Yield rates across higher education are on the decline, and so it is important now more than ever for your institution to prove its value to prospective students and their parents. To see how a Phonecast can be a valuable yield tool, and increase perceived value of an institution, look no further than Pomona College.
In April of 2012, Pomona College produced a Phonecast to deepen relationships and strengthen engagement. The entire pool of domestic regular-decision admits were divided into two groups: the control group received Pomona’s standard yield communication, while the test group’s parents also received an invitation to a Phoencast.
Phonecasts begin with an outbound call to thousands, allowing the audience to engage with the featured speaker. Everyone who answers the call is connected to the live event, which functions like a radio call-in show. The audience can listen to the notable speaker, like a current student, dean, or president, and also have the opportunity to participate. Admission staff can pre-screen and choose participants to ask live-voice questions of the speaker. Phonecasts also allow the speaker to pose questions to participants, who can answer via the keypad voting feature. Individual data about participation and poll responses are captured.
Pomona’s test group contained 419 parents of admitted students. Ninetry-six percent of those who answered the Phonecast call opted-in to participate for an average of twenty-eight minutes. After the Phonecast event, Pomona analyzed overall deposits and found that students whose parents had participated in the Phonecast yielded at a rate fifty percent better than the overall regular-decision yield rate.
“We definitely were able to better engage families that participated in the Phonecast, which had a noticeable impact on yield,” said Seth Allen, Vice President and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at Pomona College, “and we received very positive feedback from those who participated.”
Phonecasts can connect with your audience, whether students or their parents, and show them the value of your institution. Learn how a Phonecast can be an important yield tool by signing up for a free demo today.