HOW TO GROWTH HACK YOUR CRM TO INCREASE STUDENT SIGN-UPS AND DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT
Jon Hinderliter Assistant Director
University Marketing and Communications University of Missouri–St. Louis
Young people (13-24) spend an average of 16.7 hours online every week, excluding email time
Source: Pew Research 2012
Start digital marketing
One does not simply
Where do you start?
Growth
What about _____?
Growth is your true north
Our journey into growth hacking
Hacking?!?
Growth hacking are marketing techniques from startups
HOTMAIL - Sign up P.S. At bottom DROPBOX- Friends sign up increase storage size AIRBNB - Craigslist cross-listing via API TWITTER - Follow 5-10 account more likely to become long term user
Creative solutions based on data analytics that grow the marketing funnel
The Enrollment Funnel Prospective Students
100 Freshmen applicants 53 admitted ✓21 enrolled
100 Transfer applicants 70 admitted ✓55 enrolled
60% loss
59% loss 21% loss
College fairs, open house registra2ons, campus tours, web forms, inquiries…
The “Aha!” Moment
Open house (UMSL DAY) Campus tours
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UMSL Day Open House Fall 2011
Days out
Normal digital mix (SEM/Display+SEO)
Brand keywords drove conversions but increasing budget didn’t grow registrations
Search engine marketing
UMSL Open house
BUT MAYBE…
ENTER STUDY
Source: March 2013 Consumer Heterogeneity and Paid Search Effectiveness: A Large Scale Field Experiment
Where could we find prospects that either had an interest but weren’t searching or people like them
1.2+ billion people
BUT IS IT STILL POPULAR WITH TEENS?
Does Facebook still matter?
Use Twitter Use Instagram Use Pinterest Use LinkedIn Use Facebook
% of Twitter users who…
N/A 53 34 39 90
% of Instagram users who…
53 N/A
37 30 93
% of Pinterest users who…
29 31 N/A
29 87
% of LinkedIn users who…
31 24 28 N/A
83
% of Facebook users who…
22 23 25 25 N/A
Pew Research Center’s Internet Project August Tracking Survey, August 07-September 16,2013.
% of users of each particular site who use another particular site (e.g., 29% of Pinterest users also use Twitter)
How do we find them?
Facebook marketing
Custom audiences Likely audiences
Facebook custom audiences
CRM Facebook
The Enrollment Management Funnel!Prospective Students!
CRM! Facebook!Prospect!Applied!Admitted!Enrolled!
Facebook likely audience!Similar Facebook users based on our CRM data Facebook does the matching based on their meta-data understanding of their users Example: 300 students that signed up for a Fall UMSL Day becomes 420,000 people in MO & IL age 17-25
Facebook likely audience
• Fall 2014 Prospects • Fall 2013 Applied • UMSL Day Registrations 2012 • UMSL Day Registrations 2013 • UMSL Day Registrations 2014
Leave nothing to chance
Enter remarketing
How remarketing works
Where?
95% of the web’s ad inventory
Remarketing results
Show growth with open house
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2011 fall
2013 fall
Days out
UMSL Day Fall
Lessons from open house
Don't rely on something just because it works
7% rule of growth
Test platforms based on reach, rich data audience, and ability to convert
Selling out UMSL days
We’re gonna need
A bigger boat
CAMPUS TOURS HAPPEN ALMOST DAILY
SCREENSHOT OF OLD CAMPUS TOUR FORM
SCREENSHOT OF OLD CAMPUS TOUR FORM
SCREENSHOT OF OLD CAMPUS TOUR FORM
SCREENSHOT OF OLD CAMPUS TOUR FORM
86% Form abandonment
What nice things can we say about it?
We heard a voice
If you build it,
they will come.
A growth hacker
WE COULD EASILY MAKE IT LOOK BETTER BUT COULD WE MAKE IT WORK BETTER?
User onboarding
Twitter Quora Grouper
Biggest takeaway reduce the initial barrier to entry
1 sign-up per visitor is good 3 is great
GROUPER
Bring a friend!
How do we know if it is working
WEB API CRM
First 3 months increase of 37%
Year end largest campus tour attendance in school history
Lessons from campus tour
Don’t just build a good frontend take the time to build the perfect backend