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Data Wonk-ings #2: If you build it they will come ... but will the house come crashing down?

By Jim Fong posted 06-24-2014 11:40 AM

  
Yes, it is an over-used phrase ... "If you build it, they will come," as stated by Ray Kinsella in Field of Dreams.  However, it is relevant to the enrollment management process that higher education has built, especially in continuing education and online learning units.  UPCEA recently conducted a survey of members and found that one-in-five institutions have no enrollment management plan and 24% have disjointed processes.  We've built marketing systems to attract new students, but are we really ready to serve them optimally?

The UPCEA Center for Research and Consulting has conducted a number of CRM and marketing reviews and some of our organizations have failed (but many are also strong!), as we uncovered broken processes, including no follow-ups to emails, poor customer service and even referrals to an institution's competitors.  Our organizations and members need greater emphasis and focus on systems and processes to better support our students and inquirers.  Here's one report from outside of higher education regarding Amazon and others on the issue.

We can improve those systems that are working well and fix broken systems, but it will take time, effort and commitment among other factors.  To improve our enrollment management processes, our members are telling us they need help with tracking and metrics, how to best organize their processes and best practices among others.  We will advance this agenda at our UPCEA Marketing and Enrollment Management Seminar in November in Atlanta.  We'll also make sure you get a copy of our member report on enrollment management when you're down in Atlanta.

In the meantime, keep swinging for the fences!

Jim
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