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 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 “” 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, 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 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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