The admissions staff at St. John Fisher College, a private liberal arts college in Pittsford, New York, ran into a common problem when deciding to implement Slate in early 2020: How would their small staff manage the implementation of a new CRM while trying to conduct business as usual? Their goal? Focus on bringing Student Search in-house for fall 2021 using all of Slate’s communication tools, providing a portal for students who have applied, and accessing analytics that would inform recruitment strategy.
With the help of Carnegie's Slate Optimization team, Underscore, Fisher’s admissions team was able to better manage all these competing tasks and approach each project with tested best practices and proven experience. Carnegie’s Slate team provided extensive and ongoing implementation support (modeled after the Technolutions Roadmap) to identify key milestones and ensure students would be recruited and have the ability to apply in the fall. Transferring the necessary enrollment data to Slate while effectively utilizing that data during an ongoing implementation cycle is tricky, but Carnegie's Slate experts were able to collaborate with the implementation and build reports that ensured no students were left behind in the active recruitment cycle. In tandem with the Implementation and operational improvements, our Slate content experts were focused on engaging with prospective students. By building a dynamic portal for both undergraduate and graduate students to utilize throughout the entire application cycle, the team made sure that relevant data was accessible to students at every stage of the funnel. Additionally, Fisher was supported with an extensive multichannel Senior Search campaign to ensure that their recruitment efforts didn’t lag during the implementation.
Our unique structure and dedicated team helped St. John Fisher College streamline its business processes and ultimately increase their day-to-day efficiencies. The Slate team was also able to incorporate some of the more advanced features offered within the CRM, including the development of dynamic student portals, personalized communications, and specialized reports to inform future enrollment decisions. St. John Fisher saw increases in both applicant and deposit volume as well as year-over-year increase in average GPA, SAT, and ACT scores of deposited students.
As a part of St. John Fisher's Senior Search campaign, our creative team supplied content and design for a direct mail campaign touting SJFC's outcomes. Lists were managed through the Slate CRM, and print was executed with Slate Print.
“Underscore was outstanding to work with, and we couldn’t have asked for a better partner during this challenging but exciting Slate implementation. Their extensive Slate knowledge and expertise in communications, combined with steady and consistent leadership were instrumental in our implementation success. I expect the Underscore team will continue to thrive in partner relationships and implementation support in the future.” Dave Roberts
Senior Associate Director of Freshman Admissions
St. John Fisher College
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