One of the most important prospective student conversion strategies for enrollment teams is the open house/information session. I am probably asked about these events 20-25 times per year. They are generally worthwhile, as long as you strategically consider their purpose and importance. And I am intentionally saying that up front. While I think many of you see the value and importance of the event, you aren't taking the full advantage of the time you have with your prospective students to engage them effectively.
For the purposes of this post, I will refer to "information session" and "open house" as a singular type of event - using the term Information Session.
The purpose of an information session has changed dramatically over the past 5-8 years although the design for many schools has not. I have been involved in several over the past year or so, and watched as program after program present the dog-and-pony show to a handful of prospects. The problem is that the information presented is rarely different than what the prospect has already learned online. All that differs is having a face and name to present the information. So, while you were effective enough to attract prospects to your event, you are losing the opportunity to really engage them further. This is important for you to consider: there are few, and I mean very few other opportunities to better engage and convert this prospect than an information session. So, the time you spend crafting the opportunity is absolutely critical.
Here are four questions you should be asking yourself:
1. Who should I be inviting to attend the event? Is there a way to more narrowly target a smaller group that has common interests?
Are you opening this event up to any prospective student that has inquired over the past 5 years? Why do you shoot for such a large audience? Generally the answer is a combination of these primary reasons: you need this size of a list to draw enough interest, and get prospects to attend; and because it has been the way we've held the events for the past 10 years - and it works. But can it be more effective? Some programs offer specialty information sessions for prospects interested in the same major. That can be an effective tool, but, how about instead offering a session on a specific topic such as, "affording a graduate degree;" or "transferring the maximum number of credits?"
Those can be very focused events that help you understand the specific questions and concerns a prospect has, and provide you the opportunity to address them while building trust. And it is most likely something your competitors aren't doing.
2. How will I (and/or my team) engage and interact with the prospects, both in a group and individually?
Now that you have considered who will attend, let's consider the varying types of opportunities you present to the prospect to engage with you. Can you hold the session at a time that is convenient for some current students to attend? And I don't mean having a student panel answering questions in front of the room. That concept is almost as old as the admission process itself. How about having students greeting students as they arrive and introducing them to staff, or stopping by for refreshments with the prospects before they go to class. Could they share a quick story about their current course, or the type of homework they just had to compete for the week? These are informal opportunities you can use for a student to casually share his or her experience.
You should also keep in mind that you should have at least one opportunity for a member of the enrollment team to interact individually with each prospective student to understand their purpose for attending, to know if the questions the prospect had were answered, and to just generally learn who the prospect is as a real person. This is an event that you can use to build trust with a prospect.
3. What should each prospect's next action be upon leaving the event?
If you target your event, for example, to prospects who’ve begun, but not completed an application, then the obvious next step is for them to complete the application. Hopefully you have opportunities for the prospects in this case, to actually finish their application on-site. if you are targeting prospects interested in the MBA, hopefully you are answering the most important questions those prospects have about your MBA program on-site, and the next step, then, is for the prospects to apply. But how do you address it? When is the right time to bring it up? Is there any additional information or incentive for the prospect to run home and apply immediately after leaving?
If you've done your job during the information session, then your prospect's interests have peaked. You now must take advantage of this interest before it wanes. That begins by ensuring that the prospects understand their next step right as they prepare to leave.
4. How will I be following up with each prospect after the event?
Now if you're even considering not following up directly with these prospects, just stop reading. Think of the time and effort you have put into the event to build interest, and engage your prospects, and now you are going to stop and wait for them? That doesn't cut it in today's world of adult higher ed. If you did your job, many of the prospects will leave and begin finish applying to your program, but there will be others on the cusp of taking the next step. Those are the prospects you want to help get to that next stage. This is the difference in enrolling 15 students in your next MBA cohort, and enrolling 19 students in your next MBA cohort. And those four students matter very much. Like it or not, that is where the profit margins are very significantly impacted. Enrolling those extra four prospects matters. A cohort of 19 may provide the same profit margin as two cohorts of 12.
So there you have it. Those are four questions, that individually, you may have asked yourself before. But to have a great impact on your information sessions, you need to consider all four together. I am most commonly asked about the number of attendees you should expect at the events, but what matters much more is the percentage of attendees you convert to students. Why? As I mentioned earlier, there are few other opportunities to better engage your prospects. And if you aren't measuring how effectively you convert prospects that attend an information session, you are wasting the opportunity to maximize your recruitment efforts where they matter most.
As always, please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions about the topics covered. Or if you need some additional ideas of how to better target our information session audience, let me help. It only costs you a few seconds of time to email me.
You can also check out this previous post on online information sessions.