As the landscape of higher ed recruitment and admissions changes in the United States and Canada, it's more important than ever for institutions to effectively harness their digital presence to attract visitors and generate leads. Virtual tours use one of the greatest assets an institution has—its campus facilities—to achieve this.

To date, customers have found success using button-triggered and timed form Calls to Action (CTA) throughout their Circuit experiences. After learning that "gated" request-for-information forms (RFIs) could amplify form submission results, we introduced On Entry Form CTAs that display an inquiry form to first-time virtual tour visitors. Then, we put it to the test during a key time in the admissions cycle.

Using Circuit to Capture Leads

During the fall recruitment season, we worked with a cohort of customers to test whether On Entry Form CTAs would meaningfully increase form submissions in Circuit, and whether they would negatively impact the engagement rate of a virtual tour by causing a high volume of visitors to bounce.

For a 90-day period from September 9 to December 7, 8 post-secondary institutions activated On Entry Form CTAs. Institutions were also presented with the opportunity to A/B test their form messaging (form title and subtitle text) at the 45-day mark in the campaign. The difference between versions A and B was primarily distinguished by the tone of the title and subtitle text, and length of the subtitle text.

Outcome

In total, On Entry Form CTAs generated 2,076 leads for the 8 institutions participating in the campaign. The inquiry rate for the cohort—form submissions divided by total users—was 5.42%, with the highest inquiry rate of 9.25% achieved by one institution.

Form Submissions

Looking at a smaller group of institutions who had submission tracking enabled prior to the campaign period allowed us to assess the lead capture gains of having an On Entry Form CTA. Comparing the campaign period to the previous 90 days revealed an increase in form submissions and inquiry rates of over 500%. Comparing the results of one school against the same time period from the previous year revealed a 763% increase in form submissions and an inquiry rate increase of 20%.

Engagement

Activating an On Entry Form CTA did lead to a drop in the engagement rate of institutions’ virtual tours. Our analysis showed that 100% of cohort institutions experienced a drop in engagement rate when comparing to the previous 90-day period (median of -3.5%) and when comparing to the previous year (median of -10%). Institutions deciding to activate an On Entry Form CTA must be willing to make a trade-off of a lower percentage of users accessing the tour in exchange for the greater number of leads generated.

Form Messaging

The majority of high-performing CTAs had a welcoming tone and also addressed the position of the call to action at the beginning of the tour experience (see examples 1 and 2). Most high-performing CTAs used exclamation points or question marks to break up text and punctuate their messaging for the end user’s quick interpretation. High-performing On Entry CTAs with above average inquiry rates had the common features of shorter titles of approximately 4-5 words, and an average subtitle length of 12 words. When looking at the performance of the A/B tested CTAs of the four participating institutions during the two halves of the campaign period, the CTAs with higher inquiry rates aligned with these trends—shorter title and subtitle text and excited language. The CTAs that performed with higher inquiry rates (all above the full time period average) had messaging that was relevant to the on entry timing of the tour (Welcome, before you start…, ready to…).

Implications

Implementing an On Entry Form CTA proved to be a highly effective way to increase the number of leads generated through form submissions on Circuit Virtual Tours during the crucial recruitment period of September-November. As a result of the success of this campaign, all participating institutions have kept their calls to action to continue this lead generation success. To increase performance, all institutions were recommended to adjust their messaging to a welcoming tone, including punctuation, and brief titles and subtitles. While the engagement rate on the institutions’ tours was not meaningfully impacted when comparing to the previous period, more sizeable declines could be seen when comparing to the previous year. Overall, institutions should assess their priorities when it comes to lead generation and can schedule their form CTA to display on entry at different stages of the recruitment cycle accordingly. For example, scheduling the On Entry CTA to "gate" in the fall when prioritizing prospect lead generation, and pivoting to a slightly more passive timing in the spring could be an option if prioritizing access for admitted students.

Connect with Circuit to optimize lead generation through your virtual tour.