In every meeting it’s one of the top 3 questions I get. Maybe top 2. Actually, maybe #1. It’s always some variation of: 

“How do I know if my marketing leads are leading to enrollment?"

The answer to this question is actually simple, but reaching that conclusion can be challenging. 

Reason being, and as touched on in an excellent post by Dan (The Hot Dog Method), independent schools often use a patchwork of different technologies and software, each siloed in its approach and unable to offer valuable insights. Moreover, marketing attribution is a hot topic affecting every industry right now (see here: Digital Marketing Attribution).

However! 

We have a solution for you. 

Let’s walk through it. 

Start with the End in Mind

What are we looking for? What is the one metric that would indicate success? 

Enrollments, right? 

So, let’s use the number of enrollments as our main objective. 

Reaching the Objective

Some might say that you need more website visitors, more impressions, more clicks, etc. 

But are you really going to base decisions on how many people visited your website? Or what they clicked on? 

Probably not. 

Others may point to conversions, or in other terms, how many audiences ‘converted’ i.e. took an action such as filling out an inquiry form. 

This is a step in the right direction, but what happens when your conversion data doesn’t match the actual number inquiries in your EMS? 

Or if all your conversions show they’re coming from the same acquisition source (i.e. ‘Direct’ or ‘Organic Search’)? 

Or if your conversion tracking is inflated by things like phone calls or email clicks? (which you really don’t care about).

Or - gasp! - what if your website is seeing a ton of spam conversions? 

The Core Question

So, how do we accurately track conversions, or inquiries and follow them through enrollment? 

Our Solution at Aryval

First, we tell you where each inquiry is coming from — each specific inquiry, not an anonymous grouping.

Additionally, each inquiry can be tied to any of your admissions events. 

Say you’re running an Open House. We can tell you the following: 

• Number of registered families.

• Number of registered prospective students. 

• Acquisition source for each family. 

Now you’re probably thinking, “yes, that’s great, but I thought the goal was to track applications?” 

You’re correct!

At Aryval, we take things a step further. 

Using our Aryval Terminal, we’re able to connect with your EMS and follow your prospective inquiries on their journey towards enrollment. 

So, at the end of your admissions season you’ll have complete details of:

Your total number of inquiries from the year.

The events they’ve attended.

Whether an application was submitted. 

And if they enrolled.

Oh, and don’t forget, you’ll also have the acquisition source for each inquiry, providing you with reliable data on exactly where all your prospects came from.

What Else Are You Looking For?

All the above is included in our end of season ‘Yield Report’, ensuring you’ll have all the insights you need to understand and optimize your marketing efforts. 

And most importantly, it should answer the question: how do I know if my marketing leads are leading to enrollment? 

Ready to take your admissions strategy to the next level? Let’s talk.