Guest post from Stephanie Levenson, Vice President for Enrollment Management, John Carroll University.
Robust and strategically planned
The enrollment operations and communications audit that Carnegie led us through gave our team at John Carroll an actionable toolkit for making several improvements to various areas of our enrollment function and communications. We’ve been able to progress from a very skeletal sophomore and junior comm-flow to now having a robust and strategically planned game plan in place that takes into consideration our University’s personality, messaging strategy, and psychographic student segments. We’ve been able to think through and implement various integrations within Slate to nurture different populations in specific ways. We’ve also implemented very personalized communications throughout the funnel, including hand-delivered acceptance packets, “mailbox moments” to build excitement and momentum around acceptance notifications, and personality-driven videos and storytelling in our digital strategies.
A complement of the face-to-face experience
The approach we’ve been shaping through Carnegie’s consensus-built messaging approach and communications audit complements what prospective students experience face-to-face. In a year when these students can’t be on campus as much as we would want, we know the information we’re sharing through our communications flow is relevant, genuine, and consistent. We’re setting up expectations we can fulfill because we’re communicating through the filter of feelings and experiences that our students, alumni, and community have told us are true to the John Carroll experience. Leveraging this core messaging and segmentation is an intentional approach that attracts “right-fit” students who see themselves succeeding here.
In times like this when we are resource-strapped, having a knowledgeable and accessible partner in Carnegie has been so important for John Carroll. Successful prospective student communication is about telling our story honestly and engaging our audiences in real ways. Carnegie has been the external consultant and expert we’ve needed to strengthen our efforts and invest in our enrollment success, making our communications and processes that much more effective, efficient, and authentic to our University.