Todd Gibby
CEO
Intelliworks
Founded in 2002, Intelliworks hired Todd Gibby in 2007 from Blackboard. He oversees a company whose platform serves up CRM to admissions offices throughout the United States.
Is there such a thing as too much automation of college admissions applications?
Yes. Automation is good when it eliminates unnecessary manual processes. It's not good if it sacrifices the human element in the very important and complex process of matching the right student and the right institution. According to the College Board, many automation-assisted applicants are applying to 20 or more schools. The administrative burden on those schools can outweigh the benefits.
What ingredients make it possible for an admissions office to cast a narrower net?
Brand plays a big role. Switching from mass marketing to opt-in and target marketing is effective also. Presenting niche offerings to well identified niche audiences is yet another.
Can you give an example of mastery of those ingredients by a client school?
Empire State College has established its brand as the SUNY college for adults. That makes it easy for prospects to self-identify. The school has also ceased buying suspect lists and created their own highly qualified list of 45,000 using search engine marketing. When prospects respond, their program of interest and all relevant information is captured and stored in Empire's CRM system.
What CRM techniques can be harnessed to maximize retention?
Throughout the admissions cycle, and beyond enrollment good use of CRM can enable communications that are consistent, informed, contextual and personalized. The key is to create a continuity of experience for the student. The relationship created by high quality communications decreases the likelihood that a repeat customer will want to shop elsewhere.
How has Florida International University beneficially mixed the use of CRM and social media?
In 2007 FIU produced a fully integrated marketing plan for their undergraduate and graduate business schools. And they did so with a wealth of understanding of social media: Facebook, Twitter, blogging, BizNews, LinkedIn and others. Those social networks produced a great deal of interest in FIU's events, happy hours and other activities. Meanwhile, they quantified the value of each of those sources. For example, FIU found that LinkedIn produced many more RSVPs at a lower cost than Google, Yahoo and Facebook.
Can you give examples of CRM improving efficient use of resources?
At American Public University System, during a multi-year period of significant enrollment growth, they were able to avoid costly staff increases. So well in fact, that many of their staff continued to work as telecommuters, equipped with a CRM system that maximized their productivity.
How can CRM help a very selective school achieve its unique administrative objectives?
Instead of dramatic enrollment growth, the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication wants always to increase the quality, diversity, depth and breadth of their applicant pool. A CRM-assisted online application has helped them increase the pool by 45 percent since 2008. Annenberg also receives strong feedback from their applicants about the quality of the resulting experience, which helps them distinguish their premier program. Annenberg was also able to reduce by half the time spent reviewing all the applications.
Will we ever see a Twitter-based college admissions process?
I don't think so. Twitter is very useful for promoting brand and monitoring consumer sentiment. But 140 characters won't transmit an admissions application very well. A tool that offers the efficiency of Twitter with much deeper communication abilities might be a wonderful admissions enhancement.