LinkedIn conducted research on marketer ROI in higher education. They surveyed over 800 digital marketers and found that while accurately measuring ROI is important, success is low due to challenges with measurement platforms, data access, and multi-touch attribution. Successful marketers were more likely to focus on the right metrics, data access, and multi-touch attribution. LinkedIn also partnered with universities to combine data in an anonymized way, finding positive trends for student outcomes like employability and time to graduation. Additionally, LinkedIn's environment was found to be more trusted and have less intrusive ads than other platforms, increasing intent for goals like enrollment.
3. #EDUCONNECT17
It’s a Challenging Time
to Market Higher Education
58% 34%population with some college
that think
“A four year degree is not
worth the cost”
colleges that met enrollment
targets this year
NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, August 2017, “Americans Split on Whether 4-Year College Degree Is Worth the Cost”
Inside Higher Ed, “2017 Survey of College and University Admissions Directors”
4. #EDUCONNECT17
55%40%
IN 1991 IN 2015
Percentage of four-year degree holders that hold a well-paying job
Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (March), 1992 - 2016
But In Crisis, lies Opportunity
5. #EDUCONNECT17
Less than a high school
diploma
High school diploma
Some college, no
degree
Associate's Degree
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Unemployment Rate (%) Median Usual Weekly Earnings ($)
2.4
2.7
3.6
4.4
5.2
7.4
1,380
1,156
819
756
692
504
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey
Graduate Students Fare Even Better
7. #EDUCONNECT17
L I N K E D I N ’ S M I S S I O N
Connect the world’s professionals to make
them more productive and successful
8. #EDUCONNECT17
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
32M
50M+
students and recent
college grads
32M
500M+
professionals
The largest global community
of professionals
9. #EDUCONNECT17
Only LinkedIn provides this unique combination of benefits
Reach a higher
quality prospect
Quality
Align your message
with a professional
mindset
Mindset
Use our accurate
data to target
your audience
First-Party Data
Market to who matters on LinkedIn
12. #EDUCONNECT17
So what can I do to prove the value of my
educational offerings?
…and how do I do this while boosting the ROI of
my marketing investments?
#EDUCONNECT17
13. #EDUCONNECT17
Ad Environmental
Research
What roles does Trust play in
Marketing ROI?
State of ROI Survey
What is the current state of
affairs?
Client ROI
Data Project
What are the possibilities
when teaming up with
LinkedIn?
Our Research Approach
15. #EDUCONNECT17
10-minute online survey of
LinkedIn members in U.S.
and Canada
Fielded by LinkedIn from
Sept 14-24
Survey
855 total Digital Marketers, incl:
266 Agency marketers
150 total in Tech industry
159 total in Services industry
77 total in Education industry
NAMER Sample
Screened for responsibility
with Digital Marketing at
either a corporation or
marketing/ad agency
Criteria
Concept & Methodology
16. #EDUCONNECT17
AND HERE’S WHAT YOU’RE SAYING…
“Our enrollment cycle takes place over a couple years… so
it’s difficult to track ROI based solely on student enrollment.”
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL MARKETING & COMMUNCATIONS
BRADLEY UNIVERSITY
17. #EDUCONNECT17
[Q8_IMPORTANT] How important, if at all, is it to your organization that it be able to accurately measure the ROI of digital marketing efforts? [Q9_SUCCESSFUL] And how successful do you think your organization is at accurately
measuring the ROI of digital marketing efforts?
Base: all Corp respondents
61%
66%
71% 71%
18% 17%
19%
17%
Edu Other Industry Tech Professional Services
Importance
Success
Importance of measuring ROI
is high while success is low
18. #EDUCONNECT17
[Q6A,B,C,D,E_CHALLENGES] In the next several questions, we’d like to learn more about your satisfaction with measuring the effectiveness of your digital marketing efforts. Thinking about the measurement platforms/technology you
currently use to measure your digital marketing efforts, how satisfied are you with your ability to [PIPE OPTIONS BELOW – SEPARATE QUESTION FOR EACH]?
Base: all respondents
EDU
OTHER
INDUSTRY AGENCIES TECH
PROFESSIONAL
SERVICES
% top 3 box N=77 N=589 N=266 N=150 N=159
Ability to calculate ROI for overall digital
marketing efforts 16% 16% 24% 19% 16%
Ability to access enough detailed performance data for
program optimization 16% 14% 26% 15% 19%
Ability to measure all marketing activity in one
consolidated place 16% 14% 23% 20% 16%
Ability to measure all the way through to sales impact 10% 11% 19% 17% 14%
Ability to show attribution for all parts of the funnel 8% 10% 16% 15% 11%
Satisfaction with measurement
platforms/tech features is low
19. #EDUCONNECT17
[Q2_METRICS] Below are a number of metrics and measurements a marketer might use to evaluate the effectiveness of their efforts. When it comes to achieving your digital marketing objective of
[PIPE UP TO 3 FROM Q1_OBJECTIVES], which, if any, of the following metrics do you use? Please select up to four metrics: Base: among those mentioning each objective
BRAND
AWARENESS ENGAGEMENT
LEAD
GENERATION
SALES
COVERSION
CUST RETEN/
LOYALTY
Top 4 objectives N=515 N=461 N=445 N=282 N=215
Engagement (likes, shares, follows) 66% 75% 49%
Revenue generated 59% 44%
Leads (or qualified leads) created 28% 68%
Conversation rate (lead to customer) 47% 59% 34%
Click-through rate (CTR) 45% 60% 42% 38% 33%
Time spent, page views, or bounce rate
from website 45% 53% 32%
Brand lift research 29%
Cost per lead (CPL) 44%
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) 34%
Customer lifetime value (CLV) 30%
Engagement, revenue, leads created, conversion
rate and CTR most commonly used metrics
20. #EDUCONNECT17
[Q10_REASONS] You indicated that your organization has been/has not been very successful at accurately measuring the ROI of digital marketing efforts. Which, if any, of the following factors do you think most contribute/would
most help your organization improve its success with measuring ROI? Please select up to three.
Base: Successful (10,9,8) and not successful (1,2,3) at Q9
SUCCESSFUL NOT SUCCESSFUL
% mentioning each as reason for success/what’s needed N=103 N=139
Access to the right data 49% 42%
Understanding of which metrics matter 42% 27%
Access to measurement tools/technology 41% 41%
Clearly defined goals/objectives 39% 32%
Leadership commitments to measurement 37% 39%
S E L F - R E P O R T E D S U C C E S S
Successful marketers focus their efforts
differently than their unsuccessful peers
21. #EDUCONNECT17
[Q4_ATTRIBUTION] How, if at all, does your organization measure attribution (i.e., attributing a conversion or other sales outcome to specific marketing tactics) for digital marketing?
Base: all respondents
SUCCESSFUL NOT SUCCESSFUL
% mentioning each as reason for success/what’s needed N=103 N=139
First-touch attribution 23% 16%
Last-touch attribution 17% 22%
Multi-touch attribution 66% 30%
None of the above 7% 40%
S E L F - R E P O R T E D S U C C E S S
Successful marketers are more likely to
measure digital ROI via multi-touch attribution
22. #EDUCONNECT17
[Q3_SATISFIED] And when it comes to achieving your digital marketing objective of [PIPE ROW FROM Q1_OBJECTIVES], how satisfied, if at all,
are you with your current ability to measure the effectiveness of your efforts? Base: among those mentioning each as objective
23%
31%
29% 29%
26%
31%
39%
35% 36%
45%
Brand Awareness Engagement Lead Generation Sales Conversion Customer retention/loyalty
Total
Agency
And for some reason, media agencies are
more satisfied across the board…
S A T I S F A C T I O N W I T H M E A S U R I N G E F F E C T I V E N E S S ( T O P 3 B O X )
26. #EDUCONNECT17
EMAIL
SIGN UP DATE
JOB OUTCOMES
EMAIL
TRANSCRIPT DATA
SECURE
UNIFIED
DATABASE
SECURE HASHING
ENCRYPTION
INSIGHTS ABOUT LINKEDIN
MEMBERS
We combined data in an anonymized,
secure way to uncover actionable insights
ACADEMIC OUTCOMES
University
27. #EDUCONNECT17
We Found Positive Trends
for the Universities' Students
Nursing & Information Systems graduates are
increasingly finding jobs within their field of study,
i.e. healthcare & IT, respectively.
Associate degree graduates are increasingly
finding employment within IT companies (in
sync with their degrees). These IT employers
increasingly feature the most desirable names
in the industry i.e. Accenture, HP & IBM, in the
top 10 hirers lists.
Bachelor’s degree graduates are increasingly
getting employed in Healthcare, IT &
Engineering functions. However, more
students are shifting to 1000+ company size
IT companies over time. This migration is
mostly observed in students of Health
Information Technology.
Master’s degree graduates are getting a
promotion at their job within their first 3 years
and nearly 1 out of 5 graduates is working in a
Manager+ role in a 1000+ employee company
within 10 years of graduation.
There is increasing employability of technical
degree graduates i.e. Computer Information
Systems, Network & Comm Management &
Health Information Technology into 1000+
employee IT companies.
28. #EDUCONNECT17
2.5X 25%
LinkedIn Members are 2.5x
More Likely to Graduate
(vs. Universities’ Students not on LinkedIn)
LinkedIn Members Take 25% Less
Time to Graduate
(vs. Universities’ Students not on LinkedIn)
LinkedIn Members Who Enrolled Drove Superior
Outcomes for Both Themselves & The University
33. #EDUCONNECT17Source: Business Insider Intelligence ‘Digital Trust Report’ June 2017
70%
32% 30% 28% 26%
13%
Business Insider Intelligence Digital Trust Rankings
“LinkedIn is undisputedly the most
trusted platform”
34. #EDUCONNECT17Source: Business Insider Intelligence ‘Digital Trust Report’ June 2017
55% 55%
43%
1%
15%
17%
21%
45%
4%
8%
12%
3%
9%
7% 7%
3%
9%
7%
13%
6%
8%
6%
4%
43%
Platform with most confidence in to
protect your privacy and data?
Platforms least likely to show you
deceptive content, fake news, scams, or
click bait?
Platform do you feel the safest
participating in or posting on?
Platform has the most intrusive ads?
LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Snapchat Twitter YouTube
99%
Find LinkedIn to
have the least
intrusive ads
Trusted for: Privacy, reliable content, safest to post,
and least intrusive ads
35. #EDUCONNECT17
EDU advertising tested:
We used 4 ads per industry vertical and split them up by the following rubric (to mitigate bias):
And Most Importantly, LinkedIn’s Trusted
Environment Increases Enrollment Intent
ü 2 ads not as well known brands/productsü 2 ads well known brands