Experience matters. When students are weighing multiple admissions decisions, their experience with your institution plays a key part in the decision.
If the experience every time they interact with you is terrible, it can quickly erode some of the best wins. The impact experience has is why some universities are adding a Chief Experience Officer to the university cabinet.
This role hasn’t become the norm yet, but the focus on experience aligns nicely with how MarComm leaders should be thinking.
In my dissertation on how universities might use marketing to mitigate the enrollment cliff, one finding was the importance of MarComm leaders serving as a change agent. This role makes sense for MarComm leaders because their work is likely to span a variety of departments across campus, which positions them nicely to think about being a change agent or embracing experience.
Strategies to Advance Experience
We all likely see things on our campus that could be improved to enhance the student experience. However, making these changes can be a complex challenge, with lots of different aspects. I hope these strategies help you manage the change process and work toward enhancing the student experience. Personally, I’ve found some of the best ways to approach change are starting small, saying something when you notice it, and creating an assessment culture with campus partners.
Start Small
At a prior university, the enrollment process was unwieldy, crossing numerous offices and divisions. The larger (and more complicated) route would have been trying to mandate all communication that went out to prospective students and when they could be sent. This would have caused lots of frustration and used a significant amount of relational capital. Instead, I started small, bringing together all the groups that were communicating, and we developed a calendar of when each message went out. As members saw multiple messages on the same day, it fostered a spirit of collaboration to help address the communication issue together. Over time, the group moved from awareness to collaborating on messages, phrasing, and even presenting content together.
See Something: Say Something
Because of our work in social media, we are more likely to hear about challenges directly from students and their parents. I liken our social media role to the canary in the coal mine. It’s on us to be perceptive of things being discussed and pass those along. However, the work doesn’t stop there. If the same issues keep surfacing, we must advocate to make it better for the student. For example, I know of a university that sent out payment messages right before leaving for the weekend, giving students no time to ask questions. After about a year of this, the MarComm team used a large swath of social data to work with other departments to adjust the timing to better support students.
Create a Culture of Feedback with Partners
Another way to improve campus is by creating a culture of assessment. We can always be better, so it’s important to work with our partners to assess our work. My favorite approach is “stop, start, continue” because it is highly process-focused and less about what any one individual did or didn’t do. In this model, after each event you debrief what should be stopped, what new things could be added, and what shouldn’t change. When you create the assessment process, everyone goes into the work thinking about improvement, instead of blaming. For example, MarComm at UA Little Rock partners with another department to offer a treat throughout the semester. In a debrief after the event last year, the two groups recognized moving the event to a different day of the week would result in a larger turnout.
What Else?
This is a starting guide to think about how we emphasize experiences on our campus. I’m curious how you’re approaching this work. As you think about it, be sure to add your own thoughts in the comments.
And Carrie On 