than ever before.

Complexities and Challenges

The student journey is far from linear. It involves numerous interactions across various platforms and touchpoints. Each student’s path is unique and influenced by personal, financial, and academic factors.

For instance, a modern student, such as a working professional returning to education or a parent seeking to balance family responsibilities with schooling, may have different priorities and use different resources compared to a younger, first-time college student.

Technology has diversified the ways students gather information, and also how they engage with institutions. Prospective students might start their journey by conducting a simple Google search, but they will also often visit social media platforms, participate in virtual campus tours, and attend online webinars before starting their application. During this time, they are continuously evaluating their options and being influenced by each interaction they have with a school’s digital presence.

Impact of Technology

The proliferation of digital platforms has dramatically altered the student journey, both for students and institutions, in ways such as the following:
- Digital Touchpoints: Websites, social media platforms, online forums, and virtual tours provide initial impressions and ongoing engagement. Prospective students can interact with current students and faculty, view online classes, and even participate in community events, all from their devices.
- Data-Driven Decisions: Students use data such as graduation rates, employment outcomes, and student and faculty testimonials to inform their choices. They expect personalized interactions and content that addresses their specific concerns and aspirations.
- Engagement Analytics: Institutions now have the tools to track and analyze how prospective students interact with their digital content. This data is invaluable for refining marketing strategies and improving engagement tactics to ensure they meet the expectations and needs of prospective students.
Given these technological influences, it is essential for educational institutions to adapt their enrollment strategies to meet the changing behaviors and preferences of modern students. Integrating data analytics, enhancing digital communication channels, and providing personalized experiences are all critical to effectively engaging with prospective students throughout their decision-making journey.

Understanding the Enrollment Funnel

The enrollment and admissions funnel is a foundational concept in higher education marketing that illustrates the progressive stages a student navigates, from awareness through enrollment. The funnel is not just a theoretical model but a practical guide for shaping effective engagement strategies.

6 Stages of the Enrollment Funnel

The enrollment funnel can be divided into several key stages, each requiring specific strategies to move prospective students to the next step:
1. Awareness: This is the initial point where potential students first learn about an institution. Efforts here include broad-reaching advertising, social media presence, and participation in educational fairs. The goal is to cast a wide, though still strategic, net and garner interest from a diverse pool of students.
2. Interest: Once awareness is achieved, the focus shifts to nurturing interest and familiarity. This involves providing more detailed information about what the institution offers, such as programs, support services for online students, and financial aid options. Content marketing, informational webinars, and targeted emails play a significant role in this stage.
3. Consideration: At this juncture, prospective students are comparing their options. They might engage more deeply with admissions counselors, attend virtual or in-person campus tours, and participate in Q&A sessions. Personalized communication and reassurance about academic and social fit are crucial.
4. Intent: The intent stage is where decision-making becomes serious. Prospective students might discuss their choices with family, friends, colleagues, or advisors, conduct comparative research, and seriously evaluate financial aid details and options. Institutions should focus on direct engagements, such as personal calls, text messages, or engagement-driven content, to solidify their interest.
5. Application: The application stage is the formal step of submitting necessary documents and fulfilling admission requirements. Support through streamlined application processes, reminders, and help desks is vital to ease this phase for students.
6. Enrollment: The final stage, where accepted students confirm their attendance and complete registration. At this point, effective communication about orientation, class selection, and enrollment procedures can ease the transition and ensure that students feel welcomed, supported, and valued.
A deep understanding and effective management of the enrollment and admissions funnel is crucial for any educational institution aiming to increase its student body. Let’s see how it’s done.

How to Keep Students’ Attention Through the Enrollment Funnel

Maintaining the attention of prospective students throughout their educational journey is crucial for successful enrollment. Here are key strategies to keep students engaged from initial inquiry through enrollment:

1. Consistent Engagement Across Channels

Leverage multiple channels to engage with students to ensure your institution remains top of mind. Implement a mix of digital and traditional marketing strategies to reach students where they are most active, such as the following:
- Digital Channels: Targeted social media ads, engaging video content, and informative blog posts
- Traditional Channels: Direct mail, phone calls, and face-to-face interactions during campus visits
2. Personalization and Differentiation

Tailor your communications to meet the specific needs and interests of each prospective student, and utilize data from their interactions with your digital content to personalize messages. Strategies to achieve these goals include the following:
- Segmented Email Campaigns: Customized emails based on the prospective student’s program of interest, engagement history, and stage in the funnel
- Custom Content: Relevant information that addresses specific concerns or questions that may arise at different stages of their journey
3. Incentives and Urgency

Create a sense of urgency and motivation by offering incentives that encourage prospective students to take the next step:
- Priority Deadlines: Upcoming application deadlines that can be highlighted to spur action
- Exclusive Offers: Application fee waivers or access to special events for early applicants
4. Building Relationships

Foster a sense of community and belonging from the first interaction through forums such as the following:
- Virtual Engagements: Live Q&A sessions with current students and faculty
- Personal Outreach: Admissions counselors who reach out personally to high-interest candidates
5. Continuous Improvement

Regularly assess and refine your engagement strategies based on feedback and analytics tools and processes:
- Feedback Loops: Surveys and feedback channels that gather insights from prospective students
- Analytics Review: Regular analysis of engagement metrics to adjust strategies and improve outcomes
It’s Time to Build Out Your Enrollment Funnel

The landscape of higher education is competitive, but the enrollment funnel could be your institution’s edge. By engaging prospective students at every stage of their journey with tailored strategies and personalized communications, institutions can significantly enhance their enrollment rates. If you’re ready to elevate your enrollment marketing strategies, Archer Education is here to take you to the next level. Reach out to us, and let us help you create a robust enrollment funnel that not only attracts but also converts prospective students into committed learners.
John Van Fleet

John Van Fleet is the Chief Marketing Officer at Archer Education. With more than 20 years of experience in higher ed marketing, John has a continuous track record of successfully supporting institutional growth.

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September 18, 2024
Improving the Student Experience – Archer Education
Attract and Retain the Right Students for Your Institution

Choosing a higher education program is often a defining moment in a person’s life. Whether it’s a teenager deciding on a traditional, on-ground undergraduate program, or someone in their late 30s selecting an online master’s program — it’s a big decision, and one that can be heavily influenced by the experiences they have with the institutions they’re considering.

Your students don’t just deserve a great experience, they expect it. Which is why identifying opportunities to enhance the student journey at your institution is essential.

In the competitive world of higher ed enrollment, the ability to attract and retain students goes beyond offering picturesque campus views or flexible online scheduling. It hinges on understanding and navigating the complexities of the process a student goes through, from their initial awareness of your program all the way through to their graduation, and identifying where students can get stuck, or worse, drop off.

When it comes to enhancing the student journey, I’m often asked, “Where is the best place to start?” To that end, this article dives into some of the most common areas for improvement. Focus on these areas and you’ll be on your way toward delivering a stand-out student experience.

This article explores:
- Common bottlenecks institutions face at different stages of the student experience
- Methods to identify the most important issues
- Strategies for prioritizing improvements to maximize impact
Common Bottlenecks in the Student Journey

Institutions aiming to enhance the overall student experience need to understand where students tend to get stuck. By pinpointing these bottlenecks, your university can devise strategies that streamline the journey and boost student engagement and retention. Some common points of friction in the enrollment process include:

Top of the Funnel: Driving Awareness

Every student journey begins with awareness, but getting potential students to visit your institution’s website to gain awareness of its programs can be a stumbling block. Many universities face challenges due to poor audience targeting, ineffective creative strategies, or a lack of investment in organic channels like websites and content strategies.

If your awareness efforts are falling short, your potential students won’t land on your university’s digital doorstep. This means opportunities to engage and inform them go untapped, which sets the stage for a cascade of engagement issues downstream.

It’s called an enrollment funnel for a reason — if you don’t attract enough qualified traffic at the top, the bottom of your funnel will fall short of your goals.

Mid-Funnel: Generating Interest

Let’s say your awareness efforts are working, and your brand, story, and program marketing tactics are finding prospective students. Once these prospects are aware of your institution and have visited your site, the next challenge is to convert them into active inquirers. In other words, getting them interested enough to raise their hand by filling out a form, contacting an enrollment advisor, or even starting their application.

This stage often suffers from two main issues:
1. Attracting too broad of a range of individuals, including many who are unqualified or not aligned well with the institution’s programs or areas of specialization
2. A mismatch between what prospective students expect to find and what the website provides
If your paid ads told one story and your website tells a totally different one, it can be a turnoff for prospective students. If the content does not resonate with potential students’ academic aspirations, they are less likely to take the next step. If you’re not highlighting what makes an education at your institution truly unique or how it connects to your target audience, it’s likely that your content won’t resonate, even if you did identify the right audience.

Bottom of the Funnel: Growing Application Submissions

What’s every enrollment leader’s least favorite word? Melt. Even after marketing to the right audience and generating inquiries, there’s often a drop-off before the application stage — commonly known as the application melt.

This is a delicate phase, where bad strategy moves and overly clunky processes can cause big problems. This could include generic follow-up communications that fail to engage the interests of prospective students, a lack of personalized experiences that can make students feel valued, or insufficient time spent nurturing and managing these warm leads. Each of these factors can lead to a significant reduction in the number of completed applications.

Methods to Identify Student Experience Bottlenecks

Now that we’ve covered the most common bottlenecks, let’s talk about how to identify where these bottlenecks are showing up in your student experience. Once you identify them, you can target improvements effectively and efficiently. Methods to identify bottlenecks include:

Benchmarking

A powerful starting point for identifying pain points is benchmarking your institution’s performance against your peers or similar programs. Benchmarking involves a comprehensive comparison of your processes, outcomes, and student satisfaction levels to those of other institutions.

By evaluating where you stand in relation to your peers, you can identify specific areas where you lag behind. Benchmarking provides a clear, external perspective on your institution’s relative strengths and weaknesses, guiding you toward the most impactful areas for enhancement.

Leveraging Internal Data

Once you understand the external picture, you can dive in internally. Your internal data is an invaluable resource for tracking the effectiveness of changes in the student experience. By analyzing metrics such as enrollment rates, drop-off points, and student feedback before and after implementing changes, you can gauge their impact.

This approach helps you identify which efforts are helping the student experience and which aren’t, allowing you to make data-driven decisions. It also enables you to adapt your strategies dynamically, continuously improving the student journey as students’ needs continue to evolve.

Intuition and User Testing

As we all know, data alone isn’t enough. Intuition and direct feedback play a crucial role in creating the full picture of your student experience. Conducting user testing sessions in which potential or current students navigate your enrollment process can reveal obstacles that data might not capture. This can be as simple as a conversation or as intricate as a survey.

Additionally, personally walking through each stage of the student journey yourself can provide you with insights into the emotional and practical challenges prospective students face. Think of it as acting like a secret shopper — fill out an inquiry form and see what happens. This method helps you uncover hidden roadblocks that might not be evident from quantitative data alone, adding a human element to your analysis.

Fixing Bottlenecks With ICE Scoring

Now that you’ve got a list of bottlenecks to fix, you need a system to prioritize them. This next critical step ensures that you properly allocate your time and resources. The ICE scoring framework, which stands for impact, confidence, and effort, is a structured approach to evaluating potential fixes and deciding which ones to tackle first.

Impact

The first step, impact, involves evaluating how much a potential fix could enhance the student experience.

Fixes that address issues at the top of the funnel, such as increasing awareness and initial engagement, often get a high score because they can influence the largest number of prospective students. The more qualified prospective students you can get into your enrollment funnel, the more you’re likely to enroll.

By prioritizing high-impact fixes, you can see substantial improvements in overall student engagement and satisfaction.

Confidence

Confidence measures how certain your institution is about the effectiveness of a proposed fix. This assessment is based on evidence from user testing, adherence to best practices, personal experience, and insights from experts in the field.

For example, if you get a large volume of inquiries outside of business hours, you can give a high confidence score to an effort that would engage students at any hour, like Onward or a chatbot.

A high confidence score indicates a strong belief that the fix will achieve the desired outcome, reducing the risk associated with resource allocation. You are more likely to succeed when you base your decisions on robust, tested solutions.

Effort

The final component of the ICE framework is effort, which estimates the time, financial investment, and organizational energy required to implement a fix. This step also considers the level of internal buy-in necessary to move a project forward.

Effort scoring helps you understand the resource demands of each potential fix, allowing you to consider its feasibility against its expected benefits. Implementing a new learning management system (LMS) is a huge project that requires organization-wide input and execution. This equals a high effort score. Refreshing your creative assets? Much less effort.

Prioritizing fixes that require reasonable effort but offer significant impact can lead to more sustainable and effective improvements.

Implementation and Iteration in the Student Experience

Improving the student experience is not a one-time thing. It’s an ongoing process that demands continuous attention and optimization. As your institution implements changes, you’ll need to monitor the effects and iteratively refine your efforts based on the outcomes.

Monitoring Results

The first step after implementing any change is to closely monitor the results. Key performance indicators (KPIs), such as cost per lead, application melt, enrollment numbers, student retention rates, and satisfaction scores, are a gold mine. Continuous monitoring validates the effectiveness of new strategies and highlights areas that may require further attention.

Rinse and Repeat

Once the initial results are known, the next step is to apply the ICE framework again — this time to any new bottlenecks or existing issues that were deprioritized in earlier rounds. This iterative approach ensures that your resource allocation remains dynamic and responsive to the evolving needs of your students and your institution.

Ready to Improve Your Institution’s Student Experience?

At Archer Education, we understand the transformative power of full-funnel data visibility when you’re improving your student experience. Our commitment to transparency and knowledge sharing drives our partnerships with colleges and universities, helping higher ed leaders and marketers exceed their online learning growth and enrollment goals.

Our experienced team is adept at identifying and addressing the bottlenecks that can hinder student journeys, utilizing strategies like those outlined in this article to maximize impact. By applying the ICE framework, we help institutions prioritize and implement improvements that significantly enhance the student experience.

If you’re ready to transform your student journey and achieve remarkable outcomes, contact our team today, and explore how our offerings can bring your educational goals to fruition.

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September 9, 2024