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Knowing your online customers
New schools of thought to market education online.
By Sabri Suby
An education is one of the biggest investments a person will make, and never before has online research played such a crucial role in the decision-making process for eager students.
According to EY’ s digital strategy report, 1 94 per cent of people research products and services online before purchase. This means if you’ re not pulling out every weapon in your arsenal to ensure your website is converting visitors to students, you’ re letting some seriously big fish off the hook.
Here are seven vital steps to bolster your online marketing efforts to give your institution the edge in the competitive education landscape.
REV UP YOUR CONVERSIONS Before you increase traffic, make sure you’ ve optimised conversion. In the education industry, tactical mistakes like letting a high bounce rate affect your search ranking cost more than a click-through – you can lose credibility, which is seriously difficult to recover from as an education provider.
Spot your site
1 A high bounce rate – which is the percentage of visitors to your site who navigate away after viewing only one page – indicates poor conversion. Diagnose why you could be losing visitors. It may be due to having a difficult-to-navigate website, not presenting an irresistible offer that hooks visitors immediately, or having a design that’ s all style and no substance( or worse – no style and no substance).
You need to understand and address your visitors’ pain points, be clear about your offer, and be confident about why your institution and courses are superior to those of your competitors.
Funnel your visitors
2 Visitors to an education website will either be seeking information( research mode) or an enrolment form( buying mode). You must make it easy for them to find what they’ re looking for by positioning two calls to action above the fold: one for information and one for enrolment, so you can funnel and track them appropriately. You should have a separate strategy for each and repeat the key messages in long-form copy once the visitor has chosen a path.
For example, you will have one funnel for those inquiring. How will you nurture these leads and convert them into students?
Another funnel will be once they’ re students. How do you keep them engaged and‘ in the family’ to continue using your services or advocate and become an ambassador for you?
Instil trust
3 Building social trust is imperative! Be overt about your credentials, and highlight award wins, industry association memberships, media coverage and
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