DATA-DRIVEN STUDENT RECRUITMENT SOLUTIONS
LEAD GENERATION CHECKLIST While every college or university needs to generate leads, in today’s increasingly complex and competitive higher education environment, a strong strategic vision is necessary for success. From defining your digital marketing goals and understanding your lead lifecycle on the path to application and enrolment to analyzing your website content and PPC, SEO, and social me- dia campaigns, this Lead Generation Self-Assessment will help you see if you have your bases covered while identifying areas for improvement.
General Completed?
1. Clarify your definition of a prospective student lead Yes No
2. Define different types of leads as in top, middle, and bottom of recruitment funnel (i.e. Face- Yes No book follow vs Newsletter signup vs Request for scholarship info)
3. Determine how you will measure lead quality Yes No
4. Understand your lead “life-cycle” Yes No
5. Determine when a lead will be handed off from marketing to “sales” Yes No
6. Determine a goal for how many leads you require per month from all channels to feed your Yes No recruitment processes and infrastructure
7. Build relationships with prospects - communicate, don’t blast information Yes No
Lead Sources & Campaigns Completed?
8. Develop unique lead generation campaigns appropriate to each target channel (i.e. Website Yes No homepage, PPC, Facebook vs Mobile)
9. Tag each lead source with a unique lead source code Yes No
10. Ensure email campaigns and follow-up are CASL compliant Yes No
11. Implement a lead nurturing strategy Yes No
12. Use social sharing to extend reach of lead gen campaigns Yes No
13. Use video in lead gen campaigns to increase engagement Yes No
14. Create opportunities for visitors to opt in to content (i.e. newsletters, downloads, white pa- Yes No pers, checklists)
Share this! Web Page Lead Generation & Forms Completed?
15. Each web page has at least one call to action Yes No
16. All lead gen forms are kept reasonably simple, especially if for mobile Yes No
17. Minimize the number of required fields Yes No
18. Use auto-filling fields for known data Yes No
Pay-Per-Click Campaigns Completed?
19. Develop a clear PPC strategy and plan with goals, target platforms, PPC type, budget and Yes No target key performance indicators
20. Develop customized keywords for your prospect personas Yes No
21. Develop keyword specific PPC campaigns Yes No
22. Monitor campaign Quality Score Yes No
23. Incorporate Adwords ad extensions (i.e. use Click-to-Call link for mobile PPC ads) Yes No
24. Review PPC campaigns daily, weekly and monthly for key performance metrics Yes No
Landing Pages Completed?
25. Include one related image, one main headline, bulleted main points of your value/ bene- Yes No fits-based offer, and one Call-to-Action (CTA)
26. Ensure a clear “scent trail” exists between PPC ad and landing page copy and message Yes No
27. Ideally, you have created a unique landing page for each lead source Yes No
28. Minimize navigation links to reduce link distraction Yes No
29. Most landing page content and CTA is above the fold Yes No
30. Use action and value-based CTAs (i.e. “Reserve your campus visit”, “Get Information”) Yes No
31. Include trust icons (i.e. Accreditation bodies, awards, e-commerce security) and privacy policy Yes No
32. Redirect to thank you pages Yes No
Share this! CONTENT STRATEGY & DEVELOPMENT
Share this! Testing Completed?
33. Use clear, high level hypothesis testing to drive testing activities (i.e. Don’t just test button Yes No colour, images or position - test persona driven copy and value propositions)
34. Conduct regular, and multiple, A/B and/or Multivariate testing to improve lead conversion Yes No rates on landing pages
35. Test number of fields in your lead gen forms, including required vs non required fields Yes No
36. Test use of testimonials and social proofs Yes No
37. Test long vs short copy web and landing pages Yes No
38. Test and optimize registration funnels for conversion to student Yes No
Lead Conversion Tracking, Analytics & Evaluation Completed?
39. Establish and track lead generation “Goals” and “Goal Value” in Google Analytics Yes No
40. Always use thank you pages for ease of tracking and analysis in analytics Yes No
41. Analyze the impact of multiple lead source attribution Yes No
42. Always assign custom URLs for emails, newsletters, and offline campaign tracking Yes No
43. Evaluate lead quality within all lead generation channels (as in likelihood to convert to stu- Yes No dent)
44. Define maximum acceptable Costs per Lead per Channel Yes No
45. Compare Cost per Lead and Cost per Registered Student across lead gen channels to opti- Yes No mize future marketing investments
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