One higher education trend MindMax is closely monitoring is schools transitioning away from OPM (online program management) partners. According to a May 2024 UPCEA poll, “61% of higher education leaders anticipate making changes to their OPM partnerships in the next 1-2 years.” 

Various factors are driving schools to consider an OPM transition, including seeking greater control over online programs, reducing high costs and revenue-sharing agreements, and meeting regulatory demands. Plus, as schools’ internal marketing teams evolve, many institutions are developing the in-house capabilities and expertise to manage the tasks typically outsourced to OPMs. 

While some schools are severing their OPM partnerships entirely, others are reducing the scope of their engagements or restructuring how they work with OPMs. Regardless of the reason or the details of the transition, the OPM transition process is complex and requires careful planning. 

OPMs can assist with everything from program development to student support services, but one of their key functions is providing marketing and enrollment services to bring more learners into a school’s programs.

When transitioning these functions, one significant challenge is that the OPM may only provide a school with partial data, leaving out crucial details that are essential for making informed decisions about the marketing and enrollment process. 

For example, a school may receive basic lead and registration information but miss out on the incremental data—such as the origins of those leads, the specific touchpoints that led to conversions, or detailed engagement metrics. Without this comprehensive data, schools may not have a complete picture of the resources and infrastructure needed to achieve similar results independently. 

As a result, schools that transition away from OPMs often face declining enrollment numbers. The best way to mitigate the severity and duration of this issue is to ensure transparency with the OPM partner before and during a transition.

Prioritize Transparency Before and During OPM Transitions 

Maintaining transparency is a best practice when managing any marketing and enrollment partnership. By establishing clear and open communication from the start, you’ll be in a position to ensure a smooth transition, including full separation, if and when the need arises.

Here are three critical areas of transparency to prioritize with your OPM partner. Even if you aren’t planning any significant changes in the short term, put these foundations in place today.

Transparency regarding leads

In most cases, OPMs generate leads from diverse sources, which may include lead aggregators and unbranded sites, that schools might not be able to access on their own. Moreover, even if the leads technically belong to the school, they often reside in platforms controlled by the OPM. 

To avoid a dramatic drop in lead quality and quantity, as well as challenges accessing the technology that manages those leads, proactively discuss lead data and secure access to leads from the past few years. 

Transparency regarding messaging and branding

Schools should also have proper visibility into the messaging the OPM partner has used for their marketing and enrollment initiatives to ensure brand consistency during and after a transition period. It’s also important to obtain your marketing assets, which can be labor-intensive and time-consuming to recreate. In most cases, you should be contractually obligated to receive these assets at the end of an engagement.

Transparency regarding data and performance

While OPMs can provide a range of metrics, it’s important to focus on the ones that truly drive results. Engagement is one of the most critical metrics when marketing to prospective students, as it provides a strong indication of actual outcomes. Ideally, engagement should be tracked throughout every stage of the marketing process. 

Visibility into these metrics requires full access to analytics tools and email marketing, social media, and paid advertising platforms. Be clear with your OPM partner that you want access to these platforms. Whenever possible, link them to your school’s accounts so that when your relationship with the OPM ends, you still have all that important data. While engaged with your OPM, make sure they are providing insights into the data that allow you to assess performance rather than simply providing a readout.

A Word of Caution to Schools

Even schools whose OPM partners maintain a high level of transparency can experience a bumpy OPM transition. 

OPMs have established internal efficiencies and processes that most schools will find challenging to replicate on their own. This is due in large part to the OPM business model: staffing a team of highly focused specialists with the time, resources, and expertise to accomplish what schools’ internal marketing teams historically couldn’t. 

While schools have improved their capabilities enough to take certain functions in-house, they may still struggle to be as focused, agile, and efficient as an OPM. One solution is engaging with a third-party partner who can help bridge the gap, providing specialized support and guidance during a transition to ensure continued success in marketing and enrollment efforts.

Ease Your OPM Transition

A third-party partner like MindMax can ensure a smooth OPM transition process. Our team can provide an objective perspective to help you work through the following: 

– Assessing the value an OPM is providing and whether to continue the relationship 
– Analyzing the data received from an OPM to provide actionable insights
– Asking the right questions leading up to OPM transition and potential separation
– Determining which initiatives and capabilities to take in-house vs. outsource 

It’s crucial to think ahead and be proactive in these areas because once an OPM transition is complete, you’ll likely lose visibility into the critical information needed to achieve similar results independently. 

Reach out to MindMax today to learn more about how we can ease the OPM transition for your school.