University Business - September 2012 - (Page 40)

Virtual Viewbooks: Ready? or NOT? candidates, lurkers whose first sign of interest in a school is the actual application, poses a growing problem. Salve Regina University (R.I.) realized more than 30 percent of its pool fell into that “secret shopper” category, says Laura McPhieOliveira, vice president for enrollment. Salve Regina administrators seized the digital viewbook as an opportunity to track these secret shoppers while trimming the traditional viewbook’s 70 pages. The new digital version made its debut in September 2011. Similarly, Renault and colleagues questioned the necessity of print. Royall & Company, which offers enrollment consulting to the higher ed market, shared results of a poll that showed no difference in outcomes between students who had been exposed to a viewbook and those who had not. That’s when the Siena team realized there might be another way to engage prospective candidates. Texas Christian University launched a digital project in 2010 with rising juniors as a cost-effective pilot project. The simple first generation e-zine used FlipViewer technology to convert the print viewbook into an online magazine. The link was shared with 16,000 prospects; 14,000 opened it and 600 interacted with it. The 4 percent interaction rate was higher than TCU’s typical rate of 2 percent to 3 percent, and “told us we should move forward,” shares Tracy SylerJones, vice chancellor for marketing and communication. Breaking Tradition Deciding to break tradition and go digital brings an array of new challenges. When Siena College administrators specified they did not want a print viewbook, two of the three marketing companies that responded to the request for proposal returned with proposals for print viewbooks. The third, Albany, N.Y.-based Zone5, hit the mark. The end product, which Pepperdine’s digital viewbook test was customized for students who noted their interests. prospective students are finding when they spend time with these viewbooks and how campus admissions pros are adopting them. From Traditional to Virtual Traditions, such as viewbooks, endure for multiple reasons. Over the last decade, viewbooks have evolved, with many slimming down from a hefty volume crammed with details like a complete list of majors and minors to slimmer versions that focus on storytelling and photography. Escalating printing and postage costs, coupled with changes in the way information is consumed, have fueled the trend. Institutions don’t need to include every basic fact in their viewbooks because that information is online, explains Bob Johnson, a Michigan-based higher education marketing consultant. Prospective students want to picture themselves on campus, and most schools convey that message by providing stories and photos featuring current students, faculty, and programs. Higher education, as a whole, understands how to deliver these messages in a printed viewbook. Yet, for all its merits, print is not without downsides. Once a printed viewbook is mailed to prospective students, it enters the teen vortex. It may be tossed in the trash, lost under a pile of chemistry homework, or visited and re-visited as the student makes plans for the future. Admissions departments have no data about what happens to each viewbook after it’s mailed. On top of the lack of feedback, costs to produce and mail are substantial. Rising costs spurred Siena College administrators (N.Y.) to replace its print viewbook with a digital version in 2010. “We carry an inquiry pool of 40,000 to 50,000 prospective students, but we could only mail viewbooks to about 60 percent of them because it was so costly,” explains Heather Renault, director of admissions. The college may have missed prospective students who were more passive about indicating their interest. Indeed, the growing number of stealth The online viewbook continually needs new information to feed the format’s ‘bottomless appetite.’ 40 | September 2012 universitybusiness.com http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - September 2012

University Business - September 2012
Contents
Editor’s Note
College Index
Ad Index
Behind the News
Viewpoint
Independent Outlook
Financial Aid
Virtual Viewbooks: Ready? Or Not?
Technology Changes Everything
Connecting Learners, On Campus and Off
The Changing Face of the CIO
Efficiency Greats
The Administrator's Bookshelf
Oceans of Data
Education Innovators
Internet Technology
End Note

University Business - September 2012