Digital Media Solutions First-Party Data Spotlights Trends In Higher Education Inquiry
Clearwater, FL – August 1, 2019 – Digital Media Solutions (DMS) released its 2019 H1 Higher Education Inquiry Generation Review Report. The report, published by DMS Education, covers trends in the inquiry generation and student acquisition activities of higher education institutions for the period of January 2017-June 2019, with an emphasis on January-June 2019 (H1 2019). Compelling highlights from the report include:
- Higher Education Inquiry Volume Rising: Since 2017, higher education inquiry volume maintained an upward trend, despite fluctuations due to seasonality, driven heavily by growth for the online program format.
- Increased Higher Education Online Program Demand: Program inquiry volume from prospective students of online programs increased by 2.9% compared to H2 2018 and was up 10.8% year-over-year.
- Higher Education Conversion Rates Declining: Higher education inquiry conversion rates were down QOQ in Q1 2019, with the most significant declines being for campus-based programs and leads generated via first-party media channels.
- Increased Volume Of Newly Enrolled Students Engaged Via Social Media: With both conversion rates and share of inquiry volume trending upward, it seems that education marketers have identified how to successfully turn social media into a viable lead generation channel.
- Bachelor’s Degrees Retain Student Demand: Bachelor’s degrees held the dominant share of higher education inquiry volume at 33.8%, ranking highest of all degree levels for online program demand and second-highest for campus-based programs. Additionally, bachelor’s degrees provided the largest share of conversions in Q1 2019, representing 50.1% of all enrolled students.
- Increased Interest In Mechanic And Repair Tech Career Training: Mechanic and repair technology joined the list of top five most in-demand higher education categories for the first time, obtaining the largest volume increase of the top five categories.
The data used for this report is derived from aggregated higher education industry inquiries processed through and stored within Sparkroom technology. Sparkroom is owned by Digital Media Solutions.