Remember the Lifetime Value of a Student - and Handle With Care
Campus Commerce Can Help it or Hurt it, So Choose Vendors Wisely
According to Forrester Research, customer relationship management (CRM) is an $11 billion industry. Businesses clearly see the value of not only winning new customers but nurturing and retaining those they already have.
If there were ever a customer relationship that requires taking the long view, it's the one between a college or university and a student. Students pay the bills today, and their donations as alumni build tomorrow's buildings. Many send their kids to their alma maters. Ideally, they are "customers" for life.
Higher Education knows this and is investing in CRM like never before. Some institutions, however, might not think twice about giving away their CRM data. Some vendors want a piece of that lifetime value, and not necessarily with a school's best interests in mind. Choose them with caution.
Touch Points and Hot Buttons
The special bond between alumni and their school would make even the most successful businesses envious. It is shaped in large part by their time on campus and the many touch points in the student experience.
Key touch points include the classroom experience, but also advisory and placement services, housing and foodservice, even athletics. Another is billing/refunds. Sure, it's mundane, but also one of the most important. After all, if money matters can wreck marriages and family relationships, they can jeopardize student relationships, too.
For instance, how will students feel if they know their private information is given to a campus vendor without their consent? What if a vendor uses that information to peddle unsolicited products and services? What if the same vendor attaches strings to a student's money?
The social media revolution has given dissatisfied customers more power than ever. Remember the statistics about the typical angry customer telling between eight and 10 other people about their problem? Today they can instantly air their grievances to an audience of thousands. And, whether deserved or not, the bad press never goes away.
Some schools know this all too well. Time will tell whether their dissatisfied customers come back into the fold, or to what degree their lifetime value diminished.
Choose Partners Wisely
Under pressure to curb expenses and boost efficiency in the business office, many schools outsource a host of commerce functions. It makes sense for certain things like parking or foodservice. But when it comes to students' money and personal information, choose your partners with care and monitor what they do with it.
If they are dealing directly with your students, vendors are more than vendors. They are representatives of your institution and its image. Even if billing or another business office function is handled by a third party, everything is associated with the school. If the billing duties are in a vendor's hands, so are your "customers," and so is control of that ever-important touch point in the student experience.
When choosing any vendor, an institution should ask if the vendor's revenues and profits come from the institution or from students. And, at the end of the day, does the service elevate the school in a student's mind, or pull it down?
Remember, what happens on campus no longer stays on campus. Dissatisfaction can cost you big time today, and even more down the road. The lifetime value of your students is too important to leave in someone else's hands.
Remember the Lifetime Value of a Student - and Handle With Care
Campus Commerce Can Help it or Hurt it, So Choose Vendors Wisely
According to Forrester Research, customer relationship management (CRM) is an $11 billion industry. Businesses clearly see the value of not only winning new customers but nurturing and retaining those they already have.
If there were ever a customer relationship that requires taking the long view, it's the one between a college or university and a student. Students pay the bills today, and their donations as alumni build tomorrow's buildings. Many send their kids to their alma maters. Ideally, they are "customers" for life.
Higher Education knows this and is investing in CRM like never before. Some institutions, however, might not think twice about giving away their CRM data. Some vendors want a piece of that lifetime value, and not necessarily with a school's best interests in mind. Choose them with caution.
Touch Points and Hot Buttons
The special bond between alumni and their school would make even the most successful businesses envious. It is shaped in large part by their time on campus and the many touch points in the student experience.
Key touch points include the classroom experience, but also advisory and placement services, housing and foodservice, even athletics. Another is billing/refunds. Sure, it's mundane, but also one of the most important. After all, if money matters can wreck marriages and family relationships, they can jeopardize student relationships, too.
For instance, how will students feel if they know their private information is given to a campus vendor without their consent? What if a vendor uses that information to peddle unsolicited products and services? What if the same vendor attaches strings to a student's money?
The social media revolution has given dissatisfied customers more power than ever. Remember the statistics about the typical angry customer telling between eight and 10 other people about their problem? Today they can instantly air their grievances to an audience of thousands. And, whether deserved or not, the bad press never goes away.
Some schools know this all too well. Time will tell whether their dissatisfied customers come back into the fold, or to what degree their lifetime value diminished.
Choose Partners Wisely
Under pressure to curb expenses and boost efficiency in the business office, many schools outsource a host of commerce functions. It makes sense for certain things like parking or foodservice. But when it comes to students' money and personal information, choose your partners with care and monitor what they do with it.
If they are dealing directly with your students, vendors are more than vendors. They are representatives of your institution and its image. Even if billing or another business office function is handled by a third party, everything is associated with the school. If the billing duties are in a vendor's hands, so are your "customers," and so is control of that ever-important touch point in the student experience.
When choosing any vendor, an institution should ask if the vendor's revenues and profits come from the institution or from students. And, at the end of the day, does the service elevate the school in a student's mind, or pull it down?
Remember, what happens on campus no longer stays on campus. Dissatisfaction can cost you big time today, and even more down the road. The lifetime value of your students is too important to leave in someone else's hands.