With so many potential CRM partners in the HE industry, it's vital to choose the right one to meet your university's student recruitment needs. Every company is different, so it's important to have a flexible solution, with a dedicated team behind it. Here's our top 5 tips to help you select the perfect CRM partner for your university.
1. Talk to the experts
Make sure your chosen CRM partner is reputable and an industry expert. It is important to make sure they fully understand the student recruitment process and how to engage your prospective students.
Do your research and go with who you are most comfortable working with, after all, it's a long term commitment which will require a great working relationship. You want your CRM project to be a success to support your marketing and recruitment teams for many years to come. A good partnership should feel like having an extra team of CRM specialists when you need them.
2. Check their track record
Find out who their customers are and ask them what they think of the service. Read some of their case studies to see what's been done by the CRM partner before. Ask existing clients for testimonials and how they found the working relationship.
Here at Data Harvesting, we are proud to be working with some of the UK's leading universities, some of which have been kind enough to leave these comments. Data Harvesting has a proven track record in helping Universities to achieve their student recruitment goals by increasing open day bookings; improving open day registration conversions; increasing applications; and enrolment conversion rates.
3. Review the service levels
The level of service you receive is very important to the smooth day to day support for your team. Find out how much training (if any) you'll get from your CRM partner. What support channels are available and at what time of the day? Can you just pick up the phone and ask a quick question?
Make sure it is clear if the implementation and set up is part of the package, otherwise you could find that your team is configuring your CRM. Implementation of your Student CRM will be managed to completion by a dedicated project manager.
With Data Harvesting you will receive face to face training, including a delicious lunch on the south coast if you come down to visit us. The Customer Support team are in the office working the same working hours as you do. Right here, in the UK. Find out how satisfied Student CRM customers are with the service.
4. Get a CRM partner for life
What happens after implementation and training? How much are you expected to do by yourself? What do you do if you encounter a problem? Is the long term support there for you?
Our Customer Support team is on hand when you need them. Data Harvesting customers are given a VIP Support phone number and email address giving them direct access to the Customer Support team. They're also sent regular emails to help them engage with their students to increase their conversion rate along with access to our Help Centre and the ability to submit support tickets.
5. Ask about their future plans
It's always good to know what your CRM partner plans for the future and what those plans entail. The continuing development of a CRM is essential to keep up with changes in student behaviour, the needs of student recruitment officers as well as advances in technology.
Here at Data Harvesting, we listen to our customer's needs and encourage them to submit feature requests to enhance Student CRM. And because it's our very own product, we can build new features using our team of skilled developers. Student CRM has been built based on student recruitment team requirements, making it a highly customised solution for Higher Education.
Book a free demo of Student CRM's 21 apps and one of our team will come up and visit your university to show you how it could enhance your team's student recruitment.