During Enrollment Rx’s virtual Building on the Best event, Trinity Western University presented a session on how they manage recruitment and admissions events using one CRM for university admissions. By utilizing Enrollment Rx products, TWU seamlessly hosts preview days, individual visits, and orientations using the Salesforce platform.
Events at TWU
Amy Alexander, Senior Director of Operations, Enrollment at TWU, began by explaining the different types of events they manage using CRM for university admissions. Small, online events are tailored to both international and domestic students. These provide an opportunity for students to better understand what they can expect as a student at TWU. Individual events are more personalized. They allow students to follow customized itineraries that include campus tours, meetings with faculty members, and more. Preview days at TWU can include up to 300 people on campus and allow prospective students to be a student for a day.
The Problem
Before implementing Enrollment Rx’s CRM for university admissions, TWU had limited visibility into event registration and attendance. Because event registration was not linked to their CRM system, it took several days to reconcile data associated with event registrations. This lack of visibility meant that admission staff couldn’t properly follow up with students or see whether they attended an event. They were also creating new registration forms for each individual event, which required the time-consuming task of modifying code on the back end.
The Solution
The ability to quickly reconcile data and send real-time communications to students was essential to the success of TWU’s events. Since implementing Events Rx in 2016, the university now has accurate insight into event attendance in real time. The admission team collects registrations using dynamic forms, tracks attendance, and uses detailed post-event reporting to send personalized communications. TWU is also able to connect with parents during campus events using the relationship object in Salesforce. By implementing an intuitive event management tool as part of their CRM for university admissions, TWU can properly collect prospective student information and accurately measure the effectiveness of events.
Technical Requirements
Jonathan Babbitt, Business Systems Analyst at TWU, went on to explain the technical requirements for their event management system. They first created a general form that could be reused for future events. The form features configuration that allows event staff to curate specific fields depending on who is completing the form. For events such as orientation where you know exactly who should attend, a private form with a custom URL is created. The custom URL pulls information from the CRM for university admissions, such as where the student is from, creating a personalized experience. For more open events such as a preview day, where you might need to learn more about a student, a general URL is created. This URL can be shared with anyone who wants to register for an event.
After a student submits the event registration form, an automated email is sent to them with event details and a QR code to check themselves in. Utilizing the QR code in the automated email communication allows TWU staff insight into who arrived on campus and at what time. The status of the student within a specific campaign, such as “Orientation”, is automatically updated based on the actions completed within the registration form. TWU is now using their CRM for university admissions to accurately measure the effectiveness of events in order to determine impact on enrollment yield.
Before adopting Enrollment Rx’s event management solution, TWU’s recruitment and admissions data was not consolidated into one CRM system. They now have the tools to properly collect prospective student information and accurately measure the effectiveness of events. Watch the full session presented by Trinity Western University here.
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