Utilizing Web Analytics to Uncover Recruitment Gaps and Increase Conversions - CASE All Districts Conference 2023

In today's digital era, your website is your most critical recruitment tool. Google Analytics 4 has a treasure trove of actionable data you can use today to improve your conversion rates. In this session, we will uncover how to identify key recruitment gaps within your web strategy. Additionally, we will learn how to adapt to the emerging cookieless world of web analytics.

1. Web Analytics Perla Pequeno & Alex Garrido Uncover Recruitment Gaps and Increase Conversions

2. Hi! Perla Pequeno Assistant Director of Web Strategy & Integrated Communications Alex Garrido Dir. Digital Marketing & Analytics

3. The Recruitment Landscape and Web Analytics A  recently released report  from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center shows that total enrollment for spring 2022 was down 4.1% — 685,000 students — compared to spring 2021. An  additional 15% drop  in new college enrollments projected for 2025 . What can we do to help our institutions navigate this landscape? How can we prepare for this?

4. Understanding Web Analytics WHAT IS IT? I s the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of Internet data for the purposes of understanding and optimizing Web usage. WHY USE ANALYTICS? Robust analytics based on an accurate, scalable and intelligent framework can help colleges and universities make precise enrollment predictions, better manage their resources, boost revenues, and more. WHERE TO USE ANALYTICS?

5. TOOLS FOR GATHERING AND ANALYZING DATA

6. 01 SESSIONS USER ENGAGMENT VIEWS 02 03 04 SCROLLS CLICKS VISITS 05 06 General Key Metrics For higher ed, these goals often take the form of online inquiries, applications, bookings, and other activities that signify a high level of interest. They should always be measurable, trackable, comparable and improvable.

7. KEY METRICS PER TOOLS Interrogate your metrics

8. The Recruitment Funnel

9. Analyzing data to uncover trends and patterns Identify areas that, P rospective students like, What grabs their attention, and What slows them down. Ways to analyze the data: Tracking which traffic source your website visitors come from, and where they usually go on your website. Using Heatmaps to identify where your users most commonly click (and find out if they’re clicking any unclickable elements). Running A/B tests to identify which variant of a page users respond to best , then viewing user r ecordings to understand why.

10. In Google Analytics 4, everything is sent to your reports as an event , not just actions you’ve tracked within a page. Pages people load on your website Actions people perform within a page Elements people have clicked Information from the URL of the page Transaction and product details Elements that are visible in the browser Details you’ve collected about a user Lets Get Technical, Technical!

11. Increasing Conversions Creating reports and dashboards to measure success and actionable Strategies

12. Steps to Increase Conversion Actionable Strategies Targeted Campaigns Messaging Valuable content Paid search Remarketing ads Web Optimization Get to know your audience Improve SEO Identify potential problems Conversion Optimize user experience Measure Effectiveness Conversion rates A/B Testing

13. utrgv.link /cased4

14. Case Study (Since launch – 09/2022 to 01/2023) 118,365 +98% Views from Search Engine 39,914 +59% Page Views Age Groups 18-24 +138.8% UTRGV new redesign for a recruitment focused website w ith intelligent and customized technology . Form Submissions 1735 +105.1%

15. Take aways ! Define your student personas Create Student Journey Maps Investigate what works well and what doesn’t  Pinpoint student touchpoints Apply what you’ve learned today  Web Analytics Robust analytics based on an accurate, scalable and intelligent framework can help colleges and universities make precise enrollment predictions, better manage their resources, boost revenues, and more. Set up google analytics 4 – July 2023 deadline Identify the events to track Get to know your audience Identify potential problem Keep conversions in mind Optimize for search engines Keep testing and optimizing the user experience Recruitment Process

16. Plan your  optimization strategy  in advance Simplify your landing page design Use contrasting colors Keep the important elements above the fold Use scarcity techniques Make your call-to-action buttons clear and simple Add contact information Test different headlines and copy Be consistent Add testimonials Try different form lengths Optimize landing pages for  SEO Try an exit popup Keep A/B testing everything Boosting Conversion Rates Best Practices

17. Unintuitive design Disconnections between ad copy and landing page copy Poor headlines Unrecognizable calls to action (CTAs) Distractions from the landing page’s primary purpose Why Is My Landing Page Not Converting!

18. THANKS! Do you have any questions? [email protected] https://www.utrgv.edu “Data is Power.”