Digital Transformation in Higher Education: Automation, Campaign Performance, and Student Engagement Insights
In this interview with Research NXT, Praveen Kumar, Senior Manager of Marketing & Digital Strategy at IILM University, discusses their journey in digital marketing, the role of automation in their campaigns, and how personalised engagement has enhanced student recruitment. He also highlights the importance of metrics like CLV (Customer Lifetime Value) and how data-driven strategies are improving their overall campaign performance.
Key Takeaways:
- The discussion highlights the transition from social media marketing to overseeing digital strategy, CRM systems, and marketing campaigns in higher education.
- Automation is crucial for streamlining tasks like lead nurturing, email marketing, and application tracking, enabling more efficient and personalised communication.
- Emphasis should be placed on segmenting email lists, performing A/B testing, and optimising emails for both mobile and desktop to ensure better engagement and deliverability.
- Critical metrics such as Cost Per Lead (CPL), Click-Through Rate (CTR), and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) are essential to assess campaign success and improve resource allocation.
"A/B testing is a crucial part of our email strategy. Subject lines can make a big difference—what works for one segment may not work for another."
Please share your professional journey leading you to your current role as Senior Manager of Marketing and Digital Strategies at IILM University. What are your key responsibilities in your current role?
Praveen: After completing my B-Tech from Kurukshetra University, I began my career as a sales intern at CollegeDekho. However, my interest quickly transitioned to social media marketing, where I managed social media accounts and created content. This experience opened my eyes to the potential of digital marketing in the education sector.
Building on that foundation, I moved to OP Jindal University, worked there in the Advertising and Digital Strategy team, where I gained deeper insights into the integration of digital strategies in higher education.
Currently, I serve as the Senior Manager of Marketing and Digital Strategies at IILM University. In this role, I manage the entire CRM system, Meritto (formerly NoPaperForm), across two universities and three institutions. My key responsibilities include overseeing CRM automation, lead nurturing, and ensuring successful conversions. From the beginning of my career until now, I have gained significant experience leading social media marketing efforts and ad campaigns. I have had the opportunity to work with talented teams, including creative directors, social media marketers, and other marketing professionals. Together, we have consistently designed and executed comprehensive digital strategies aligned with the goals of various institutions.
How do you use marketing automation tools to streamline your digital campaigns at IILM University? Can you share some specific examples of how automation has improved student engagement and the admissions process?
Praveen: At IILM University, we leverage marketing automation tools to streamline our digital campaigns, enhancing both student engagement and the admissions process. While having a dedicated calling team is important, the initial touchpoint is often through email marketing, which we’ve fully automated for efficiency and personalisation.
For instance, as part of our outreach for the upcoming MBA intake, we collect data from various events and school visits. Once this data is uploaded into our CRM, our automated system triggers a series of actions. The first step is a personalised thank-you email sent to participants, acknowledging their interaction with IILM at the event and sharing valuable information, such as our university portfolio and brochures. This immediate engagement helps build a connection between prospective students and the university.
Our automation sequences are tailored based on the student’s interests. For example, students interested in the BBA program receive a series of emails focusing on program-specific content, such as details about the dean, placement opportunities, and extracurricular activities. Those interested in postgraduate programs receive similarly curated content relevant to their interests.
As students progress in their journey, our automated system ensures continuous engagement. When a student begins an application, they receive automated reminders to complete it. Once submitted, the system guides them through the subsequent steps, such as scheduling an interview or preparing for the entrance exam. Post-exam, automated communications follow up with offer letters and reminders about fee payment deadlines.
Each year, we refine our automation processes based on data from the previous cycle, improving both efficiency and conversion rates. By integrating these automation tools, we ensure that prospective students remain engaged throughout the admissions process, enhancing their experience and supporting our enrollment goals.
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How do you manage and nurture top-of-the-funnel leads within your marketing automation system? Do you use strategies like lead scoring and social media engagement to keep students interested before they fully enter your funnel?
Praveen: At IILM University, we manage and nurture top-of-the-funnel leads through a combination of marketing automation, lead scoring, and targeted content strategies, ensuring that potential students remain engaged long before they enter the formal admissions process.
We use lead scoring to prioritise prospects based on their level of interaction with our digital content. For instance, leads are scored higher if they engage with key content such as program pages, attend webinars, or participate in outreach events. This scoring system allows us to focus our resources on the most engaged prospects, guiding them through the funnel with personalised content.
On social media, we tailor our content to the specific audience segment. For undergraduate (UG) students, we focus on showcasing campus life, including clubs, societies, and the vibrant student culture. We also highlight key events, such as placement drives and student success stories, that appeal to their interests. For postgraduate (PG) students, who are typically more career-focused, our content emphasises industry interactions, placement guidance, and career development opportunities. We regularly feature visiting industry leaders, workshops, and insights into how our programs prepare students for real-world challenges.
By aligning our content with the distinct priorities of UG and PG students, we ensure ongoing engagement and interest. Additionally, we integrate social media engagement metrics into our lead scoring system to track how prospects interact with our brand across platforms. This combined approach helps us nurture leads more effectively, ensuring they stay connected with IILM University throughout their decision-making journey
Given that you’re personalising communication for both UG and PG students, could you provide a rough idea of the scale? What is the size of your current student database, and how large is the new student pool you’re targeting through your campaigns?
Praveen: At IILM University, we manage a substantial student database that is divided into two primary segments. The first segment includes leads that come in organically through direct inquiries or paid digital campaigns, while the second consists of offline outreach data collected from various events, such as school visits and education fairs.
For the offline segment, we focus on nurturing leads by sending out personalised promotional emails. These emails emphasise why IILM is an excellent choice, highlighting our programs and campus life, with clear calls-to-action (CTAs) embedded with UTM codes. This helps us track engagement and move these leads into our main CRM for further follow-up.
In terms of scale, our current student database is substantial, with a large pool of leads actively engaged through our organic and paid efforts. The new student pool we’re targeting through our campaigns includes both high school students interested in undergraduate programs and working professionals or graduates looking to pursue postgraduate degrees. While nurturing offline outreach data is more challenging, leading to relatively lower conversion rates, our organic and paid leads segment tends to have significantly higher conversion rates, allowing us to focus on quality engagement and efficient lead conversion.
By personalising our communication for each group and leveraging data-driven insights, we effectively manage both segments to ensure we’re nurturing prospective students and guiding them smoothly through the admissions process.
With such a large volume of data, how do you manage segmentation and maintain personalised communication across different segments? How is your automation system supporting you in this process?
Praveen: At IILM University, managing segmentation and maintaining personalised communication across various segments is essential to our success, especially given the large volume of data we handle. Automation plays a critical role in streamlining this process, allowing us to efficiently manage different lead types while ensuring tailored engagement for each prospect.
Data Segmentation is the first step in our process. We categorise leads based on several factors such as program of interest, location, source of inquiry (digital platforms, consultants, walk-ins), stage in the admission funnel, and engagement behaviour. This segmentation allows us to customise communication, ensuring each group receives relevant and resonant information.
Personalisation at Scale is achieved using advanced CRM tools and automation systems. Our emails, SMS, and WhatsApp messages are dynamically tailored to each student’s preferences, academic background, and past interactions with the university. This enhances the relevance of our communication, improving both engagement and conversion rates.
Automation and Workflow Optimisation has transformed how we handle leads. With automation, every lead entering the system is automatically placed into a customised communication flow based on their source and area of interest. For instance, we have different sequences for raw outreach data versus organic leads, and specific flows for programs like law, BBA, or design. If a student shows interest but doesn’t complete an application, the system triggers personalised follow-ups, reminders, and CTAs to re-engage them.
Additionally, the automation system supports the entire lead journey, from initial inquiries to payment completion. Trigger-based automations ensure that personalised emails or messages are sent based on specific actions, such as attending a webinar or showing interest in a program, making our workflow seamless and efficient.
Tracking and Analytics is another cornerstone of our CRM system. It provides detailed insights into segment performance, allowing us to evaluate the effectiveness of our campaigns. Metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, responses, and overall engagement help us refine our strategies. We also employ UTM tracking to ensure accurate attribution of leads generated through consultants or specific campaigns.
This combination of segmentation, personalisation, automation, and analytics allows us to manage large volumes of leads, maintain personalised communication at scale, and ensure that no lead is left unattended.
What best practices do you follow to ensure high deliverability and engagement rates for your email campaigns?
Praveen: To ensure high deliverability and engagement rates for our email campaigns, we follow several key best practices that focus on lead quality, engagement tracking, content optimisation, and list hygiene:
Lead Verification: We’ve implemented OTP verification for both mobile numbers and email addresses. This ensures that only verified leads enter our system, significantly improving lead quality and reducing the risk of sending emails to invalid or unengaged recipients. Verified leads are more likely to engage with follow-up communication, which boosts conversion rates.
Segmentation and Personalisation: We segment our email lists based on lead engagement and interest areas. Leads who actively engage with our emails are placed into nurturing campaigns, while those who don’t engage receive a different set of messages tailored to re-engage them. If leads remain inactive for 40-60 days, we pause communication to avoid spamming and protect our sender reputation.
A/B Testing: We regularly run A/B tests on subject lines, content, and CTAs to optimise open and click-through rates. Since different segments of students respond differently, we tailor subject lines and email content accordingly. For example, what resonates with undergraduate students might differ from what postgraduate prospects find engaging.
Content and Mobile Optimisation: Given that a large portion of our audience accesses emails on mobile devices, we ensure all our emails are mobile-responsive. We run A/B tests across both desktop and mobile platforms to confirm that the emails are visually appealing and functional on all devices, ensuring a seamless user experience.
List Hygiene and Unsubscribes: We maintain clean email lists by regularly removing inactive contacts who haven’t engaged in a set period. This helps improve deliverability rates and ensures that we’re focusing on engaged leads. We also include an unsubscribe option in every email, allowing recipients to opt-out if they are no longer interested, which further maintains list quality and prevents spam complaints.
Engagement Monitoring and Data-Driven Adjustments: We monitor how students interact with each campaign and adjust our approach based on engagement data. For instance, if a particular segment shows high engagement, we increase the frequency of nurturing emails. Conversely, if engagement drops, we reassess the content and frequency to optimise results.
By combining these strategies, we consistently achieve high deliverability and engagement rates, ensuring that our email campaigns are effective in driving student interest and conversions.
What are the key performance metrics you track to assess the effectiveness of your campaigns? How do you optimise your campaigns based on performance data?
Praveen: To assess the effectiveness of our campaigns, we track several key performance metrics that give us insights into both the performance and engagement levels of our audience. These metrics help us refine and optimise our strategies for better results.
Open Rate: Measures the percentage of recipients who open our emails. This gives us insight into the effectiveness of subject lines and overall email relevance.
Click-Through Rate (CTR): Tracks how many recipients clicked on a link or CTA within the email, showing us the effectiveness of the content in driving desired actions.
Conversion Rate: The percentage of leads who take the desired action, such as submitting an application or registering for an event. This metric is essential in determining the campaign’s impact on admissions.
Bounce Rate: Measures the percentage of emails that weren’t delivered due to invalid email addresses or other technical issues. A low bounce rate indicates good list hygiene and sender reputation.
Unsubscribe Rate: This shows how many recipients opted out of further communications. A high unsubscribe rate prompts us to reassess our content, targeting, and frequency.
Engagement Over Time: Monitors the level of engagement across a lead’s journey, from inquiry to application completion. We track this to identify where engagement drops off and take corrective actions.
Lead Scoring Progress: We assign scores based on interactions like email opens, clicks, and form submissions. This helps prioritise high-intent leads for further nurturing and follow-up.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): CLV is critical for understanding the long-term value a student brings to the institution, factoring in not only the initial enrollment but also additional programs, referrals, and engagement over time. By tracking CLV, we can tailor our campaigns to focus on high-value prospects and long-term student retention strategies.
Optimising Campaigns Based on Performance Data:
Adjusting Frequency and Timing: By monitoring when emails are most likely to be opened and engaged with, we optimise the timing and frequency of our emails. If a campaign shows lower engagement, we assess whether we’re sending too frequently or at less optimal times.
Refining Segmentation: Based on performance metrics, we refine our segmentation strategies. For example, if a certain segment shows high engagement with placement information but low engagement with general university news, we tailor future campaigns accordingly to maintain interest.
Content Personalization: If we notice a drop in engagement with general email blasts, we pivot to more personalised communication. Using performance data, we create tailored email flows based on student interests, such as law, BBA, or design programs, to improve relevance and boost conversions.
List Hygiene: Based on bounce rates and engagement data, we regularly clean our email lists by removing invalid addresses and inactive users. This helps improve deliverability, reduces bounce rates, and ensures we’re reaching a highly engaged audience.
Re-engagement and Lead Nurturing: For leads that show initial interest but later disengage, we run re-engagement campaigns using data-driven insights. For example, if a lead interacted with an application reminder but didn’t complete the process, we send targeted follow-up messages to nudge them toward completion.
Before we wrap up, we want to know your expectations from this report. What do you think would be most valuable for the readers of the report?
Praveen: For the readers of this report, my primary expectation is that they gain clear, actionable insights into how marketing automation and personalised communication strategies can enhance the student recruitment and admissions process. The most valuable takeaways for the readers would be:
Understanding the Role of Automation in Streamlining Processes: How automation can significantly reduce manual work, increase efficiency, and improve engagement by delivering timely, personalised content to students throughout their journey—from inquiry to enrollment.
Real-World Examples of Personalisation: Demonstrating the impact of tailored communication for different segments, such as undergraduate and postgraduate students, with specific program interests, and how this personalization leads to better engagement and conversions.
Best Practices for High Deliverability and Engagement: Insights into the strategies we use to maintain high email deliverability, such as lead verification, A/B testing, and list hygiene, and how these practices result in better engagement and overall campaign success.
Measurable Impact Through Key Metrics: Understanding the key performance metrics we track—such as open rates, CTR, conversion rates, and CLV—and how analysing these data points helps optimise campaigns, ensuring a positive return on investment.
Long-Term Strategy Through CLV: Emphasizing the importance of not just short-term campaign success but also fostering long-term relationships with students, enhancing their overall lifetime value (CLV) to the university.
