The Case for Treating Your Students Like Customers in Higher Education

One of the ideas that we face the greatest resistance to when working with higher education clients is understanding that students are customers. But to ignore that reality is to obscure the ability to deliver compelling messages that support prospective students as they are and where they are — not where you want them to be.

Higher ed has been reluctant to embrace the commercial part of the student journey, preferring to view itself through internal lenses around its mission and vision. And while these are lofty ideals, the reality is that these often bear little to no relevance to the student’s needs and experience.

Ultimately, students are purchasing the opportunity to obtain a degree or certification, in the hopes of seeing a long-term return on their investments in the form of career success and financial gain. For the majority of prospective students, they are being asked to make a significant investment in their future at a very young age. It’s also an investment that could lead to a longer-term engagement ranging from ongoing upskilling to alumni support.

Obviously, there are going to be exceptions to the rule, but the fact of the matter is that students want to have one simple question answered — “what’s in it for me?”

Yet, when you visit some higher education websites, they’re filled with internally facing content: news articles about internal appointments, events that are not intended for prospective (or even current) students, or testimonials from noted alumni whose experiences are in no way relevant to today’s students.

These developments are largely in response to internal lenses and priorities obscuring the true purpose of higher education websites. Often we’re presented with an idea that users are coming to the website to explore and learn about an institution.

However, over dozens of engagements and having interviewed thousands of current and prospective students over the years, none of that aligns with the reality.

For the most part, students have decided where they want to attend based on a variety of key influences including, but not limited to, proximity to where they live, affordability, and peer influences. When we look at the student success/intake funnel, the website is less of an information-gathering source, but rather a validation of the decisions they’ve made.

Students want the answers to questions like, “Does this institution offer the program in which I’m interested?” “What are the post-graduation success rates in regards to hiring in my field?” “What experiential opportunities will this offer?” “What’s the average salary coming out of graduation?”

Again, essentially, what’s in it for me?

In the grand scheme of things, students view higher education institutions as similar entities. So your digital communications — and we’re going well beyond the web here — need to position your institution against your competitors.

You need to answer questions like:

• Do you have the program I want?
• Why is this institution better than others in the area offering similar programs? (And students don’t want vision/mission-based statements or vague proclamations of superiority, but rather tangible evidence)
• What’s the total cost to me? And what options are available to me to offset some of those costs?
• What are my chances of getting a job post-graduation? And how will your institution support my transition into the workplace?
• What ancillary supports do you offer to help? What academic, social, and mental and physical health and wellness supports do you offer?

And those answers need to be authentic.

A post-secondary website really should be targeted to prospective students. It needs to focus content distribution that is equitable, rather than equal. And it needs to sell the institution in a way that aligns with prospective students’ needs, interests, and personal goals.

Instead, higher education digital environments often suffer from being built around internal advocacy — staff and faculty suggesting what students should want, which is often negatively impacted by organizational biases and internal priorities.

Putting the customer first (in this case, students) — and, ideally, directly asking them what they want — leads to greater engagement and success. Asking those tough questions to the right audiences, and supporting challenging internal discussions  is what Northern has done best for years in the higher education field.

Let us help you get the right message to the right people, in the way they actually want. We invite you to reach out to our team to learn more.