How To Map Students To Your Higher Ed Funnel: Here Are 4 Steps

Every student is different. Not every path to higher education is the same. Some students know exactly what they want to do, what they want to study, and where they want to be. For others, it can be a bit of a mixed bag. 

This is why understanding where prospective students fall in your higher ed funnel can be so crucial for providing them the information they need – when they need it. 

We’ve compiled a short list of points to consider on how to map students to your higher ed funnel: 

Define the steps of your higher ed funnel 

Just like every student is different, so are the stages of your higher ed funnel. In order to begin slicing and dicing data to determine where prospective students fit, be sure to carefully define the various steps students take in their journey from initial research to arriving on campus. 

As a starting point, research from Studyportals reports that there are six general stages of the average student journey through the higher ed funnel which we’ve taken the liberty of defining:

1. Discover

This stage includes students who are just beginning to think about higher ed and conduct initial research of programs which interest them. You might, for example, have a student who has an idea of a career or field which interests them, but do not know how to get there with higher ed.

2. Shortlist

This stage includes students who have identified schools, programs, or fields of study which they feel can help them achieve their higher ed goals. You might, for example, see students in this stage who know more or less what they want to study but are still undecided where to study. 

3. Apply

This stage includes students who have applied to your school and are waiting for a response. Students at this stage may still remain uncommitted to studying at your school and may have other applications in the works.

4. Commit 

This stage includes students who hold offers of acceptance. Students at this stage must be encouraged and assured that studying at your higher ed institution is the right choice. Since students might hold, or wait, for multiple letters of acceptance, accepting your offer is a crucial step in their higher ed process.

5. Prepare 

This stage includes students who have accepted your offer of admission and are waiting to attend school in the fall. Although this stage might seem trivial, research shows that summer melt rates continue to rise higher and higher. Current statistics suggest that one in four students do not show up for the first day of school. Questions during this stage need to dispel common doubts students have as they begin to feel first-year nerves, like fear of making friends, something 67% of students have doubts about, or fear of academic failure, something 50% of students worry about.

6. Study 

The final step of the higher ed funnel concerns students who have arrived on campus and have begun their higher ed studies. Did you know that 30% of students do not have confidence that they can finish their program? Staying in touch with these students, or facilitating seamless handoff with your orientation team members can help support this stage. 

Support each stage of your higher ed funnel with data 

Once defined, mapping students to your higher funnel can begin: matching student goals to the goals of your higher ed institution at each stage. According to Studyportals research the messiest part of the higher ed funnel often takes place during the shortlist, comparison stage. At this stage, students are weighing goals they have, such as cost of housing, against their decision to attend one institution over another. Higher ed institutions might plug retention goals at this stage, with content dealing directly with cost of living and financial aids available to students in their communities. 

Related: Digitizing higher ed decision-making for prospective students

Gathering the data for this stage of mapping can be made easier with the right tools at your disposal. On the Unibuddy Platform, you can gather conversation insights from prospective students interacting with student ambassadors. Available advanced filters for this data enable you to slice and dice according to geographical area, funnel stage, or program interest, so you can determine the questions and concerns of students in every audience group and at every funnel step. 

Unibuddy’s AI-infused features can also help your higher ed team summarize large data sets into actionable insights. Extensive conversations on Unibuddy Chat, for example, can be condensed into two- to three-sentence summaries enabling your team to quickly get the just of a particular conversation, determine funnel stage, and take appropriate measures. These insights, including sample supplementary questions to ask, can be fed directly into your CRM for better internal coordination. 

Sketch out available touchpoints on your higher ed map 

Once you know where your students fit in your higher ed funnel, and have matched goals to a certain degree, identify all the touchpoints on your higher ed map. These touchpoints vary drastically from school to school, from emailers to in-person events to offer letters to something as simple as a conversation with one of your staff. 

Related: Mapping Out a Content Marketing Strategy for Higher Ed

Whatever the case, understanding where students have potential to engage and how this relates to your higher ed funnel can be crucial at driving conversions at each stage. In addition to ensuring there are no cracks or gaps in your student journey, this map-building process can help you coordinate your efforts internally for maximum ROI and efficiency. Studyportals recommends categorizing these touchpoints according to resource-type for further configurability. 

You might, for example, find you have orientation live stream events, content dealing with cost of living and a large group of student ambassadors hailing from one particular target geographic region. By understanding the use of these resources for final stages of your higher ed funnel, you might consider coordinating them for a campaign aimed at reducing melt for international students arriving from a specific area of the world. 

Map student ambassadors to your higher ed funnel 

Mapping prospective students to your higher ed funnel doesn’t work if they have no one to talk to at those stages. In addition to understanding where students fit, determine which student ambassadors are your best candidates for speaking with them – and prepare them accordingly. This ensures student engagement can occur at any stage with relevant information students need to succeed. 

Related: How to Integrate Student Ambassadors Earlier in Your Higher Ed Funnel

Using Unibuddy data, for example, you might see that large numbers of domestic prospective students looking at undergraduate engineering programs at your school tend to drop off during ‘Discover’ stages of your higher ed funnel. While this might suggest your on-site content is not providing them with the information they need to continue, there is also the possibility that they are not given an opportunity to ask further questions.

Embeddable throughout your site, Unibuddy ‘Pop Cards’ can feature students from specific programs and demographics. For the above example, you might consider strategic placing of cards linking prospective students to members of your student ambassador team currently enrolled in your engineering program in a domestic capacity. 

Learn more about the Unibuddy Platform.