What is the ‘right offer’?
The answer is “It depends!” And before you roll your eyes and start worrying about the potential cost, keep this in mind:
Great offers can be very inexpensive – if not FREE!
That’s right – the secret to a great offer is “high perceived value” – which means the individual views the offer as relevant, valuable and appropriate for what you are asking for in return. That doesn’t mean reducing prices or offering scholarships.
Simple, right? Okay, let’s dive into specifics. Let’s say you are attempting to initiate a conversation with highly qualified prospective students that have never interacted with your institution. You probably already offer campus tours – so why not invite them to attend events on your campus?
Your institution probably offers a variety of events – why not invite prospective students? (Take a look at what Towson University offers – why not leverage this and give prospective students a taste of the Towson Experience?)
What if your goal is enrollments – what’s an appropriate offer? Well, we found that offering early enrollment to current students helped drive incremental enrollments because it allowed the students to avoid the lines, the closed sections and the inability to get a highly recommended faculty member!!
There was no cost incurred with this offer – the first few days of enrollment were set aside for current students and that sense of urgency actually motivated higher than average enrollments during that time period! (And it positively impacted student retention!)
In another situation, we found that a significant number of prospective and current students wanted personal assistance outside 8am to 5pm because they worked! So we scheduled our staff to work noon to 8pm one night per week, as well as 9am to noon on Saturdays.
The result – enrollments grew, retention increased and word-of-mouth referrals went through the roof.
