Juniata College.
It’s hard to imagine a more picturesque liberal arts college in Pennsylvania than Juniata. Nestled on a stunning 110-acre campus, Juniata is known for its impressive student outcomes and a four-year graduation guarantee. And with 100% of their students receiving scholarships or financial aid, it’s no wonder they’re a standout in the region.
The Challenge
Everything seemed on the right track after Juniata achieved a record-breaking enrollment class in 2012, thanks to their partnership with Waybetter. However, replicating that success proved challenging once our collaboration ended.
In 2019, when faced with falling short of their 400-class enrollment goal, Juniata turned to Waybetter once again to help steer them back to success.
The Better Way
Taking Advantage of an Overlooked Student Population
When Waybetter re-engaged with Juniata, we quickly identified a critical gap in their student acquisition strategy: prospective students at the early stages of their college search weren’t even aware of Juniata. This left little time for the college to make an impression, much less encourage a visit or application.
Our solution was straightforward yet powerful—introduce high school sophomores to Juniata’s unique benefits and focus on hands-on learning. We began by executing a licensed name buy targeting sophomores and directed them to a personalized landing page tailored to their intended majors.
This approach allowed us to gather valuable insights about these students: What excites them most? What are their biggest concerns? With this data, we crafted a dynamic, multi-channel nurturing campaign using tailored emails, ads, and print materials that spoke directly to their interests. By staying on their radar throughout their college search journey, we kept Juniata top of mind until they were ready to take the next step, whether scheduling a visit or submitting an application.
Fast forward to today and 47% of deposited students who engaged in our campaigns, began their journey during the sophomore year—reinforcing our belief that Yield begins with the first touch!
Remembering “Print is for Parents”
Parents crave communication and don’t want their student to miss out on opportunities—especially scholarships. So, once a student engages with a Waybetter campaign and confirms their GPA and/or test score information, we send a personalized letter home outlining the estimated merit award. With this information in hand, parents were more likely to encourage their student to apply to Juniata.
Winning Their Backyard
Since nearly 75% of students go to college within two hours from their home, we also made an intentional focus to win Juniata’s backyard. In partnership with Jason Moran, VP of Enrollment Management, we doubled down on 13 counties directly surrounding Juniata’s campus and ensured all qualified local students were included in our licensed name buys. We then used segmentation and personalization in our digital ads, to maximize the power of Juniata’s primary market.
A Strong, Multi-Channel Approach
Once again, every component of Juniata’s enrollment funnel was working together. A combination of personalized webpages, digital ads, email campaigns, print, and SMS, allowed us to coordinate messages based on campaign activity.
Now, from the first touch point to the last, Juniata’s new multi-channel approach is increasing name recognition and ultimately delivering more visits, applications, and deposits.
Results
Back-to-Back Goal-Crushing Classes
In both 2023 and 2024, Juniata had back-to-back classes of over 400 students for the first time in many years—a milestone last seen when Waybetter was their vendor.
Waybetter learned our institution, helped us bring out the specific best aspects of numerous facets of our academic and student life offerings, and arranged to put our best before prospective students.
They have been and exemplary contractor, colleague, advisor, and—most importantly—dissenting voice when needed.""