Nowadays it is increasingly difficult to establish strategies to retain more students, however we must not forget that new technologies can be a great ally in this subject. School retention can be a hidden problem, not many of which speak but do suffer, because students do not always receive what they expected or simply do not manage to adapt to the philosophy of the school and decide to change.
Thanks to Inbound Marketing we can be sure that a happy customer can become as valuable as a new client. And is that the person who already knows the product or service and is satisfied with this; it is more likely to consume it again, than a stranger. Thus, the process of constantly delighting fixed customers is a great strategy, that is, focusing the operation plans taking into account existing students can bring great benefits in the future. Some of the best strategies are the following:
Focus on the «Y» and «Z» generation
All students from primary school to university fall into the «Y» or «Z» generation classification, so any strategy must be based on the interests and aspirations of those generations for better retention. Any student of these ages who has to face the least amount of bureaucracy possible, will be happy and will remain faithful to the institution.
Young people no longer seek to do paperwork, payments or any questions personally, prefer to do it online, saving time and effort. That’s why we recommend creating a website for students or parents in the case of younger students; with all the processes or simple manuals of situations that can be faced. Even this type of tools can be seen as a customer service, but indirectly and that continues to solve their problems.
Active Education
The old teaching methodologies, in which only the book or the blackboard was copied, were left behind. Nowadays, it is sought that young people have spaces for discussion and open argument, teamwork and forums where everyone can enrich their knowledge. Identifying the students as people who have an active and important role in the school, classroom or group. They are also public media, where external people can begin to get involved with the institution and enroll in it in the future.
An open blog to all students can be a decisive aspect between staying to continue studies at the same institution or change. The goal is to create a space, which can also be in a social network, where both students and staff can express themselves, share articles of interest or events. Thus, students are more motivated to express their ideas; improve the adaptation to the student environment and improve client-company communication, from which you can get the best feedback to be in continuous growth.
Create an Identity
Start by establishing a philosophy, or vision with which you can identify all those who belong to the institution. It requires a commitment from the whole institution to raise the sense of belonging in each student. That is to say, it can not be something temporary, but something that lasts and of high impact.
The entire institution must understand that higher education is not a service, but an experience. If a clear message is established with which everyone can feel identified, it can be disseminated through various electronic media and begin to generate a community that more people want to be part of.
Finally, there may be various reasons why a student may leave school, and it is the job of each institution to identify these causes, then analyze the best strategy to be followed and combat that weakness. The most frequent causes for a student to unsubscribe are:
- 28% Economic Problems
- 20% Low Gardes
- 15% Moving or transportation problems
- 9% Schedule
Knowing these data, it is recommended to provide quality content in the media mentioned above and try to help the student in the process in order to retain it as long as possible.