Learn how Pathify’s Prospect Portal can help institutions stand out amongst the competition.
Competition for prospective students is fierce. As institutions brace for the impact of the near term enrollment cliff expected to hit by 2025, enrolling high school graduates will require a vast shift in how institutions acquire and retain students.
Over the last few months, student acquisition has replaced retention as the top priority in higher education. Institutions that embrace student acquisition will win in the next few years, and those that refuse to adapt and invest in technology as an acquisition tool will lose.
It’s simply impossible to argue that pulling what makes your school unique forward in a student’s evaluation process will not result in more conversions. The Pathify Prospective Student module makes this happen.
The Prospect portal allows institutions to democratize student acquisition by making the capability available to everyone, and include virtual campus tours, digital community features and the resources that make the school unique. Creating a curated, highly personalized dashboard for prospective students that consolidates all communication gives institutions a serious leg up when recruiting.
Give prospective students the resources, information and events they need to succeed in their own tailored digital environment, while differentiating your institution from the schools a prospect is evaluating. Prospects Portal allows your students to explore your university, make exciting connections, and obtain the valuable information they need to select your institution.
How Prospects Benefits Institutions
Rise above the noise – With more competition than ever for prospective students, you need to create a stand-out experience that shows you understand them. Marketing is vastly different in higher ed today than it was even a few years ago. It’s no longer about why your institution is the best and more about how you create community and help students achieve their professional goals.
Instead of blasting out generic nurture emails that students will tune out and don’t say anything, Prospects enriches the data you already have to provide more personalized communication. In turn, this will help your institution stand out from everyone else utilizing the same tools and failing to differentiate themselves in the market.
Drive excitement – Pushing a fully immersive digital engagement experience forward in the prospective student journey spotlights community, culture, and spirit. Between virtual tours, on-campus events and the ability to connect with like-minded students, Prospects gives students everything they need to get excited about your institution from day zero.
Prospects is the only portal that gives prospective students a taste of your campus before they apply. Engaging prospects early on gives you a chance to build a sense of community, allowing them a taste of student life and getting their questions answered.
Create affinity – We all want to go to a school where we feel like we belong. Online events and connecting with community groups builds those relationships, helping students picture themselves at your institution.
Prospective students don’t want well-edited testimonials or billboards with a quote around campus. They want to have authentic conversations with people who know what campus is really like. By connecting prospects with ambassadors such as alumni and current students, they can begin to understand what their path at your institution may look like and will face less friction on campus trying to cultivate community.
Key Features
Dashboard – Surface only what prospective students need to see. Select the most relevant widgets (like an Events Calendar and Twitter) or create custom widgets specifically for the information prospective students need.
Groups – Build excitement and community with peer, student and interest Groups. Automatically add prospective students to relevant Groups (like graduating year, orientation group, etc.) or let them explore and connect on their own, building critical relationships early on.
Tasks – Keep the application and incoming student process moving smoothly by guiding prospective students through the process. Set Tasks for things like application deadlines, course registration, housing selection, financial aid applications, and more.
Unauthenticated View – Prospective students can view select content from your portal without providing any of their information. For parents that are heavily involved in the selection process, this makes it easy for them to get a sense of the institution before starting the application process.
As the world of student acquisition continues to evolve, schools that meet the challenge head on and adjust traditional marketing practices will stand out from those who don’t. Prospects can help institutions get a significant leg up on the competition by creating a highly personalized view that meets the needs of today’s students.
