How to Improve the International Student Recruitment Experience
As Universities around the world continue to monitor border closures, national policies on travel and the shift in dynamics between politics and the pandemic, international student recruitment continues to be a cause for concern.
As competition and concern increases, the student experience within the recruitment process is under threat.
Whilst little is within direct control of higher education institutions, what can be approached is the decision-making process international students will be undertaking and how that flows through your channels and engagement opportunities; from digital advertising and university search sites to institutions’ websites and online recruitment opportunities.
But more of the same this year runs the risk of gaps being left for interpretation. With international student recruitment, typically the process is just as critical to the decision itself and is usually a longer drawn out process compared to their domestic classmates.
We know from our work across a range of institutions that being able to determine an international students’ current position, what qualifications and processes they still need to determine and their considerations for the course itself can really help develop a stronger conversation and an easier progression through the application process – even before they have submitted a breadth of personal information.
The value of heavy remarketing to students who are not interested or ready can be as detrimental as not bothering at all.
So, armed with the knowledge of where the prospective student might be in their journey to application, your best option is to guide them towards the next step. For example, using cues.ai you can understand where a prospective student is located, and whether they’re interested in studying.
One of our most popular use cases for cues.ai is to then nudge a user with strong intent to study towards a web page that has specific information on it tailored to their location, such as application or event details, and then when they’ve explored this content, asking them to apply at the right time. This, coupled with social media advertising to reflect each stage, saw cues.ai contribute towards over 25% of a yearly international student intake for one of our clients!
Our top points for making the recruitment process work for conversion:
