Whilst online events have proved invaluable, not least during lockdown, for many students there is a growing fatigue with online connection. Knowing the right time to add another virtual event to the conversation, or offering specific in person events, is important.
Listening to your target audience is an obvious one in the marketing ‘how to’ books that can help to ensure you’re understanding what they want. But as behaviour science tells us, often what people say they want and what they actually want can be different – so how do we go about getting a clearer picture about what prospective students are looking for?
Actions
As well as surveys, monitoring search terms and looking at frequently asked questions, you can also get some useful insight in linking these with specific actions prospects might take when they’re visiting your website.
This could be how they research a course page, how many times they visit before undertaking another step, or the type of actions they take such as ordering a prospectus, attending an online event, signing up for updates for an open day or steps towards an application.
Cues responses
Responses to surveys and monitoring queries can have some limitations in the data you get back, whether that’s geared around a particular problem or a low response rate due to length of survey, some partially completed etc.
By asking small questions regularly, you get better response rates, can ask questions based on emerging issues as well as inform particular processes during a specific time frame. All of these can then contribute to detailing a better picture of what different groups of prospects are saying about particular issues, or at specific points in the cycle.
Predicting what’s next
Using what prospects say and do, you can begin informing your conversations with them, predicting the types of content they might need next as well as the behaviours they might have.
Whilst online events may remain a critical and cost-effective part of the research phase, they may now need to be more strategically placed in order to maximise their impact and compliment any in-person opportunities you offer.
Thinking about a broader experience again will allow you to improve the conversation and conversion rates as well as inform the process week on week for the next cycle.
Cues.ai
Cues.ai sits on your website to target specific questions, or cues, to prospects as they engage with your content, pulling a breadth of data together to provide you with a weekly insight report on how behaviours and cues can inform your digital marketing and ultimately conversation with prospective students.
Sign up for a 30 day free trial today.
