Best Practices for Improving Admissions Funnel Conversions

You know something needs to change to hit your institution’s enrollment goals. Many leaders believe the best way to do this is to increase their number of leads.

However, adding more leads to a broken funnel will only frustrate you and your team more. It’s like trying to hold water with your bare hands - no matter how many new inquiries you receive, they will continue to slip through your fingers.

Even if you know where the problems are in your funnel, knowing the best way to solve them can be overwhelming.

In this article, you’ll find proven strategies to optimize conversions at each stage of your college admissions funnel. Bookmark this as a resource your team can reference throughout the year as you tackle each stage!

Table of Contents

• An Overview of the College Admissions Funnel
• How to Improve Your Inquiry-to-App Rate
• How to Improve Your Admit Rate
• How to Improve Your Scheduled Rate
• How to Improve Your Admissions Yield Rate
• How to Decrease Your Melt Rate
• Best Practices for Prioritizing Your Optimization Efforts
• Conclusion

An Overview of the College Admissions Funnel

A college admissions funnel describes the stages a prospective student goes through on their journey to enrollment at an institution. The six stages in an enrollment funnel are:

1. Inquiry - A prospective student who has indicated interest. An inquiry may connect with the institution by online form, phone, email, or by completing an inquiry card at an event.
2. Applicant - A prospective student who has completed an application form.
3. Candidate - An applicant who has submitted all required admissions documents and materials. These documents typically include transcripts, standardized test scores, letters of recommendation, and a personal goals statement.
4. Admit - A candidate who has been offered admission.
5. Scheduled - An admitted student who has been scheduled for classes. Some institutions require an enrollment deposit before a student can be scheduled.
6. Enrolled - A scheduled student who remains enrolled until the institutional Census Date, usually the 10th day of class.

Understanding these stages alone won’t get you where you need to be. You must also measure the key metrics within the funnel to know what’s working and where your gaps are.

The key enrollment funnel metrics every admissions team should regularly review and optimize are:

With these metrics and definitions in mind, let’s dive into how you can optimize each one!

How to Improve Your Inquiry to Application Rate

Inquiry-to-Application Rate (aka Conversion Rate) measures the percentage of individuals who inquire about your institution and end up applying. High conversion indicates prospective students find it easy to take the next step and are motivated to apply. A low inquiry-to-app rate may reveal difficulties in your application process, poor follow-up, or unclear guidance.

Recommended Actions to Increase Your Inquiry-to-App Rate:

1. Optimize your admissions outreach with proven contact cadences and communication strategies. 
2. Provide clearer guidance to your inquiries and proactively address common concerns throughout the process.
3. Build a process to work your aged leads and re-spark interest with prior inquiries who weren’t ready to commit at their initial inquiry.

How to Improve Your Admit Rate

Admit Rate measures the percentage of applicants who are admitted to an institution. A good admit rate suggests you have good applicant vetting and straightforward, easy-to-understand admittance criteria. If your admit rate is low, applicants may be unqualified or unaware of your admissions requirements and standards.

Recommended Actions to Increase Your Admit Rate:

1. Review and adjust program information and post-inquiry materials to repel bad-fit applicants.
2. Provide interview prep resources, such as guides or videos, to outline college interview best practices so your applicants are more prepared.
3. Use automated systems or hire an enrollment management partner to more effectively collect missing information and materials from applicants whose files aren’t complete.

How to Improve Your Scheduled Rate

Scheduled Rate looks at the percentage of admitted students scheduled for enrollment. High scheduling rates indicate strong follow-up and commitment from students post-admission. A low scheduled rate may indicate unclear communication about next steps or a lack of appropriate follow-up.

Recommended Actions to Increase Your Scheduled Rate:

1. Build a standard follow-up plan with multiple touchpoints and communication methods to nurture students toward enrollment.
2. Offer more flexible meeting times for students to meet with admissions counselors outside of standard “office hours.”
3. Implement an “appointment no-show” follow-up process to re-engage students who missed a meeting.
4. Provide clear, accessible information about financial aid and scholarships during the follow-up process.

How to Improve Your Admissions Yield Rate

Admissions Yield Rate shows the percentage of admitted students who enroll. A higher yield rate means your team is effectively convincing students to choose your institution over others they have been accepted to. A low admissions yield rate may indicate that admitted students do not see enough value in attending your institution over other options.

Recommended Admissions Yield Strategies:

1. Implement personalized communications targeted at admitted students, using multiple channels to engage and deepen their interest in your institution.
2. Showcase stories or data about alum career success to highlight the long-term benefits of choosing your institution and the value that sets you apart from competitors.

How to Decrease Your Melt Rate

Melt Rate measures the percentage of scheduled students who don’t enroll. A lower melt rate indicates effective retention of committed students through to the start of classes. If your melt rate is high, you are losing students at the last stage of your funnel.

Recommended Actions to Decrease Melt Rate:

1. Guide scheduled students with welcoming and supportive personalized onboarding to help them feel confident in their decisions.
2. Increase last-stage support with more resources and touch points to address final concerns and reduce drop-off before enrollment.

Best Practices for Prioritizing Your Admissions Funnel Optimization Efforts

If multiple areas in your funnel need to be improved, how do you know where to start? When optimizing your admissions funnel, it’s essential to approach changes methodically. Here are some best practices to ensure your efforts lead to measurable, sustainable improvements:

1. Start with small, incremental changes - Focus on improving one stage of the enrollment funnel at a time. Implementing too many changes at once makes it difficult to pinpoint which strategies are driving results.
2. Prioritize strategies based on funnel impact - Review your data to identify where the most significant drop-offs occur. Using this information to focus on high-impact stages, such as the lowest conversion rate compared to industry standards, will yield faster results.
3. Address immediate bottlenecks for short-term gains - If a particular stage shows an immediate need, such as a significant drop-off between inquiry and application, use a quick, targeted strategy for a more immediate impact.
4. Consider your available resources and institutional goals - Keep your enrollment targets, budget, and staff bandwidth in mind when deciding on optimization efforts. Balancing high-impact change with available resources ensures a realistic, effective approach.
5. Plan for ongoing optimization - Admissions funnel optimization is a never-ending process that requires regular review and iterative adjustments. Develop a recurring schedule to reevaluate your conversion rate at each stage and implement new tactics accordingly.

Take Control of Your Admissions Funnel and Enrollment Growth

Stop feeling tethered to your marketing team’s ability to increase the leads they generate. You can increase student enrollment by pulling levers within your admissions funnel!

If you feel overwhelmed about the amount of work in front of you, we’re here to help. Schedule your free consultation with our CEO to discover the most significant opportunities for growth based on your current funnel performance: