Converge Consulting

The days of sending out a viewbook and hoping students show up is long over. Marketing has evolved to art and science. Online user experience impacts whether a student inquiries, visits, or applies. Join us for a session in which we walk through real case studies of schools that are using Google Analytics to better inform their recruitment funnels and marketing strategies.  From these examples we will leave you with strategies that allow you to (1) Ask the right questions, (2) Set up the right dashboards, and (3) Explore with your enrollment team the actions that can be taken today in order to impact next semester’s class.

Converge Consulting is pleased to serve as iModules Google Analytics partner.  Converge works with iModules’ clients on a variety of Google Analytics services: consulting and training as well as setting up specific goals, reports, and dashboards on college and university alumni web sites.  Our team of Google Analytics consultants have conducted Google Analytics 101 & 201 trainings on campuses nationwide.  We have worked with colleges of all types and sizes to help them understand alumni usage of their web sites in terms of engagement and actions performed.  We look forward to providing resources for you and serving as iModules partner in your success.

Converge is proud to offer a variety of resources for iModules’ clients:

• Join over 100 members of the higher education community who have connected with us in our LinkedIn group specifically related to Google Analytics for Higher Education Marketing

 
Conference Presentations
 

• AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education (November, 2012): Investigative Analytics: Deciphering the Mystery of Data-Driven Decision Making
  Who is visiting your web site? Are they arriving from social media sources, search engines, or targeted campaigns? Are they engaging with your site and completing desired actions? How can your Analytics data help you achieve your web site goals (increasing the number of inquiries, applications, and visits) as well as engage your audience more effectively? Join Converge Consulting as their team presents a compelling case study that depicts how colleges and universities can enhance their marketing efforts by developing analytics-based user personas, tracking the effectiveness of email campaigns, and determining which site visitors arrived at their web sites via social media channels.

• Analytics for a Better Experience

  Every website has a purpose (at least, it should). How clear is your site’s purpose? How easy is it for users to act in ways that accomplish your goals? By properly utilizing Google Analytics, you can better understand what is working and what needs improvement. This presentation will show you how to use analytics to build a better user experience and accomplish your website goals. You will learn how to determine which pages are successful in achieving your goals, where improvements can be made, and how to optimize the weak pages so that they more effectively guide the user to your goal.

• Optimize Your Multi-channel Campaigns for Maximum Impact

  What you can track, you can measure. What you can measure, you can improve. By incorporating a few simple steps into your campaign planning, you can measure and optimize your campaigns. This presentation will show you how to begin with strategy, measure success more effectively, and boost your progress. We will examine how to use Google Analytics effectively so that you no longer need to guess regarding what is working. You will be able to continue doing what works confidently and eliminate unnecessary components.

• Social Media Analytics: A Value-Focused Approach

  This Social Media Analytics: A Value-focused Approach presentation was presented at the Social Media working group at DePaul University. The presentation focuses on how to use Google Analytics to inform marketing decisions in general, and with an emphasis on social media analytics. Other analytics tools are presented. Advanced Segments and Google Analytics Dashboard creation are discussed.

 
View our most popular blog posts related to Google Analytics:
 

• Katy Perry and Google Analytics: The Ultimate in Experience Marketing

  

 
 
 
 

• Web Analytics Training for a Better User Experience

  

 
 
 
 

• We’ve Got Google Analytics (and I Have a Treadmill in My Basement)

  

 
 
 
 
Review our service offerings (and download a document describing them in more detail from the link below) including:

 
• Strategy: Quantitative and Qualitative Research, Marketing Strategy, Social Media and Blog Strategy
• Execution: SEO, Paid Online Advertising, Content Development, Landing Page Development, Hubspot Consulting
• Analysis: Google Analytics Consulting and Training, Hubspot Analytics

 
Converge has partnered with colleges across the United States, including DePaul University, Columbia University, Rice University Jones Graduate School of Business, Notre Dame, and many others. Contact us for more information on how we can help.
 

Google Analytics 101 & 201 workshops are coming to Chicago on October 25th and 26th (Northwestern Law – 303 East Superior Street, Chicago, IL).

Due to popular demand, Converge Consulting is proud to offer a workshop to help with continuing education of the non-profit community on the use of Google Analytics to drive online marketing strategy. The Google Analytics 101 (beginner) 201 (more advanced) workshops are open to anyone who works for a non-profit organization. The two day workshop will help you gain a better understanding of how to use Google Analytics in ways that will inform your marketing communications, online presence, social media engagement, and content strategy.

Converge consultant, Rick Allen, is the facilitator. An experienced online marketer who has worked at Emerson College, Boston College, Brandeis University, and Babson College, Rick also founded a web site called meetcontent that focuses on content sustainability for higher education. He is an accomplished manager of complex web-related projects, with ten years experience in creating dynamic web identities for knowledge-centric organizations. His areas of expertise include: Google Analytics, written and oral communication, web publishing, web content strategy, communications strategy, graphic design, project management, and technology training. Rick has worked with Converge on numerous projects focused on Google Analytics and content strategy for colleges and universities.

You can attend one day or both days (cost per day is reduced if both sessions are attended).

The workshop format is collaborative and will be conducted via an innovative and interactive format of lecture, questions, and hands-on exercises.

You will take home all slides/handouts from the workshop and connect with a new group of colleagues who share similar business goals and challenges.

The workshop agenda is as follows:

Google Analytics 101:Day One

• Introduction to Web Analytics
• What is web analytics?
• How is web analytics used?
• Google Analytics Fundamentals
• How it works
• Interface overview
• Basic metrics
• Understanding visitor dimensions and website behaviors
• New vs. returning visitors
• Visitor loyalty vs. recency
• Understanding how people navigate your site
• Understanding traffic sources and campaigns
• Understanding where site visitors come from
• Assessing direct and referral traffic
• Assessing organic and paid search traffic
• Introduction to campaign tracking
• Assessing web content
• Understand what content users care about
• Methods for assessing content quality
• Introduction to goals, funnels, and conversions
• Understanding Goal reports
• Setting up goals and funnels
• Finding actionable insights
• Discovering and assessing content problems
• How to identify meaning metrics

Google Analytics 201: Day Two

• Understanding website goals and key performance indicators (KPIs)
• How to define KPIs that measure website goals over time
• Profile and filters overview
• Understanding accounts and profiles
• Profiles vs. filters
• Advanced segmentation and custom reports
• Using advanced segments
• Creating custom advanced segments
• Creating custom reports
• Advanced goals, events, and campaign tracking
• Overview of goals, events, and campaign tracking
• Planning for and setting up goals, events, and campaigns
• Assessing engagement
• Landing pages and bounce rate
• Site Search
• Event Tracking
• Best Practices for Inbound Marketing Measurement & Optimization (SEO / PPC / Social Media)
• Analytics Intelligence and custom alerts
• Automatic intelligence alerts
• Creating custom alerts
• Creating a sustainable web analytics strategy
• The role of governance and measurement
• Re-evaluating website goals and KPIs
• Building a data-informed culture

One-Day Cost (Google Analytics 101 or 201): $400
Two-Day Cost (Google Analytics 101 & 201): $600

Workshops run from 9:00-4:00 daily (lunch is provided).

Upon sign-up, you will receive a confirmation email with all details.

For additional questions, please email Ann Oleson at ann@convergeconsulting.org

Sign-Up Here to Attend in Chicago on October 25 & 26

Massachusetts Hall, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

According to an April 2, 2012 Deutsche Bank report on online education, diversification of marketing channels in terms of recruiting new students reduces financial risk. Maintaining a balance among referrals, corporate channels, community colleges, military, traditional media, inbound organic search, and purchased leads was cited in the report as essential to reducing volatility. Analysts perceived 10% to 25% exposure to purchased leads as a safe percentage while they viewed exposure of 50% or more as risky. The higher the exposure to purchased leads,  the more difficult it becomes for a university to control its destiny.

Traditional schools need to pay close attention to these analyses and spend wisely so that recent improvements in market share versus online schools continue. These brick-and-mortar institutions need to take control of their recruiting processes in a way that minimizes overexposure and maximizes brand recognition. Many analysts feel that brand recognition is one of the key drivers behind recent gains in market share for traditional colleges and universities.

One of the keys to effective marketing is the ability to track and measure expenditures across channels at the campaign level and in real time. The web should serve as the hub of a school’s marketing efforts. Creating segmented campaigns with unique landing pages and inserting QR codes on mailed pieces that are intended to drive recipients to the web are two methods that can help institutions start to track and measure marketing expenditures more effectively and efficiently. Similarly, utilizing email applications to track clickthrough and open rates as well as driving people to an institutional web site via social media channels enable more robust campaigns in terms of channel utilization, management, and analysis.

Diversifying the marketing mix, leveraging brand recognition, understanding ROI per channel and per campaign, these are the ways to:

• Attract more visitors
• Attract the right visitors
• Control user experience once prospects land on your site
• Measure your marketing across campaigns and channels
• Continue what is working
• Discontinue what isn’t working

Like Champions, Friends are proud graduates of your institution. However, Friends are not as easy to identify visually. They might not attend all of your school’s games or place bumper stickers with your institution’s branding on their cars.

Among the three donor persona segments (Champions, Friends, and Acquaintances), Friends are the most philanthropic in an overall sense. Unfortunately for colleges and universities, Friends tend to be more committed to donating to other organizations which they support. Thus, their alma maters are not their top philanthropic priorities.

In terms of motivation to give, Friends tend to donate out of  a sense of obligation whereas Champions donate out of a sense of passion. Where Champions tend to value the benefits and recognition associated with donating, Friends don’t care about seeing their name on a brick or about peer recognition associated with their giving. They would rather receive a thank you note from a Dean for their financial support.

Despite the fact that Friends are philanthropic in nature and supporters of their alma maters, 56% of them have never donated to their colleges and universities. Furthermore, only 7% of Friends’ total philanthropic donations are allocated to their alma maters. On average, the Friends who do give donate an average of $197 per year. 24% of Friends gave to their alma maters within the last twelve months.

In our national study of donor motivation, Friends were the largest segment, totaling 36% of the 2050 respondents. Clearly, the Friend segment represents an enormous opportunity for colleges and universities in terms of fostering engagement and giving. In terms of communicating with Friends, messages should focus on ways that the institution is making a difference in the community and in the world. Messages and appeals targeted toward Friends should highlight programs that help the homeless and faculty who are working on cures for cancer. Overall, Friends want to see how their alma maters are working to solve the big problems related to health and human welfare.

To learn more about the Friend segment as well as Champions and Acquaintances, please download the following white paper.

Unless you’ve been hibernating for the last few years, you have probably noticed that a lot of people are engaging in social media. Approximately 1/5 of the world’s population is on Facebook. Twitter has more than 100 million users, and new networks with their loyal followings are popping up as I type. Still think that social media is just for kids? Think again. Even the Pope is an active Twitter user who has 49,000 followers.

Although specific social media applications have different followings in terms of demographics and are used to communicate for different reasons, the fact is that social media has tremendous implications for our personal and professional lives. If you think that Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin have zero business value for you and your institution, you might want to reevaluate your position. Not only does social media need to be a part of your college/university’s marketing plan, but it needs to be approached thoughtfully, strategically, and systematically.

It is critical to follow trends in usage, demographics, and popularity to understand where your prospective students are spending their time online. Take a look at the following graphics that present statistics pertaining to Facebook and Twitter:

Are you currently conducting social media listening? If so,  how are you doing it?

In the midst of summer, you are working hard to ensure that your yield strategy is producing results. Nonetheless, there are a number of students who did not enroll despite the fact that they applied, liked your Facebook page, and visited campus. The question is: Why? It is crucial to gain a deeper understanding of why these students didn’t enroll.

Like their Millennial generation peers, your prospective students live online. Online marketing and social media supply them with information about every type of product and service under the sun. If they are interested in your institution, the odds are that they have gone to your web site and/or social media sites to learn more about the school and, hopefully, to request more information, schedule a visit, or download/submit an application. It is crucial that your marketing team understands what web pages and/or sites lead these prospective students to act in desired ways. It is equally important to understand what areas of your web site and social media applications see prospects dropping out of the funnel.

What are you measuring? Do you know how to set up analytics goals? Are you examining pageviews, time on site, bounce rate, and other key metrics that can help you understand your prospective students’ web behavior?

As one of our analytics clients stated, “Our website is one of the most important marketing channels we have as an institution and the analytics provides us with a plethora of data. However, we realized that we were only starting to scratch the surface of what we could learn about our website from all this data we were collecting.”

The following infographic provides some great information related to what you should be measuring and analyzing:

Personas (Photo credit: nicolasnova)

Joanna Peña-Bickley, in a great blog post, explains that personas are rooted in Jungian theory and premised upon the notion that there are twelve archetypes that symbolize basic human needs, aspirations, and/or motivations. These archetypes each possess unique characteristics, traits, and values that range from the heroic to the ordinary and from the wise to the jester. Marketers latched onto Jung’s theory because these archetypes, or at least aspects of different archetypes, resonate with all of us and in many ways help us in defining ourselves. Thus, these archetypes are utilized extensively in advertisements for every type of product and service that we encounter.

In the higher education marketing context, persona development is (or, at least, should be) vital to crafting effective communications. .eduGuru wrote an informative and resource-rich post regarding how persona development is important in determining how to design web sites and craft communications for the various audience types that the sites serve (prospective students, current students, faculty, alumni, parents, etc.).

A college web site is a great example of a communication channel that needs a variety of personas developed. However, even extremely targeted communications, such as a postcard invitation to alums to attempt to get them to attend homecoming, should be crafted after personas have been developed to inform the copy development and image selection. In short, there is no communication (no matter how large or small) that wouldn’t benefit from being persona-driven.

At Converge, our donor motivation research is premised upon three main personas of alumni that were derived from extensive survey research and statistical analysis: Champions, Friends, and Acquaintances. Each of these personas have different motivations and characteristics that have major implications concerning how college and universities should communicate with them.

The data necessary to develop personas can be gathered via primary research methods (surveys and focus groups) as well as via predictive modeling that is based on database information that contains information pertaining to demographics, academic profiles, past giving/engagement behaviors, etc.) The more data that is collected and analyzed, the stronger the personas.

In future posts, we will examine how personas can be developed for prospective students as well as for prospective donors in the higher education marketing context.

Are you developing personas to drive your communications strategy?

The Millennial generation: they wear flip-flops on their feet, place headphones connected to IPODS in their ears, maintain social media profiles, and value the balance between work and life. In terms of learning about higher education options, they go online to find out more about the colleges and universities that are actively recruiting them.

But, how are colleges and universities reaching them?  Our nation’s higher education institutions are utilizing a number of creative and interesting ways, ranging from social media to NPR advertising.  While the digital and electronic channels have increased, one must wonder if the college viewbook has become a thing of the past?  Actually, viewbooks are still alive and well.

Working in higher education marketing for the past fifteen years, I have had the pleasure of engaging with a number of colleges and universities on strategic multi-channel communications and brand programs as well as interviewing hundreds of prospective students, current students, and parents regarding their perceptions of institutional communications during the college selection process.  This past year, I had the chance to review dozens of college viewbooks that were submitted for a competition.  Gazing at the pile of viewbooks on my coffee table, I felt like I was 18 again as I analyzed and compared a plethora of styles, images, brands, sizes, messages, and formats.  The process was a lot of fun.

Based on my review of several institution’s viewbooks (36 total), I am excited to provide you with some key facts and takeaways that can help marketers in higher education get a sense of current trends related to these publications.

How many pages should a viewbook be?

The answer to this question depends largely on how the viewbook fits into your overall communication sequence as well as what types of information you want the viewbook to convey.  Here are some statistics related to the 36 viewbooks that I reviewed:

• Most pages: 112
• Least pages: 20
• Mean number of pages: 41

 
Are schools using recycled paper and is it important to place the mark on the viewbook?

• Many schools are using recycled paper and making it a printing requirement
• 15 of the 36 schools placed the recycled paper mark on their viewbooks.

 
 Is the magazine style in or out?

 
 Viewbook magazine style has evolved during the past decade, moving from the glossy fashion magazine-style to one that is content-driven.  Of the publications reviewed,

• 3 of the 36 utilized the glossy, fashion magazine-style and employed the similar approach of trying to engage the student with eye-catching content from spread-to-spread.

 
 What type of bindings are schools using?

 
 The viewbooks reviewed used a variety of paper stocks, treatments, and bindings.  Are we trending away from more expensive printing and binding methods? Of the publications reviewed:

• 58% were saddle-stitched (regular staple)
• 36% were perfect-bound (Does not use a staple and is more expensive then saddle stitching)
• 6% used a spiral binding (more expensive than perfect-bound)

 
Heavy or Light Copy? 

Over the past few years, there has been a trend to move towards lighter copy (with an emphasis on more photos). This trend also encompasses the use of bulleted content that is easy to read, pull-out graphics, and text that is highlighted via call-outs/factoids.

• 42% of the publications reviewed included called-out facts and figures ranging topically from placement rates to faculty/staff ratio.

 
Does Size Matter?

 
 We defined 8 ½ x 11 as the average size of viewbooks.

• 10 viewbooks were 8 ½ x 11 size
• 16 viewbooks were larger
• 10 viewbooks were smaller
• The largest viewbook measured 12 x 12
• The smallest viewbook measured 6 x 6

 
Social Media Integration

• 58% of printed viewbooks included at least one social media icon
• Of those that included social media icons, Facebook was the most popular application that was referenced graphically
• Most social media icons were positioned on the inside back or back cover

 
When social media icons were present, there was typically no mention of how navigating to these sites would actually help the student (receiving updates on the admissions process, deadlines, campus news, etc.). Emphasizing the benefits of engagement would be wise for content developers to include.

 
QR Codes

• 31% of the viewbooks included QR codes

 
Testimonials

• All of the viewbooks included testimonials/short stories

 
The testimonials have evolved from solely describing why people did something and what the impact was to discussing how the testimonials and stories are related to future hopes, dreams, and ambitions.

 
Full-Page Photos

• There were many full-page photos throughout all of the viewbooks that were stunning and engaging
• The photograph often functioned as a stand-alone story, but was occasionally a backdrop for the display of text-based information
• Many photos included copy placed over them or in sidebars of the page

 
The Infamous Cover Situation

 
And now, the age-old question: How in the world can you encapsulate all of the viewbook contents in a single cover image?

Covers included:

• Images of nature and animals
• Illustrations
• An absence of text
• Images of traditional campus buildings

 
However, there were fewer stereotypical “campus building shots with students throwing Frisbees on the quad” than I expected.

• Graphic (no text) – 5
• Building/students/campus – 9
• Text only – 8
• Students Indoors – 5
• Building only – 4
• Montage  - 4
• City  - 1

 
Overall Assessment

I was quite impressed with the quality and strategy behind most of these viewbooks.  To see examples of several of the viewbooks reviewed, please navigate to

http://www.slideshare.net/joshuaddodson/viewbooks-a-review

 
Recommendations

As you assess the effectiveness of your viewbook (and overall print) strategy, I recommend the following:

• Be strategic: Use your viewbook as a part of the admissions funnel to share pertinent information in a timely way
• Integrate: Integrate the web and social media throughout pieces to engage the reader to take the next step of the process that you want them to follow.
• Assess: Analyze your competitors and your communications (for tone, message, design, clarity, and brand consistency)
• Conduct research: Test concepts and messaging via focus groups, conduct A/B testing, use feedback from the ASQ, add several questions to your campus visit survey, ask questions online, etc.
• Make your efforts measurable: Attach useful metrics to your communications efforts so that you can gauge their effectiveness. Use QR codes, PURLs, and other mechanisms on printed materials to drive people to the web so that they complete desired actions in ways that you can assess quantitatively.

 
 Remember, choosing the right college is life-changing, so

• Make sure that your viewbook allows you to tell your story

Leading that web development project, I observed three critical factors that are crucial to building a successful and effective web presence.  I believe that these three factors lead to the success of this site, not only from an awards perspective, but also from a user experience perspective:

1.) Awareness of the goal of the web site.

I had the privilege of working with a forward-thinking and energetic Associate Vice Provost and Excutive Director at The University of Michigan as well as the Assistant Director for Communications for Admissions. They articulated clearly and concisely on day one what the goal of the site was and what type of experience they wanted prospective students to have in terms of interacting with the web site. The goal was clear: “We want a site that tells a story of what it means to be “Leaders & Best.” In doing so, we want a web site that creates an unbelievable user experience.” Those goals provided the litmus test for every recommendation and design decision that we made – did it help to tell the story of leaders and best?  If it didn’t resonate with target audiences as reflective of the experience of a Michigan Student and Leaders & Best, it was off the table.

The goals in terms of call-to-action/user interaction were clear. We want prospective students to be able to:

These three calls-to-action needed to be accessible on every page. Here they are on the Admissions home page:

These calls to action were derived from focus group interviews with prospects from New York to California. Prospective students wanted  it to be as easy as possible to find out how to apply, schedule visits, and obtain information concerning majors/programs based on how the user searches and not on how the University organizes itself.

3.) Telling the story