Leads360 conducts secret shopper studies from time-to-time to survey the responsiveness and admissions practices among private sector higher education institutions. Recently, Leads360 published an addition to their comprehensive list of education studies that takes a microscope look at the for-profit EDU space.

The study aims to determine whether or not some schools can pass the lead management test. They surveyed 4 distinct areas in the lead management process and assigned a letter grade for each. The areas included Speed-to-Call, Phone Attempts, Speed-to-Email, and Email-Attempts.

Key findings from the survey:

• 40% of schools failed to make their all-important first call attempt within 24 hours of receiving the inquiry
• 33.3% of institutions took an average of more than 5 hours to send their first email
• 76.6% of institutions in the study failed to send an appropriate number of emails

Schools in the study averaged more than 16 call attempts, with more than 30% making 10 calls more than the optimal number of 6.

4 schools made an average of more than 30 call attempts per lead.

There were 28 schools included in the report and not a single one scored higher than a B-. So what does this mean for EDU lead generation?

Leads360’s research reveals the significance of swift and persistent prospect follow-up for higher education institutions. As a leader in the education lead generation space, Tightrope Interactive is always working to successfully recruit qualified students, but clearly, the follow-up process from the schools could be greatly improved.

How do you think higher education institutions could optimize the admissions process?