2. }
}
Word of mouth is the primary source that
prospective parent first discover your school.
While we know this to be true, most of our
schools don’t utilize their admissions data to
develop and direct their word of mouth
marketing plan.
During this webinar we will discuss ways to
measure word of mouth and to focus on
admissions data including inquiry sources,
new parent surveys, parent satisfaction and
Net Promoter Scores as a way to inform your
word of mouth marketing strategy.
8. Enrollment Catalyst partners with schools to
provide coaching for school leaders in their
school’s enrollment management and marketing
systems, strategies, and solutions needed to
reach their goals.
9.
10. The power of word of mouth
marketing at your school.
16. WOMbound
“WOMbound is the intentional and proactive
strategy to generate, facilitate and inspire
word of mouth through your advocates. It is
how brand advocacy works by harnessing the
power of word of mouth to reach your
potential customers most effectively.”
• Rick Newberry, Enrollment Catalyst
18. WHAT IS WORD OF MOUTH MARKETING?
“So what is word of mouth marketing? In this
book, I define it as ‘Giving people a reason to
talk about your stuff, and making it easier for
that conversation to take place’.”
• Sernovitz, Word of Mouth Marketing
19.
20. “Word of mouth marketing only works if you
have good products and services. It only
works if people like you and trust you.”
• Sernovitz, Word of Mouth Marketing
23. “You may spend millions of dollars on
elaborate marketing campaigns. But there is
nothing more powerful than a trusted
recommendation from a Brand Advocate.”
• Rob Fuggetta, Brand Advocates: Turning
Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful
Marketing Force
24. “The best marketing is the kind you don’t buy.”
“If parents are satisfied, you won’t have to
spend a dime to advertise. We talk continually
about the education of our children.”
Your best marketing is with current parents
and students being satisfied with their
education. “
25. “Stop spending so much money. Word of
mouth from satisfied families is your best
marketing. An ad is not going to influence
anyone.”
“When you have a great product, it is much
easier to market and word of mouth will be
much stronger.”
27. If we know that word of mouth drives interest
in our schools, then what should we look for
in our admission/enrollment data?
} How can our admission/enrollment data
inform our word of mouth marketing
strategy?
}
28. }
Some schools lack the data knowledge and
understanding to help guide their enrollment
and marketing effort.
30. Enrollment Goals
} Admissions Funnel
} New Family / Inquiry Sources
} Web Stats
} Social Media
} Retention and Parent Satisfaction
} Net Promoter Score
} Prospect Modeling and Targeted Advocacy
}
31. }
Develop specific enrollment goals for the
following areas:
◦ Total Enrollment
◦ Retention
◦ Admissions
–
–
–
–
–
Inquiries
Campus Visits
Applications
Deposits
New students
32. A look at the traditional
admissions funnel and how it
has changed today.
32
35. How many inquiries do you need to produce
the number of applications and new students
you want?
} How many applications do you need to
produce the number of new students you
want?
}
36. }
Provides a snapshot overview of the
re-enrollment of current families and
enrollment of new families.
37.
38. Re-Enrollment Data
} Funnel Data
}
◦ Inquiries
◦ Campus Visits/Tours
◦ Applications, Stealth Applicants
◦ Admits
◦ Enrollees
Yield Rates
} Comparison to Previous Year
}
39. Knowing where your inquiries
come from can help you better
understand sources and WOM.
39
40. }
How did you hear about the school?
◦ Inquiry call
◦ Web form
◦ Campus visit
◦ Application
41. It is important to record and measure your
inquiry sources.
} Try to get specific information about word of
mouth by recording the referring “mouth.”
}
◦ Who referred the school to the prospective parent?
–
–
–
–
–
Current parent
Faculty/Staff
Board member
Friend
Alumnus
42. }
If you know the source of your inquiries, you
can determine your inquiry source yield rate.
43. Through Web analytics you
can better understand your
prospective parents and the
linkage to WOM.
43
44. Overall visits to your school’s website
} First time visits
} Bounce rate
} Average time on your school’s website
} Most popular page visits
} Leads generated and converted
} Sources
}
48. }
Be aware of what others are saying about
your school in online reviews:
◦ GreatSchools
◦ SchoolDigger
◦ PrivateSchoolReview
◦ Google
◦ Yelp
◦ Facebook
49. }
Use a site like Mention to monitor when your
school is mentioned online.
50. An annual new parent survey
can give you valuable data to
better understand the power
of word of mouth
50
51. Conduct an a new parent survey just after the
start of the school year to measure the
results of your enrollment and marketing
effort.
} Use a combination of quantitative and
qualitative questions.
}
52. How the parent first heard of your school
} Awareness of specific marketing initiatives
} Evaluation of admissions, marketing,
communications, orientation
} Reasons why the parent selected your school
} What the parent likes best about the school
so far…
} What the parent likes least about the school
so far…
}
53. A strong parent retention rate
and satisfaction rate is the
foundation for positive word
of mouth.
53
55. The mark of a great school will include a
retention rate of 90% or higher.
} Measure your retention rate:
}
◦ Overall
◦ By grade level
56. Conduct an annual parent survey to measure
satisfaction.
} Conduct focus groups to provide a “thick
description” for your research.
}
57. Based on your experiences at the school, how
satisfied are you with the following areas?
} Likert scale:
}
◦ Very Satisfied
◦ Satisfied
◦ Somewhat Satisfied
◦ Neutral
◦ Somewhat Dissatisfied
◦ Dissatisfied
◦ Very Dissatisfied
58. What do you like best about your school?
} What do you like least about your school?
} How can the leadership improve the school?
} Please provide the reason(s) why you are
unsure of your child’s continued enrollment
at the school.
}
59. Parent satisfaction is the key for retaining
families at your school.
} The higher the satisfaction level, the higher
the commitment and likelihood of your
parents to stay and pay for another year.
}
60. Measuring your NPS can help
you better understand the
potential power of WOM at
your school.
60
61.
62. }
On a scale from 0 to 10, with 10 being very
likely, how likely are you to recommend a
friend to your school?
63. Score of 9 or 10
} Loyal enthusiasts who keep returning and
refer others, fueling growth.
}
64. Scores of 7 or 8
} Satisfied or unenthusiastic parents who are
vulnerable to other options; may have some
concerns but continue to stay the course
}
65. Scores from 0 to 6
} Unhappy parents who can damage your
school’s brand and impede growth through
negative word of mouth.
}
69. }
“Net Promoter assumes that everyone who is
not likely to recommend is an active
detractor. WoMI solves that problem by
adding a second question, thereby asking
customers how likely they are to recommend
and how likely they are to detract.”
70. }
“How likely are you to discourage others from
doing business with this company?”
◦ Freed, Larry (2013-09-16). Innovating Analytics:
Word of Mouth Index- Use the Next Generation of
Net Promoter to Increase Sales and Drive Results
72. Your annual parent satisfaction survey can
provide a great opportunity to ask these
important questions.
} You could also ask this question when
parents re-enroll.
}
73. Using data to drive word of
mouth conversations between
advocates and prospects.
73
74. }
Using admissions data to drive word of
mouth.
◦ Predictive modeling to develop a target profile of
likely prospects.
◦ Purchase database of likely prospects.
◦ Overlay prospects on a map with current parents,
faculty, board and alumni.
◦ Utilize outreach strategies to reach prospects
through word of mouth from nearby advocates.
76. Enrollment Goals
} Admissions Funnel
} New Family / Inquiry Sources
} Web Stats
} Social Media
} Retention and Parent Satisfaction
} Net Promoter Score
} Prospect Modeling and Targeted Advocacy
}
77. Insight into the effectiveness of our WOM
campaign and inquiry sources
} Helps us understand the power and influence
of WOM
} Guides us to improve our WOM marketing
strategies and recruitment outreach
}
