CONTEXT

Quitting Before They Start

Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) is the 2nd largest online university and holds onto a proud spot on Forbes, Most Innovative Companies list. Despite success in many areas, however, SNHUwas struggling to convert ‘Day 1’ inquiries to ‘Day 15’ enrollments. The university brought Prophet in to identify and develop opportunities to increase the number of potential students who make it through the prospect journey to enrollment.

INSIGHT

Readiness and Relationships

By engaging in real time with SNHU prospects via an online community, we uncovered two critical success factors: readiness and relationships. We found the biggest drop-offs happen when a prospect is unsure of her readiness to commit: Is online learning a good fit for me? Can I afford to do this? Another success factor was a prospect’s ability to decide what type of relationship he wanted with SNHU: Some wanted high-touch support and others wanted to self-serve. The current experience only met the needs of high-touch candidates and was ‘turning off’ those who wanted to go at it on their own.

SOLUTION

Experience (Re)design

We then used readiness and relationships as filters to design an actionable path forward. We developed six experience platforms spanning the prospect journey that deliver the right experience in the right channel for the right audience in the way they will be most receptive to continue through the funnel. For example, the ‘SNHU Fit’ platform included a suite of resources to help prospects understand if SNHU is a good fit for them, including a curation tool, the ability to preview classes, and quick access to a personal SNHU advisor via their channel of choice (e.g., phone, chat, email).

15

days to convert prospects
into enrolled students

5

prospect personas hypothesized
and validated during research

6

experience platforms that address
prospect needs across the journey