AdmissionsLab

Situation/Challenge

AdmissionsLab, formerly 422 Group, was transitioning to a Software-as-a-Service business model based on a new flagship offering called Enrollment Manager. Enrollment Manager is a Customer Relationship Management system specifically designed to help universities engage with applicants. Because universities cannot predict what percentage of accepted applicants will matriculate, Enrollment Manager helps admissions officers minimize that uncertainty through managed communications, travel, events, and social media.

As part of this transition, Normal Modes was responsible for not only the for the website's user experience design, but also the branding, video, email and print marketing materials, and press releases.

Objective

The objective for AdmissionsLab was simple -- to increase revenues through converted leads. They were betting the company on the success of Enrollment Manager, and the new website was to play a critical role in driving sales.

Strategy/Tactics

The AdmissionsLab.com website fit into a larger marketing strategy that included email marketing, white papers, and call centers. The plan was to use outbound marketing to drive traffic to the website where visitors could learn about the Enrollment Manager product and sign up for a free trial.

To execute the strategy, the home page displayed two primary calls to action: "Take the Tour" and "Quick Evaluation." The tour puts the visitor at the top of the sales funnel, where they were introduced to the features of Enrollment Manager. All of these feature pages displayed a primary call to action to drive traffic to the "Plans & Pricing" page where visitors could sign up for a free trial. The other call-to-action on the homepage, "Quick Evaluation," asked the visitor a series of questions in order to assess the visitor's current outreach program. The results of the assessment and recommendations for how Enrollment Manager could be beneficial were emailed to the visitor providing them with a report card to share with their colleagues. With their permission, the visitor's email address was also saved for future email marketing campaigns.

Additionally, all pages featured two secondary calls to action, "Live Chat" and "How to buy", so that prospective buyers could have their questions answered immediately.

Message Alignment

In addition to poor visual design, the company's previous website suffered from a number of weaknesses including:

• Use of the brands 422 Group and AdmissionsLab was confusing to visitors.
• Product names were non-descriptive.
• Price was not transparent.
• Site focus was company-centric rather than user-centric

To address these issues, Normal Modes used two personas to focus the message. The first persona, "Tiffany," was that of an assistant director of admissions. We expected her to be in her mid-to-late 20's, internet and social media savvy, and extremely time-constrained. She was not the decision maker, but was a key influencer of the buying decision. Messages that would resonate with her would be ones that emphasized communicating with students, mobile access, and strong support. Consequently, considerable real estate on the website was dedicated to explaining all the communication and mobile features of Enrollment Manager. A page was also dedicated to the "Virtual Enrollment Coordinator," a unique feature of Enrollment Manager that provides assistance in responding to inquiries, travel scheduling, and event planning. We even used the tagline "Put Time Back in Your Day."

The second persona we used was "Brad," the VP of Enrollment Services. Brad had previously been in Tiffany's role, so he knew the challenges she faced, In this role, however, Brad was less interested in specific features of Enrollment Manager, and more interested in the return on investment. Brad was the buyer. Messages targeted at Brad emphasized the value created by Enrollment Manager, thought leadership, and social proof. A comparison chart clearly detailed the benefits—in both features and cost—of using Enrollment Manager versus other competitors. A collection of whitepapers with titles like "Avoiding Catastrophe: How to Survive the Coming Changes to Higher Education" helped establish AdmissionsLab as a thought leader. A client list boasting prestigious institutions like Columbia, CalTech, and Rice University reassured Brad that Enrollment Manager was up to the task.

Results

Since its launch in the summer of 2010, AdmissionsLab.com has averaged 2,300 unique visitors per month in a market where the total target audience is only 6,000.

The value of the qualified pipeline has increased by 400% and the team has closed more than 20 university-size deals. In the first quarter of 2011, the leadership made more than 10 trips for in-person meetings with large universities.

As a result of this success, they have hired two additional full-time sales reps to keep up with demand.