How to Connect with the Stealthy Online Student

According to some estimates, there are more than 23 million students in the United States who have some college credit but are not enrolled at a college or university. More than ever, these students are looking to online education programs to either complete or further their education.

These students are not traditional prospects. They are not high school students. How does a university or college attract them to their online education programs, especially if they don’t know who they are? These are not names you typically can purchase.

One of Capture’s partners — a small, private university in the Southeast — offers both undergraduate and graduate online programs.

Using ENGAGE, the high-powered marketing automation solution on Capture’s Behavioral Intelligence Platform, the university is identifying and communicating with stealthy online students who are on their website researching online programs.

When a stealthy online student visits pages about graduate or undergraduate online programs, digital content such as toasters — small ads that rise from the bottom of the screen like toast — offer messaging pertinent to the program being investigated.

For example, earlier this summer, the institution used a toaster to encourage visitors to take a survey about graduate school and online learning readiness. When visiting a page about programs designed for working adults, anonymous visitors received the following toaster.

Online Student

This particular ENGAGE campaign provided the university’s admissions team with a unique set of prospective student data that they otherwise would never have been able to purchase. It yielded 7,010 unique impressions and 155 clicks for a click-through-rate of 2.21 percent. Seven prospects filled out an inquiry form after clicking on the image for a completion rate of 4.52 percent.

Since the beginning of Capture’s partnership with this university, more than 115,000 unique visitors have been served content and 1,838 have gone on to learn more.

This is just one example of how colleges can use ENGAGE has a tool to enhance recruiting efforts geared toward online students. But with this kind of marketing automation, the possibilities are endless. Get in touch if you want to find out more.

By Kevin Hyde, Content Writer, Capture Higher Ed