Lead Generation Checklist

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 Share this! For more information, contact HEM.

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