Key Insights
- Many institutions don’t track crucial metrics like cost per inquiry (CPI) and cost per enrolled student, missing opportunities to optimize their marketing efforts and better allocate resources.
- Higher education institutions need precise tracking and insights to enhance their marketing strategies, effectively engage prospective students, and drive enrollment.
- Institutions that actively track key metrics like CPI and cost per enrolled student see higher satisfaction with their marketing campaign performance.
In the high-stakes arena of higher education, every marketing decision counts.
Without precise tracking and insightful analysis, your marketing efforts are like a ship navigating without a compass — directionless and bound to get lost in the sea of competition.
For years at Search Influence, we’ve partnered with institutions like Tulane SoPA and Tufts University College, helping them leverage analytics to optimize their marketing campaigns.
Our experience has shown that those satisfied with their ability to track success are also more likely to be satisfied with their campaign performance.
To further underscore the importance of tracking, this year we collaborated with UPCEA on a research study, “Higher Education Marketing Metrics Research Report: What Gets Measured Gets Managed.”
This report provides valuable insights into how data-driven marketing can lead to greater accountability, smarter decisions, and, ultimately, success in attracting and retaining students.
Read on to learn how tracking the right metrics can empower your institution to thrive in a crowded higher education market.
Why Tracking Marketing Metrics Is Important for Higher Ed Institutions
As higher education institutions face increasing competition and evolving expectations from prospective students, it’s essential to track and analyze key performance indicators (KPIs).
Higher education marketing metric tracking allows institutions to:
- Measure their return on investment (ROI)
- Manage campaign performance
- Allocate resources effectively
Tracking key metrics provides a clear picture of what’s working and what’s not, enabling higher education institutions to make informed decisions that directly impact student recruitment.
By focusing on data, institutions can:
- Determine which marketing channels yield the highest engagement
- Identify the content that resonates most with their audience
- Adjust their strategies in real-time to enhance results
This kind of accountability is critical for marketers, program managers, and faculty who need to develop courses and offerings that align with market demand and student interests.
Effective higher education marketing tracking can also have a significant impact on resource allocation and budgeting. When institutions measure their efforts to engage adult learners, they create a framework of accountability that drives smarter decisions.
Search Influence and UPCEA’s Higher Education Marketing Metrics Study
To gain a deeper understanding of the marketing metrics and costs associated with online and professional education programs, Search Influence partnered with UPCEA to conduct a comprehensive study.
The findings of this research highlight the importance of data-driven decision-making for higher education marketing strategies.
Follow along as we break down key findings from this study that can help your institution boost online conversions.
Less than half of higher ed marketers track cost per inquiry
One of the study’s top takeaways is the critical role of tracking specific metrics like cost per inquiry (CPI) and cost per enrolled student.
Despite the significance of these metrics, less than half of higher education marketers track them. While nearly three-quarters (73%) of marketing units track the source of inquiries, only 46% track CPI, and just 43% track cost per enrolled student.
Shockingly, nearly 17% of institutions don’t track any of these metrics.
This gap in metric tracking reveals a missed opportunity for many universities to optimize their marketing efforts and ensure they effectively reach their target audience.
The average professional and online education cost per inquiry is $140
For those tracking cost per inquiry, the study found that the average CPI for online and professional education programs is $140, with a median of $106.
This metric is a crucial indicator of how well marketing dollars are being utilized to attract prospective students. Tracking these costs allows university marketing departments to make informed decisions about where to allocate their resources, ensuring that digital marketing efforts are cost-effective and impactful.
Email marketing is most often managed in-house, while digital advertising is most often outsourced
The study reveals that while 73% of higher education institutions manage email marketing in-house, half outsource their digital advertising (such as Google paid search) to external agencies.
This trend indicates a potential missed opportunity for maximizing ROI, especially given email marketing’s high return of 36:1.
When email campaigns and SEO are managed internally without adequate resources, universities may not fully optimize these channels, contributing to dissatisfaction with results.
Conversely, outsourcing digital advertising allows for continuous tracking and optimization, often leading to better performance.
Marketers who track their campaigns are more happy with performance
Another significant finding is the correlation between tracking marketing metrics and overall satisfaction with campaign performance. Only 47% of respondents expressed satisfaction with their marketing campaigns’ performance, and just 29% were content with their ability to track campaign success.
However, those who actively track metrics like cost per inquiry and cost per enrolled student report higher satisfaction levels, indicating that effective metric tracking is linked to better marketing outcomes.
Analytics, Tracking, and Reporting Opportunities for Higher Education
If you’ve read this far, we’ve made the case that it’s important and effective to track key metrics. You might be asking — what exactly are these key metrics?
Below are the two most important metrics we recommend you track.
Cost per inquiry
By monitoring cost per inquiry, institutions can identify the most cost-effective methods for attracting inquiries and allocate resources accordingly, ensuring that marketing dollars are spent where they yield the highest return.
CPI is a widely recognized metric, yet less than half of higher education marketers actively track it. This metric calculates the total marketing and advertising spend divided by the number of inquiries received, providing a clear measure of budget efficiency and effectiveness.
Tracking CPI allows marketing teams to gain insights into which campaigns generate interest and drive students into the enrollment funnel.
Cost per enrolled student
Another crucial metric for higher education institutions is cost per enrolled student, which measures the total expenses involved in securing each student’s enrollment. This includes all costs from the initial marketing outreach through to the point of a student’s matriculation, encompassing media spend, agency fees, salaries, and other related marketing activities.
Our study highlighted that less than half of higher education marketers track this metric, even though it offers invaluable insights into spending efficiency and the overall effectiveness of recruitment strategies.
Understanding cost per enrolled student helps marketing departments optimize their strategies by identifying which campaigns are most successful at converting inquiries into enrolled students. This metric serves as a vital tool for aligning marketing efforts with enrollment goals.
By integrating systems capable of tracking both cost per inquiry and cost per enrolled student, higher education institutions can make data-driven decisions that enhance the efficiency of their marketing plans and improve outcomes across the enrollment funnel.
Tracking metrics can lead to new opportunities
When you better understand your ad spend, you can reallocate funds to other areas of need.
As our 2023 SEO research study found, 51% of universities don’t have an established SEO plan.
Without a strong SEO focus, university websites may become challenging to navigate, leading to frustrated users who quickly leave the site. This can result in lower search engine rankings and less visibility among the target audience. By contrast, investing in SEO helps universities improve user experience, making it easier for prospective students to find information about programs, admissions, and campus life.
For universities aiming to attract the modern adult learner, SEO offers a strategic way to capture attention and stand out in a competitive market. With an effective SEO plan, universities can ensure their websites rank higher in search results, making prospective students more likely to find them when searching for educational programs. This visibility is especially crucial as more students turn to online searches to explore their educational options.
Reallocating budget and resources toward SEO could be a game-changer for universities. By gaining a deeper understanding of their website’s performance metrics and ad spend, marketers can identify gaps in their current strategy and shift focus to overlooked areas.
Search Influence’s Higher Education Marketing Tracking Success
At Search Influence, our strategic approach to marketing tracking has consistently driven impressive results for higher education institutions.
For Palo Alto University, we increased average monthly inquiries from 185 to 272 by expanding focus on key degree programs, optimizing paid advertising, and refreshing campaign messaging. This resulted in a 49% increase in leads within just two quarters.
Similarly, we helped Tulane SoPA surpass its goal of 500 inquiries per month by implementing a full-funnel marketing strategy. Our efforts, including targeted paid advertising and optimized landing pages, led to an average of 791 inquiries per month — a 58% increase over the initial target.
These successes demonstrate our commitment to helping higher education institutions enhance their enrollment strategies through effective marketing tracking and optimization.
Learn More About Higher Education Marketing Analytics
Accurate marketing tracking is essential for higher education institutions to optimize their campaigns, attract prospective students, and drive enrollment.
Our UPCEA x Search Influence study sheds light on how universities can better measure the success of their marketing efforts through metrics like cost per inquiry and cost per enrolled student.
By leveraging these insights, institutions can make data-driven decisions, improve resource allocation, and ultimately achieve their enrollment goals.
Download our Marketing Metrics Research Study and SEO Research Study to gain valuable insights and start transforming your higher education digital marketing strategy today.
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