Understanding a potential student’s journey from lead generation to graduation is key to increasing enrollments. But as you know, there’s a LOT of data to keep track of. To simplify this process, we recommend managing, analyzing, and presenting important marketing and enrollment data in one centralized dashboard. 

“Dashboard” is one of those terms that is often met with skepticism in the higher education world. But is used correctly, institutions can derive immense value from having their marketing and enrollment data presented in a simplified visual format.

Have you ever wished you could drill down to see how data sets from different sources are connected? Wanted to customize how you present that data for deeper understanding and better analysis? 

With a marketing dashboard like MindMax’s Enrollment Intelligence (EI) platform, colleges can pinpoint where they’re executing successfully and where they can improve processes to see better results.

5 Benefits of Using a Marketing Dashboard

1. Customize data to mirror a prospective student’s journey. 

When universities see MindMax’s EI dashboard for the first time, they’re often surprised that it’s so comprehensive. Our fully customizable dashboard allows us to map a prospective student’s journey sequentially. Then, we can pull data into a single chart or table for a holistic view into the decision-making process. Here’s a (simplified) sequence of data that we might examine: 

Website Visits → Leads → Applications → Enrollments

The colleges we work with find it helpful to visualize these metrics separately and also to take a step back and see the bigger picture.

2. Connect data to identify opportunities for improvement. 

Colleges that use a dashboard to connect their data can identify key insights and redistribute budgets to invest in initiatives that are delivering on objectives. 

For example, demand generation campaigns at universities frequently result in plenty of leads (prospective students) but not enough conversions (applications or enrollments). When MindMax recently saw one of our partner schools getting leads from Facebook that weren’t converting, we pulled back on Facebook advertising and invested in other areas that resulted in more qualified leads. 

Without access to a full dashboard of data, making that connection would have been much more difficult. 

3. Present data strategically to make the biggest impact. 

Could important information be getting lost in translation at your school’s marketing meetings? University stakeholders don’t all process information in the same way. Some react more strongly to a visual representation while others respond better to numbers. A “one size fits all” approach to data is never the ideal solution. 

One of the major benefits of MindMax’s EI dashboard is that it can be personalized to accommodate individual preferences. Options for data visualization include: 

• Tables 
• Bar charts
• Pie charts
• Line graphs
• Scatter maps

4. Upgrade from tedious spreadsheets. 

The labor that goes into maintaining spreadsheets can almost always be better used elsewhere. A marketing dashboard is a centralized alternative to individual spreadsheets, which are clunky, out of date as soon as they are generated, and prone to human error. Universities that partner with MindMax have access to downloadable data whenever they need it, with near-real time reporting. 

5. Combine data sources and aggregate into new reporting. 

With many factors contributing to a potential student’s decision-making process, there’s value in being able to easily combine and tease apart various data seta. Schools can use a dashboard to combine marketing data with personal information such as demographics and program of interest. Aggregating this data into new reporting helps marketing teams map out ideal timing for campaigns and initiatives. 

Colleges that partner with MindMax gain access to a customized dashboard that pulls the most important metrics for marketing and enrollment activities into one place. Connect with us today to learn more about how MindMax can help your university reach enrollment goals.